As babies grow up, they need less care and control until they reach 25 when the brain seems to finally settle down. The mere existence of a scale of care doesn't automatically justify any intervention we decide to make, it must be proportionate to the care required so as not to treat autonomy without due importance. — Isaac
No it isn't, otherwise they'd be a competency test to entitle one to vote. There is an estimation of competency made in some case, but not in the case of adolescents. 16 year olds are allowed to vote in Scotland but not in England. Are Scottish teenagers more competent than the English? No. Is Scotland collapsing under the strain of so much incompetent voting behaviour? No. So why are English 16 year olds not allowed to vote. Its not competency is it? — Isaac
And there are states where 14 is legal. As I've noted, there's a difference in quibbling over the arbitrary age we choose and arguing that minors have some inherent right to have sex with adults regardless of age. The age a society chooses for anything is based upon democratic and political reasons. No where does it say that a properly running democracy must base its decisions upon some scientific reason. If Montana wants to set the speed limit to 100, it can, maybe because it doesn't care about highway deaths, maybe it doesn't care about saving fuel, or whatever. You act like some study should be the controlling factor in what priorities a society wants to create.It really is not that complicated. There already exist countries in which the age of consent is 14. Are those countries collapsing under the burden of psychologically damaged teenagers? No. So when a country chooses 18 its not doing so on the basis of the child's welfare is it. It is evident from entire countries like Germany, Italy, Portugal etc that no endemic problems result from this, so states in America where it is set at 18 can't claim to be 'erring' on any side, its not guesswork, we have whole sections of Western Europe proving it's fine. — Isaac
You really need to clarify your position. Are you simply asking that the age of consent be lowered from the fairly standard 16 in most US states to 14 (which does exist in some US states)? It seems you're asking for something more.So the whole of Germany, Italy and Portugal are overrun with damaged teenagers, I'm surprised no thing's turned up in the literature. — Isaac
This is just more of the same patronising stuff. Of course the laws regulate children. There are two partners in a sexual relationship and few people are so callous as to just take whatever they want so long as the consequences fall on someone else, particularly if that someone else is their sexual partner. — Isaac
Likewise with voting, 16 in Scotland, there's been no constitutional collapse — Isaac
Maybe a discussion for another thread, but if you have any good theories for why almost half of US voters chose Trump, I'd read 'em.but I have a hard time imagining the average 16 year old in the US making sensible voting decisions--or the average 35 year old, for that matter. — Bitter Crank
"Certain children opened the flies of my trousers and started to tickle me," he wrote. "I reacted differently each time, according to the circumstances ... But when they insisted on it, I then caressed them."
Given episodes of more recent mass hysteria about pedophilia, his story and his denial of its veracity are not going to fly in some quarters. — Bitter Crank
Maybe a discussion for another thread, but if you have any good theories for why almost half of US voters chose Trump, I'd read 'em. — tim wood
Unfortunately for us all, Reich's really excellent ideas got buried along with his sillier ones. — Bitter Crank
You haven't provided any evidence that they are 'fine' in Germany or that being 'fine' in Germany translates to being 'fine' everywhere else or even what 'fine' is in measurable terms — Baden
It's as if you're claiming that any social policy that doesn't cause such obvious harm that it would be general knowledge to a foreigner must be a good idea and must be a good idea universally. — Baden
Why 14 and not 13? Why 13 and not 12? Is it that you share the same concerns as others but simply make different presumptions about the level of maturity of children of a certain age? — Baden
Because the voting age is arbitrary, set by a decision of the democracy. It makes no more sense to make it 16 or 18 or 21 — Hanover
The age a society chooses for anything is based upon democratic and political reasons. No where does it say that a properly running democracy must base its decisions upon some scientific reason. — Hanover
A specific question: Should a 6 year old be permitted to consent to sex with an adult? — Hanover
Why then can't an adult simply choose someone else to have sex with if society is telling them not to? — Hanover
I haven't recently read Wilhelm Reich (like the Mass Psychology of Fascism or The Function of the Orgasm). It seems to me he promoted greater sexual autonomy for adolescents. — Bitter Crank
Is it hysteria or just a realization that there was previously inadequate protection of children? — Hanover
15 is really just one year beyond where anyone could ever reasonably expect for anyone to be able to responsibly consent. — thewonder
It's a bit more complicated than just a blanket "14 is the age of consent" in Germany. It can still be considered rape if the other person is over 21 and if the 14 year old felt exploited, for example. — Artemis
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