Re: Sex, authority, and social norms

mark@unicorn.com
Thu, 5 Feb 1998 09:25:42 -0800 (PST)


Kathryn Aegis [aegis@igc.apc.org] wrote:
>As puberty begins to occur at earlier ages in humans, the age of
>consent probably could stand to be lowered by several years, but
>basic principles of consent and maturity remain problematic.

Personally I think this whole idea of an 'age of consent' (that noone is
able to give consent until one particular day of their lives and that
anyone can give consent afterwards) is one more ancient myth we need to
eliminate. I like the libertarian idea that's been posted here before;
any 'child' who can prove to a court that they are able to make their
own decisions should be treated as an adult from that time onwards,
regardless of age. Seems pretty clear, simple and flexible to me.

>I'll
>agree that some adults probably are not ready for sex and that some
>younger folk are, but when you plan to live for over 100 years, a few
>years of waiting can't hurt!

Unless being treated as a kid when you're perfectly able to handle life
by yourself screws you up so much that you need years to recover.

Mark