If the magic number for adult wisdom for consent is 18yr, how do Americans view nations like China, Portugal, S. Africa, and Brazil, where it is not?

There’s always one thing that’s really annoying in the US. One is old enough to go to war [18] but not old enough to drink [21] and one can get the driver license at 16. I find this weird too.

And not to mention in some countries you mention the consent for sexual intercourse. If the under aged wants sex it’s okay but if she doesn’t you get arrested for sex with minors. The law in this countries specify exactly what’s what. If a girl at 15 has a body of an 18+ and she wants to have sex the law allows her to have it if she gives her consent. Always some try to take profit out of it but oh well, there are people who can verify if she was abused or enjoyed the sex.

The legal age of consent varies by state in America, @Hypocrisy_Central.

http://www.ageofconsent.us/

In the UK, you can legally have sex from 16, get married between the ages of 16 and 18 with your parent’s consent, drive a car on public roads from 17, and drink/buy alcohol from 18. I do always find it interesting that one rule in one country would be a criminal act in another – it counters the very arguments for it being a criminal act. On things like drugs etc, there is an argument for saying “ah yes, but it is a very different culture in x-y-z country, it just wouldn’t work here”. On the subject of sex and age of consent, however, is it ever acceptable to use that same argument? But why is my country right, and theirs wrong?.........

On a personal note, I teach youngsters, including some 17 year olds, and whilst some of them probably are capable of making safe, informed decisions about sleeping with boyfriends, others are still such children in their approach to life, and I dread to think of them finding themselves in the situation where they have to give consent…

@bkcunningham I know, thanks to the US media, many don’t. What some don’t know, it is a big secret, is, some of the places where the age of consent is 16yr in Yankee Town:
• S. Carolina 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• N. Carolina 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Kentucky 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Ohio 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• W. Virginia 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Maryland 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Pennsylvania 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Connecticut 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Rhode Island 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Massachusetts 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Maine 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Indiana 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Michigan 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Nevada 16yr 18yr for lesbians
• Montana 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• S. Dakota 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Minnesota 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Iowa 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Kansas 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Oklahoma 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Arkansas 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Mississippi 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Alabama 16yr 16yr for lesbians
• Georgia 16yr 16yr for lesbians

And at least 8 states where the age of consent is 17yr. But that is a secret.—Keep it under wraps.

@harple On a personal note, I teach youngsters, including some 17 year olds, and whilst some of them probably are capable of making safe, informed decisions about sleeping with boyfriends, others are still such children in their approach to life, and I dread to think of them finding themselves in the situation where they have to give consent… To drive a vehicle, a minor has to show competence in operating it, why not the same for boinking? The young man, or woman can get tested, and if 3 of 5 psychologist deem them mature enough to make that decision they can be issued a card allowing the barer freedom to boink who they please without it being illegal of they choose over 18.

Different cultures. Their rules.

@Hypocrisy_Central… why do you have a separate column for lesbians, particularly?

In Spain you can take a 16 year old girl home, and have every kind of sex with her that you can think of. However, show her some porn and you go to jail. Age of consent is 16, but you can’t watch porn until 18.

Just thought I’d drop that info off in here.

I’ve never thought 18yrs old was an age of wisdom for much of anything but that has nothing to do with the set laws of the land.

Coming from generations of people who were used to marrying and starting families well before 18yrs old, I’m not bothered by what is arousing or attractive. The key of things is what a person takes action with. In my mind, being aroused by prepubescent children is repulsive, it’s doesn’t mesh but teens are basically junior adults so I can accept arousal or attraction but not act on it because that’s the law of my land.

To me, children should be allowed to discover arousal and sexuality on their own terms, with each other. Adults should try to respect that since the window of time is so short for childhood and teen years, there are plenty of years for adults to mess with adults.

@poisonedantidote That’s messed up. O_o

@marinelife Different cultures. Their rules. We all know what the rules are, at least here in the US, however, that doesn’t change the construct of mentality. A man from Spain, as @ poisonedantidote alluded, comes here on holiday in the summer. He spies a 17yr old outside the coffee shop with her frozen frappo tingy, in a pair of stiletto ankle boots, a PVC mini, and a denim busier he is suppose to see her as furniture? When if he was in Spain he could see her as the woman she was and try to put the moves on her. How is he suppose to turn off his mind and have her look like any woman in Spain he would be attracted to but then not see her as that just because he is 5,000 miles away in the US? That would be like a steak lover not loving steak when he visits his vegan parents. If you love steak, you see it, you smell it, your mouth waters. Is your position, that you will tolerate it because they say it is legal in a given nation? What do you personally think?

@poisonedantidote In Spain you can take a 16 year old girl home, and have every kind of sex with her that you can think of. However, show her some porn and you go to jail. A foreigner goes to Spain, some 16yr old thinks he is hot, offers to be is free guide around the city. She makes it known she wants in his pants, he reciprocates, and off to the horizontal mambo they go. For posterity sake he tapes the act. Afterward over a smoke they sit and watch it. If anyone knew he goes to jail, even if the girl herself was one of the stars of this homegrown flick?

@Neizvestnaya To me, children should be allowed to discover arousal and sexuality on their own terms, with each other. Sex could not be as life altering or risky as a canoe trip down the Amazon? Would you let your son go down the Amazon with someone just as inexperienced as he was?

Kid: Mom, Becky, and I are going to canoe down the Amazon.
Mom: I know you never been canoeing, has Becky?
Kid: No, not really. Her older cousin told her all about it and the rest we filled in with YouTube and the media.
Mother: Well, I say you should stay out of the water, but if you can’t keep out of the river, make sure you take a personal flotation device. Have fun.

If that sounds crazy, leaving to inexperienced young adults to figure it out when so much is at stake is beyond me in this society.

@dappled_leaves why do you have a separate column for lesbians, particularly? Some places make you wait longer for lesbian sex than for straight sex, don’t ask me why.

I personally think that you need to know the law and act accordingly when you are in someone else’s country.

As to the varying laws, I think that children are sexualized way too early. It makes no sense in our culture.

Biologically, we were created for short, brutal lives. That is no longer the case so our minds can now catch up to our physical bodies before we being to procreate.

@Hypocrisy_Central So, in the one case on your list where the legal age is higher for lesbians, is it also higher for gay young men?

@dappled_leaves Strangely enough, they did not mention it. I will have to check. I guess maybe they feel females are more often the desired target for sex among young adults. Best logic I could come up with.

@marinelife As to the varying laws, I think that children are sexualized way too early. It makes no sense in our culture. Depending on if you are looking at biology or ideology, that can swing quite a bit. In America that “child” is not as smart as that “young woman” in Portugal who is trusted to make her own decisions concerning bed partners.

The question still remains as to what make the young Portuguese woman more able than the Yankee woman? And because the Portuguese woman can be seen as a partner for sex, when she is the same age as the “US child”, does the make Portuguese men cradle robbers, or would they only be labeled that here, which would mean nothing since the US doesn’t rule the world?

@Hypocrisy_Central: I’m referring to action only, not education. Talking to your kids about sex and physical & mental safety is different than allowing an adult to engage them sexually just because you acknowledge children are sexual beings too.

Since it is not possible to judge the suitability of each person on a case by case basis, the legal definition had to be made. It is not entirely arbitrary, but simply the best consensus.

@YARNLADY Given the variation in ages in various jurisdictions in this country alone, it seems to me that there isn’t much of a consensus. Also, that seems to imply that Americans are immature compared to much of the world.

Note also that age of consent has risen as we have become more industrialized and thus required more education before joining the workforce. Take a close look at our own nation a couple of centuries ago and you might be surprised to find girls getting married (and, presumably, consumating said marriage) at ages where most current-day parents won’t even let their daughters date.

I think that Americans are really twisted. At 18 you are mature enough to be trained to kill, marry, sign contracts, drive large trucks, have unprotected sex, and vote. You are not, however allowed to drink. I submit, regardless of state rules, if you aren’t old enough to drink alcohol, you aren’t old enough to do all those other things. The main reason the age of 18 is legal for most things is that they are more easily lead and make great cannon fodder for the military. You can talk an 18 year old into things that a 21 yr. old would scoff at.

@jerv _ Given the variation in ages in various jurisdictions in this country alone, it seems to me that there isn’t much of a consensus. Also, that seems to imply that Americans are immature compared to much of the world. That _is the way it looks, doesn’t it? Yankee children are more technical but emotionally and intellectually bankrupt.

Take a close look at our own nation a couple of centuries ago and you might be surprised to find girls getting married (and, presumably, consummating[sic] said marriage) at ages where most current-day parents won’t even let their daughters date. Back then, people in the US was more on biology time than ideology time. They didn’t have iPods, texting and gamming to preoccupy young people as it is today. They had to get out and make a life about the time puberty hit…..so…….

@Ron_C I think that Americans are really twisted. At 18 you are mature enough to be trained to kill, marry, sign contracts, drive large trucks, have unprotected sex, and vote. You are not, however allowed to drink. I submit, regardless of state rules, if you aren’t old enough to drink alcohol, you aren’t old enough to do all those other things. Yes, how crazy is that?