What should be the age of sexual consent?

[ZombieHorde]

This is a poll about your opinion.

Let us assume a person is 30 years old, legally speaking, what should be the youngest age for the 30 year old's partner? I know I should have probably included an "Under 13 years old" option, but I lacked the space.

[Ian David]

1. I say it should be whatever age their state allows them to drive a car.

1) If you're old enough to be trusted with two tons of steel, you're old enough to be trusted with a few inches of penis.

2) It takes some of the guesswork out of, "Is this person old enough to consent?" If they're driving a car, they're either stealing it, or old enough to consent.

3) There really isn't any good reason to own a car, unless you're going to use it to get laid anyway.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Interesting argument. nt

[guitar man]

51. That's good for boys

For girls, it should be after daddy has passed on! :rofl:

[nomorenomore08]

64. Your logic is impeccable, sir! Especially #3...

:rofl:

[Mrs. Overall]

3. 25

I have a 17 year old daughter.

It stresses me just a bit.

[BlooInBloo]

11. It should be *illegal* for a 30 year old and a 24 year old to have sex? Seriously?

[Mrs. Overall]

21. No--as I said in my post, I have a 17 year old daughter that stresses me on the issue--

I said it (age 25) sarcastically.

It's strange to now be a parent dealing with sexuality issues--seems like she was just 10 years old and suddenly she's a young woman. I just want to say to her--have sex later, much later...

[AngryAmish]

4. Tough one

As a rule I don't want so many laws where we are creating criminals (thus while pot smokers are losers, they should not be criminals). So I don't think a 18 year old person sleeping with a 15 year old is entirely good, it should not be a crime. But 25 and a 15 year old is a crime.

I would make it 16 and let social opprobrium rain down on those who chase too young partners when they are older.

[hedgehog]

10. I'm thinking there should be a sliding scale. Maybe 18 and 15 is OK,

but what about 18 and 14? 18 and 13? 18 and 12? 21 and 17? 20 and 17?

[AngryAmish]

13. In most states there is a sliding scale

So 18 and 16 in IL is ok, 18 and 15 is not. 2 years difference is ok.

Not everything that is icky should be illegal is my point that I am running into the ground.

[amandabeech]

94. Three years is often the legal standard.

If one partner is under age, then the other cannot be more than 3 years older.

That covers 15 year old sophomore girl and 18 year old senior guy, for example.

[ZombieHorde]

15. This is why I stated one of the partners is 30 years old.

17/16 and 15/14 situations are different than 30/16 situations.

[Romulox]

78. That's actually how the law is structured in many (most?) states

The age of consent is set at 16/17/18 unless the partners are within 3 years of one another. A very sensible solution.

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Pot smokers losers?

In many cases, yes--but did you know Carl Sagan was a dedicated pothead?

[JuniperLea]

54. You clearly know nothing about pot smokers...

There is a long and glorious list of extremely well-educated, and exceedingly accomplished pot smokers. You shouldn't be talking about things of which you know nothing.

[Odin2005]

77. When I was 18 my GF at the time was 15.

I turned 18 a few weeks before she turned 16.

[Echo In Light]

5. Why frame this around the Polanski overkill?

Aside from that, my wife and I began having sex at age 16. Although in general I s'pose it depends on a lot of variables of those involved.

[ZombieHorde]

16. I have been wanting to do this poll for a while, I thought the Polanski threads

made for a nice introduction.

[eShirl]

6. In an consistent world, wouldn't it have be the same age that we start prosecuting people as adults?

So here in America that would probably make it age 10 or 12.


:puke:

[ZombieHorde]

20. I would like to see more consistency in this regard, but I would use an age

older than 12.

[Thickasabrick]

56. Whoa.....very good point. I don't think consent should be 10 or 12, I just

don't think we should try kids as adults at 10 or 12.

[eShirl]

75. That's how I feel as well.

[hedgehog]

7. If you had asked what age regardless of legality, I would have had to say

it depends. Sometimes the 30 year old is too old for the 18 year old, sometimes it could be OK

[AngryAmish]

8. OK, the three of you voting 21 are just idiots.

That is stupid.

[Taverner]

9. If you are 21, it should be 18. If you are 18 or 19, it should be 16

If you are 20, it should be 17

[JackRiddler]

14. So if you turn 21 and your partner's still 17, the coppers can nab you for statutory rape?

Try again.

[Taverner]

19. well - or something like that....

Perhaps a 5 year consent window?


I just don't like seeing 18 year old boys going to prison for having sex with their 17 year old girlfriends

[amandabeech]

96. The age of consent in many states is 17 or younger. n/t

[eShirl]

12. age 18, younger if the parties involved are within a couple years' age of each other.

[subcomhd]

17. What are the ranges in the US (oldest and youngest)? nt

[Withywindle]

18. I think 16's fine.

That's what it is in the UK - are American teens really that much more immature? (And if they are, isn't it because they're more sheltered and coddled?)

I agree with the first poster that driving is a lot more dangerous - certainly more likely to cause injury to others - than sex.

[subcomhd]

22. That's what I picked - basically because it seems to be the standard around the world

BTW - it's 17 in Texas, with some sliding scale exceptions when both are under 18. We have had some real injustices here were 17-18 year olds have had to register as offenders for having sex with their 15 year old girlfriends.

[Zywiec]

23. Wow, just talking about the age of consent gets a thread unrec'd

On edit:

Maybe there should be a poll about age of consent for men and one poll for women.

I bet there would be a disparity in what people think.

[ZombieHorde]

24. My polls come with an automatic unrec'd rating. nt

[Echo In Light]

25. It may have more to do w/it being perceived as yet another in a long line of Polanski threads

[Zix]

30. Some people think polls are inherently bad.

[Rex]

26. I think taking advantage of a younger person's natural innocence is wrong

no matter what the pre-teen-teen-young adult's age.

Kids today are growing up faster and smarter then we did even in elementary school. As such, they still lack, completely, the ability to tell when an older person is talking advantage of their naiveness of the world based on a simple lack of experience.

Picking an exact age is difficult, but common sense would dictate you should NOT be having sex with a 13 year old. Period. This ain't the 12th century. We should have some better standards as 'modern humans'. Or one would hope we would.

[tigereye]

55. thank you!

Maybe this whole thing is even ickier since I have a teen age kid, but somehow I don't think so.

[Rex]

67. TY. I just think it is wrong to use subterfuge on a young person.

Not saying all teens-young people are stupid; just that it is impossible for them to comprehend certain situations based on their lack of experience. I bet you are a great mom, teens today are so complex and messed up in the head just on their own. Last thing they need is a predator taking advantage of their already confused brain.

[Odin2005]

89. "Childhood Innocence" is a Victorian Age myth.

That's no excuse for a middle-aged man having sex with a 13yo, but in most societies people were considered adults when they became sexually mature, around 14.

The myth served a purpose back in the day to discourage child labor and parents marrying off 14yo daughters, but that was 100 years ago. Now days it has become an excuse to prevent consensual sex between teens.

[Gwendolyn]

27. Either you're old enough to have sex, or you're not.

The age of consent in most places is 16 and it seems to work just fine. It seems unlikely that moving the age of consent up to 18 is going to have any beneficial effect. Not sure what the stats are, but I don't think all that many teens make it to 18.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

33. There are so many things wrong with that statement it's not even funny. (nt)

[Gwendolyn]

34. Such as? n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

41. Have you never heard of sexual abuse of very little children?!

You can "have sex" at almost any age, especially women/girls. That doesn't mean you can consent to it legitimately.

[Gwendolyn]

44. WTF are you going on about? Who said a word about young children?

The age of consent is currently 16. What people are proposing is best would be to raise it to 18 or 20. Are 16-year-olds "very little children?"

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

58. The title of your post is the problem

"Either you're old enough to have sex, or you're not."

That, clearly, is not a viable benchmark and makes no proper sense whatsoever.

[Gwendolyn]

65. The OP is asking basically, if there should be a legally imposed tiered system for consent.

I find that ridiculous, yes. What I said makes perfect sense and the law agrees with me, since that's how it works today. They picked an age and that's the cut off.

How does the other scenario work? People get slotted into "age groupings?" So a 20-year-old female having sex with a 17-year-old male gets thrown into prison for 7 years? Or a 30-year-old having sex with a 20-year-old is punished with jail time and sex offender status forever? Because that's exactly what people are proposing in this thread. Thanks, but I don't want to live in such a comedy of a nanny state. It's one thing to encourage a sense of morality, quite another to run people's lives right down to the minutia. How would you even enforce such nonsense?

[cliffordu]

29. My grandmother was married at 12, gave birth at 13 and never looked back.

the coal mining towns of W. Virginny were places short on adolescence.

[Zywiec]

31. How long did you grandfather serve time?

:rofl:

:hide:

[cliffordu]

46. He got life.

[Zywiec]

47. Good for him. n/t

[cliffordu]

48. Folks stayed married for good in them days.....

And to hear grandma, love had little to do with it...Getting a piece of ground and making a family to help work it was the motive...They were dirt fucking poor and wanted out of the mines and the company owned town. They eventually did.

[Thickasabrick]

52. You should really write a book about them. They sound like a

wonderful couple.

[Odin2005]

90. IIRC there was a depression era movie about hicks in Appalachia marrying tweens.

"Child Bride" I think it's called.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

32. 3/4ths the age of the older person involved.

Not only is that a common-sense rule of thumb, it's also good taste! Take that, Hugh Hefner!

[snooper2]

69. so a 15 year old girl and a 20 year old guy...

They girl is either in 8th or 9th grade and the guy is a freshman or sophmore in college....

little out of wack there with your 3/4ths age rule...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

74. She'd be either a freshman or sophomore.

I was a sophomore at 15 years old. And yeah, that's really not that bad if they're dating a college frosh/sophomore. It was pretty routine for senior guys to date freshmen girls - adding another year really isn't that big of deal. It certainly could be worse.

But if you want to be anal (no pun intended) about a guideline that'd never pass, make it 13/16ths.

[cali]

35. 18? what a bunch of old reactionaries.

[BlooInBloo]

36. (shrug) I think 16 is more reasonable, but I can see a line of thought for 18...

Namely: the age of signing contracts (such as prenup) equally the age of hooking up.

[cliffordu]

49. And military service.....

[BlooInBloo]

59. Yep. In any case, the point of prohibitive laws is to minimize certain behaviors...

In cases where you have exactly ZERO chance of significantly impacting said behaviors, there's little point in outlawing it.

I figure 16 is about the right time to give up. Their hotcrotches are certain to outweigh anything the law says by that point.

[cali]

66. I don't see how they're related.

[ScreamingMeemie]

91. Old reactionary? Hardly.

[Blue_In_AK]

37. 16

In Alaska there is a lesser degree of SAM if the perpetrator is 17 or younger and has sex with a 13, 14 or 15-year-old. I myself fell into that "victim" category many years ago, and I would have been truly disturbed if charges had been brought against my 16-year-old boyfriend ...

[depakid]

63. And there are quite a few DU'ers who woudn't care one iota what you thought

or what kind of psychological grief it would have caused you....

[JDPriestly]

38. I voted 18, but then, many people leave home for college at 17.

If you are old enough to leave home for school or to work, you are old enough to make decisions about your sex life. Whether or not you are mature enough is another matter. Are we ever mentally mature enough to have sex? Probably not until we are in our 60s, but by that time we are too mature to have children.

14 seems young, but I believe it was the age at which marriage was permitted for girls under common law. That's my recollection. When I heard that, I was shocked. But in early American 16-year-old girls were frequently already married (at least that is my impression).

Physically, 18 is probably the correct age for reaching enough sexual maturity to start a healthy family.

[katandmoon]

39. What sick fucks voted for 13?

[VMI Dem]

40. Young hipsters, apparently.

[eShirl]

43. Polansky fans.

[seabeyond]

82. same ones that justify 12 yr olds as strippers, once girl hits puberty free game, could be 10

but that doesnt matter.

those men

they can get a woman, they need to prey on kids.....

[On the Road]

42. I Have to Go with Isaac Hayes's Character on South Park:

Stan: But Chef, when IS the right time for us to start having sex?

Chef: It's very simple, children; The right time to start having sex is…seventeen.

Kyle: Seventeen?

Chef: Seventeen.

Sheila: So, you mean seventeen as long as you're in love?

Chef: Nope, just seventeen.

Gerald: But what if you're not ready at seventeen?

Chef: Seventeen. You're ready.

[tjwash]

45. Half the other persons age plus seven

nt

[ZombieHorde]

79. 2 / 2 = 1 + 7 = 8. Hmmmm. 60 / 2 = 30 + 7 = 37. Hmmmmm. I don't know about that formula. nt

[RedCloud]

50. For an amoeba, a few seconds.

[tigereye]

53. 13, 14, 15, even 16? HUH?

:wtf:


Why should an allegedly mature adult (age 30!) be able to be involved with teens that young? That's crazy! And the people who think that's acceptable?

C'mon now.

[Odin2005]

92. My best friend's BF is 31, she's 20, they met when she was 17.

:shrug:

[Phoonzang]

57. 16...like most first-world countries. nt

[JuniperLea]

60. Too bad sense doesn't kick in at the same time as the hormones...

I don't have a problem with 16 and 17-year-olds having sex with kids their own age, as long as they aren't having unprotected sex.

That said, a 30-year-old shouldn't be having sex with anyone under the age of 18... so I have to say, 18.

[Liberal_in_LA]

61. 29

just kidding

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. Another poll question: What's the oldest age you want your 18 yr old kid to date

I bet those who vote for a 16 year old partner for a 30 year old would have a different reaction if THEIR 16 year old daughter brought home her 30 year old 'date'.

[nomorenomore08]

71. And that's why "propriety" and "legality" are, and should be, two different things.

nt

[Gwendolyn]

72. There are these concepts called Parental Control and Instilling Decent Values.

Not everything requires a police presence or the interference of the state for people to manage their lives.

If DUers had their way, almost the entire world's population would be incarcerated. :rofl:

[Liberal_in_LA]

73. true enough

[seabeyond]

83. there you go. that is the question. nt

[Juche]

86. I wouldn't like it if I had an 18 year old daughter who dated an asshole either

It doesn't mean I think we should legislate rudeness.

[Odin2005]

68. 16

There would be appropriate "Romeo and Juliet" exceptions so an 18yo isn't thrown in jail because his GF is 15.

[Touchdown]

70. They haul french fries out of a dangerous grease pit at 15.

They can work on a dangerous construction site at 15, be on a fishing boat at 15, stand in the hot sun at Disney World wearing a Tigger costume at 15. If they're mature enough to do these things, then they're mature enough to handle human nature. Also... If they know how to put those fries in a paper bag, they know how to use a condom.

Who made this arbitrary 18 number up anyhow? Just because it takes until then to educate them in the ways of society, doesn't mean they haven't matured in other areas before hand. I think it has MUCH less to do with a kid's maturity, than the parent's maturity.

Lorena McFly: "When I was your age, I never chased a boy. I never kissed a boy on the lips, or, or sat in a parked car with a boy!" Back To The Future.

[azmouse]

76. I wonder how closely the age we think should be legal to consent

matches the age at which we personally became sexually active?

[ZombieHorde]

80. Good wonder, I wonder this as well. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

81. If one is less than 18, I like the +/- 2 years with a floor of 14

[underpants]

84. don't fuck a 13 year old

that's a good place to start

[Juche]

85. 35

Or when you can recite the entire bible from memory.

Whichever comes last.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

87. who the hell voted 13 and 14??????

disgusting.

[seabeyond]

93. at least 9 people think they oughta be able to. nt

[robo50]

88. EVEN IF it were 18, the 30 year old has a problem cavorting around

with someone as immature as most 18 year olds.

Whoever thinks a 30 year old should be FINE with someone about HALF their age, where did YOU grow up?

Teachers and coaches are often 22 - 30, same for police, repairpersons, nurses, heck even DOCTORS! Should those people in your community be OKAY with screwing a child of 16?

[Old Hob]

95. everyone matures differently. No one specific age is appropriate for all adolescents because of this

as such, unless we're going to test them and license them to fuck, as we do for their driving privileges for example, 18 is probably the safest bet.

[Forkboy]

97. 87