Homemade go-kart laws?

Do i have a good argument for getting rid of age of consent laws?

• Firrstly, age of consent laws can be very confusing for kids as there are such huge differences in opinions. For example in the USA, it can be 18. In the neighbouring country Mexico it can be 12 in some districts. Thats a huge difference. Such indecisiveness among lawmakers can breed contempt for the law. Secondly, there have been many cases where age of consent laws have ruined many young peoples lives. For example 17 year old Marlow Wilson was jailed for receiving consensual oral sex from a 15 year old at a party. He received a 10 year sentence, but out of sheer luck served only two. These laws are indiscriminate and do not take into consideration individual circumstances. Thirdly, one of the main arguments for age of consent laws is to tackle teen pregnancies. However, western countries with very low age of consent laws such as Sapin where it is 13 have far lower teen pregnancy rates than the US where age of consent is generally between 16 and 18. Fourthly, such laws are intrusive to male teens. According to some studies, men reach their sexual peak in their teens. It is unfair for elderly men or middle aged lawmakers to pass laws whose only affect would be to make youngsters feel ashamed about their hormones or natural curiosity. Fifthly, such laws were initially intended to protect children from predators, but in practise these laws have shifted and extended their focus to meddling in teenagers private lives. Sixthly, teenagers have a tendency to rebel. Therefore passing such laws might arguably have the opposite effect. Seventhly, a lot of advocates of such laws tend to follow conservative political views which are often motivated by religious values such as "abstinence" or "no sex before marriage". But why should religious values be imposed upon the irreligious? Eighthly. puberty rather than date of birth determines the sexual maturity of humans and other animals. Also mental maturity is not always linked to someones age, but rather can differ widely among people of various age groups. Finally, people cannot help at what age they fall in love. Some people do not fall in love until their thirties. Others do in their early teens. It is unethical to allow strangers in suits and ties to interfere in such intimate, personal and sensitive situations. Such matters should rather be handled by parents.

• Answer:

  You are right that there are inconsistencies in the age of consent, and that it can cause problems in places like the USA that has different ages in different states. I also agree with your point 7 - teenagers who aren't educated about sex will try for themselves, and end up with unwanted pregnancies. As far as your 8th point goes, teenagers reach physical sexual maturity a long time before they reach mental sexual maturity, and that is the reason that the laws are there. Full sexual maturity, both physical and mental, is when you are ready to bring a child into this world, and support it. Now I realise that setting the age of consent to somewhere in the late 20's isn't going to work, but the line has to be drawn somewhere, and it will always be an arbitrary line. Some people will be sexually mature before that age, and others won't be, and they are the ones that the laws are there to protect. OK, I admit that there will be 15 year old people who are more sexually mature, and responsible, than some people twice that age, but as I said earlier, there has to be a line somewhere. I can see your point of view, I was a teenager once, but I've also had children going through their teens, so I've seen it from both sides of the argument. Many countries tackle your 5th point by relaxing the laws when both parties are within one or two years of each other, maybe other countries, and states, should consider this approach? From what you have stated in your question I think you may have seen something like this, but I've attached a link to a web site that is regularly updated with ages of consent around the world. A far more urgent problem is the countries where gay sex is allowed for women, but illegal for men, or the countries where sex before marriage is illegal.