The age of consent should be lowered to 13.

Hebephilia, as noted by another poster above. For its part, incidentally, paedophilia is presently defined as a psychiatric disorder, not a crime. You have thus conflated three things - hebephilia, paedophilia, and child abuse. I believe you would get on well with some of our Vatican-based friends, who wish to add homosexuality into this nonsense on stilts mixture (try Cardinal Bertone).

Have the military contacted you yet about putting your clairvoyance skills to good use?

EDIT: Re your original post: you're also aware that statutory rape applies to those below 13, right?

The Vatican? The army? Clairvoyance? Where did I mention child abuse?


I have no idea what you are ranting about nor why your getting so annoyed but I couldn't really care less. Have at the 13 year olds if you wish, my moral compass leads to me not agree with the thought though of an 18 year old going out with a 13 year old.

Is it purely due to societal norms that such an age gap would be "worrying"? Or is there anything intrinsically different between a 13 year old having sex with another 13 year old vs having sex with a 40 year old? Is there any real necessity or practical benefit in the two partners being close together in age? Or is it just that it is a societal norm, and society doesn't generally look kindly on deviants?
I agree that plenty of people would find the idea 'disgusting', but then not long ago people would have probably said the same about homosexual or interracial relationships. Societal norms can change.

Also, do you think that a sexual relationship between a 13 year old and a 53 year old is equally "worrying" and "wrong" as a sexual relationship between say, an 18 year old and a 58 year old? (Same age gap). Do you think society and the law should make arrangements to restrict the latter relationship as well?

I have made no judgement on either of you pair's opinions on going out with 13 year olds. I was simply pointing out that your attack, in the way it confused several separate things, was unhelpful.

Child abuse: You confused several things: because he went out with a 13yo, he must love 13 yos (questionable); because he loves 13 yos, he must be a paedophile (wrong); because he is a paedophile, he must be a child molester. If you can't see what's wrong with this now, I doubt you ever will.

The Vatican: wrongly associating certain morally reprehensible actions with things that you personally dislike is also practised by our Catholic buddies. Certain amongst their number aimed to discredit homosexuality by associating it with child abuse (ironically, to defend their own institution's record on the crime). Having such a strong moral compass, I presume that you would see the conflation of homosexuality with child rape as wrong; thus, I presume you can likewise see the problem with what your reasoning.

Military/clairvoyance: you knew for a fact that he 'would have eventually' had sex with a girl three years under the age of consent. Seen as you can tell intentions and the future so well, I was wondering if you would put your skills to good use.

As an aside: I've been to parts of rural Spain where an 18/19 yo and a 13 yo going out is completely normal. They were as vehement as you are in rejecting - without a moment's reflection - the opposing view. My question, then, is how you are so certain that you - brought up in a culture that explicitly reflects the high age of consent - are absolutely correct, and all relationships between early and late teens must be harmful to the younger partner.

I bore of this discussion, I merely stated an opinion, I am entitled to it as you are to yours but I have no intention of having a debate nor a discussion about this. If you have more to say, as I am sure your informative and pedantic self do, I have nothing more to add.

Trust me, I care less than you...but I'm not sure what the point in stating an opinion you're not prepared to discuss/debate/justify is. Isn't that kind of having your cake and eating it?

Does anyone truly imagine that the age of consent stops any sexual activity?

No, but I don't think that's really what the debate is about. It's about whether 13 year olds are mature enough to consent to sex with adults.

It's fine as it is. It's there to protect young people from abuse. In the vast majority of underage sex, no one bats an eyelid because it's not harming anyone. When it is abusive, the law is there to be put to use.

And in any case, most 13 year olds are just really not having sex with 18 year olds.

Also we are in Britain. The age of consent is 16.

Does anyone truly imagine that the age of consent stops any sexual activity?

Why should it be about that?

If it makes no practical difference, I see little argument for or against lowering the age to 13.

Can you provide a verifiable source for this statistic please; the reason for asking being that the Durex survey evidenced the average age of loss of virginity in the UK was 16.3 years. Britain has the ignoble reputation of being the country where the age at loss of virginity is the youngest in the world!

Below the age of 16 years boys should still be playing with their Action Men and girls with their Barbie dolls...in a non-sexual manner!

You played with Action man when you were 15?

It's stupid and pointless to lock someone up because they had sex with a teenager. It's stupid, teens have sex with teens and adults have sex with adults, so why can't adults have sex with teens? Hell I have several friends who could go to prison for having sex with their 13-17 year old girlfriends, just because they are 18-21 years old. Hell right now I'm interested in a woman who is 17, but we wouldn't legally be able to have sex because I'm 18. My last girlfriend was 13 years old, and that was when I was 18 also. It's just a really stupid rule. There are people who have gone to prison and are registered sex offenders because they had sex with the person who is currently their wife, but they weren't when they had sex. Technically it's not pedophilia if they are 13 or older, so it has nothing to do with pedophilia. In some US states you can get married at 13. It's just a pointless law that puts good people behind bars. At 13 they are a teenager and able to make their own decisions. Who else would like the age of consent to be lowered to 13?

I've never played with an Action Man...now bows and arrows and sherrif badges and rifles are another matter!

I certainly never played with a male's genitals when I was fifteen.