Reply #53: Age of consent in Mexico is 13; most nations 16 [View All]

[Nevernose]

That was just FYI and the way my mind works. Mexico has the lowest age of consent I believe, even under-aging popular child prostitution destinations like Thailand and the Phillipnes.

What the hell that line is doing in the story is beyond me. Here in the US, depending upon the state the age of a rape victim makes a difference. Raping an 80 year old is different than raping someone who is 40, 30, 20, or even 16; raping a 14 or 15 year old is different than those ages and different than raping a 12 or 13 year old. Most nations have developed simialr "formulas" based on typical physical and emotional development (a 14 year old, for instance, might be physcially a grown woman, but is probably still a child).

If they'd gone on to elaborate on a different criminal structure in Iraq based upon the age of the victim, that line would have made sense. The way it is now, it looks as if the writer was implying that the age of the victim somehow mattered. Perhaps he has information that the defendants are going to be "she led them on; she was old enough to know better" defense?

Maybe it was just poorly written, a half-assed juxtaposition to the later reference to the six year old little sister, and a reporter with some semi-repressed misogyny?