If you could change the legal age what would you change it to?

[Guest lucerpher]

And why! I'm just curious to know.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age

 

legal age of what?

AOC? (age of consent)?

drinking age?

voting age?

driving age?

 

there are many different legal ages... to which do you refer?

 

the only one i'd change is drinking age. if someone is old enough to vote, he's old enough to decide to drink or not.

 

AOC should be standardized throughout the nation. (shock hearing that from a reaganite, i know!) no one under 18 is capable of making an adult choice when facing pressure to put out from someone who IS an adult. yes, i speak from personal experience.

[Bilbo]

RE: If you could change the legal age

 

Should it be legal for a 16 or up year old to have sex with someone who is no more than two years older than he/she is? If you're old enough to drive ....

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age

 

are you asking me or the board in general? if you're asking me, i guess i'm allowed to respond, but i've been otherwise gagged. actually, if you want to know my views on the issue, send me a private message & i'll let you know.

[Guest NakedTony]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

I think the legal age of 21 for entering contracts, etc. is appropriate and reasonable. However, I would make less things (such as drinking and smoking) dependent upon that legal age. I agree that drinking and smoking should be standardized in all of the USA at the age of 18.

 

Also agree with the sexual age of consent at 16 PROVIDING the other partner is not more than two years older. There's that silly-assed case in Utah where some old fart with multiple wives started "marrying" girls as young as 13!! Understand he's in jail now and hope it's a long visit. I consider what he did to be child rape parading around as a religion.

[+ deej]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>I think the legal age of 21 for entering contracts, etc. is

>appropriate and reasonable.

 

So a boy genius programmer who lands a fat contract at 16 that will pay his college tuition shouldn't be allowed to accept it?

 

I find arbitrary age settings laughable. I've known 12-year-olds who comport themselves with more dignity and class than many posters on this board who are presumably all of "legal age".

 

Driving licenses are set at 16 for standardization purposes. Nothing more. (Much like having the gas pedal on the right.) It is a convenience -- an affordance of modern society. I know some 16 year olds who are not physically coordinated enough to command a motor vehicle. I also know some 14 year olds who are. (I have a lot of cousins and they all take breeding seriously.)

 

Much of what is being discussed here is framed as "right for everyone". But many things (like sex or drinking) depend a lot on the kid and the upbringing s/he's had. Arbitrary one-size-fits-all rules just plain won't work.

 

JOMO

[Guest NakedTony]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>So a boy genius programmer who lands a fat contract at 16

>that will pay his college tuition shouldn't be allowed to

>accept it?

>

>I find arbitrary age settings laughable. I've known

>12-year-olds who comport themselves with more dignity and

>class than many posters on this board who are presumably all

>of "legal age".

 

There are legal ways for the 16 year old genius to earn the fat paycheck and pay for college without having to lower the age of consent for everyone. Quite frankly, I'm very glad that most 16 year olds can't enter into contracts for cars, houses, and other things. Think of what it would do to our economy if we made it legal for snot-nosed kids to get credit cards and charge to their hearts content!!

 

I'm not a big fan either of arbitrary age settings. But, IMHO, some of them make sense.

 

And, for your assessment of some of the posters on this board, you and I are in total agreement. Their bodies may be of legal age but that certainly doesn't correlate with their mental age. :+

[+ deej]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>Quite frankly, I'm very glad

>that most 16 year olds can't enter into contracts for cars,

>houses, and other things. Think of what it would do to our

>economy if we made it legal for snot-nosed kids to get

>credit cards and charge to their hearts content!!

 

Ummm... they can. My first car loan was at the age of 17, with no co-signing. But my folks made sure I understood how payments work and made sure I kept up with them. This, after a year of making me pay my own insurance.

 

Responsibility is something you can teach. It doesn't accrue at a certain age.

 

I have a friend who is FLABBERGASTED at the number of "pre-approved" credit card offers her college freshman son receives.

 

>And, for your assessment of some of the posters on this

>board, you and I are in total agreement. Their bodies may be

>of legal age but that certainly doesn't correlate with their

>mental age. :+

 

Yep. :+

[+ deej]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

And by the way, the whole subject of college freshmen (and some high school students) receiving credit card offers is sparking quite a controversy among adult webmasters over age verification.

 

Clearly, asking for a credit card for age verification isn't enough. Heck, I know kids who carry "secondary" cards from their folks' accounts for "emergencies".

 

Age and adulthood is a sticky wicket no matter how you slice it.

[Matt_Vancouver]

Age Of Consent

 

Whatever the age is, wherever you live, it should be the same for hetero sex, and gay sex. Anything otherwise is discriminatory.

I understand the arguements about predators, especially those Chicken Hawks who prey on young, fresh boys, but there are predators that prey on young girls as well.

In Canada, I believe the age of consent is 14, and 16 for gay penetrative sex. This may have changed since I last checked. I personally think 14 is too young and impressionable. But if a child is raised in a household that creates an environment for discussion, and feelings of self worth and confidence, a 14 year old is capable of making intelligent enough desisions about having sex. But of course most households aren't like this.

So basically age of consent, along with driving age, voting age, and drinking age, are all estimations, and for some, the legal age will be appropriate, for others, it could be years before they are mature enough to make proper desisions without causing personl harm.

Matt(was ready at 14: )

[SoCal]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

I really thought the legal age (here in Calif?) for contracts, property purchase etc., IS 18? We're goofy here, 16 to drive, 18 to be a legal adult, but you can't drink until you are 21!!

 

The sexual "age of consent" is really tricky - I feel it should be left at 18 to "consenting adults" only because it is so easy to rationalize exceptions to any other rule.

[marc anthony]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

The only problem with the 18 year sexual age of consent is that it means that an 18 year old high school senior has to go to jail for having sex with a 17 year old high school junior, even if both agree. It also means that no one can get married under 18, or that every pregnancy in a less than 18 year old girl would need to be investigated for possible law violations.

 

It is tricky business... and any law for sexual age of consent would need to have more than just an age to define it.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>it means that an 18 year old high school senior has to

>go to jail for having sex with a 17 year old high school

>junior,

 

yes, (s)he should go to prison.

 

>every pregnancy in a less than

>18 year old girl would need to be investigated for possible

>law violations.

 

it should.

[Guest DevonSFescort]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>>it means that an 18 year old high school senior has to

>>go to jail for having sex with a 17 year old high school

>>junior,

>

>yes, (s)he should go to prison.

>

>>every pregnancy in a less than

>>18 year old girl would need to be investigated for possible

>>law violations.

>

>it should.

>

 

Harsh! Why?

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

because it is child abuse.. clear & simple.

[BewareofNick]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

How is it child abuse if an 18 year old girl has sex with her 17 year old boyfriend?

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

because he's not an adult & she is.

[Guest DevonSFescort]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>because he's not an adult & she is.

 

Can you support that assessment -- other than just to say that since the law says eighteen-year-olds are adults, than eighteen-year-olds are adults? And while we're on the subject, do you think adults have a stellar track record at "knowing what is best" and managing the sexuality of teenagers?

 

I'm not saying a lot of teenagers don't make tragic mistakes, including in their sexual encounters with adults. But there are other teenagers, particularly many gay ones, who simply have a lot of self-awareness and know and understand their sexual needs from an early age. Such people are precocious and often find it hard to be satisfied by their peers. I don't know that they're very well served by the criminalization of their sexuality, nor by patronizing assumptions about their innocence from the -- don't look now -- often equally fucked up adult world.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

we can discuss it privately if you want.

[bluenix]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>we can discuss it privately if you want.

 

You are smart and articulate enough to "discuss" it here.

 

People on this site suppose you to love a good challenge, but I'm willing to bet that, in truth, you HATE confrontation. Like Lear, you strut to and fro, and make a hell of a lot of noise, insulting as many people as you can fit in. But in truth?

 

Well, I don't know yet. But keep posting. I'll figure you out.

 

In another thread somebody said they thought they were getting a glimpse of the Ethan behind the curtain, and you responded, "There is no curtain."

 

Bullshit.

[Guest DCescortBOY]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

dude, people complain that i post too much & kidnap all the threads.

i'm trying to refrain from doing that here, because this is something i feel VERY strongly about & i recognize the potential for it to become an all-Ethan all the time kind of thing.

 

you can't pull me in one direction & push me in another. either you're tired of my postings or you're not.

[bluenix]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

>dude, people complain that i post too much & kidnap all the

>threads.

>i'm trying to refrain from doing that here, because this is

>something i feel VERY strongly about & i recognize the

>potential for it to become an all-Ethan all the time kind of

>thing.

>

>you can't pull me in one direction & push me in another.

>either you're tired of my postings or you're not.

 

I never said I was tired of you. In fact, as I posted earlier today, I am attending to what you write like never before.

 

If participation here means anything at all, people who feel strongly about something need at least to attempt a rational explanation of those feelings. This hit-and-run crap you engage in is such bullshit.

 

God help me. I'm starting to like you.

[Guest WetDream]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

Ethan: How would you deal with this situation? A 16 year old boy knows he is gay and has "fooled" around with his peers. He wants to see what a sexual experience is like with an adult so he picks an obvious fag, goes over to his house and forces himself on the man. As far as the teenager is concerned, it wasn't an issue of being attracted to the older guy, it was just about loosing his virginity. The adult, after initial reluctance, caved in and did the deed. Left to himself, he would never have made any untoward advances toward this kid -- or any other. This happened to me. I was the provocative youngster.

 

I am really interested in your opinion on this subject and it seems others are as well. If you would prefer to send me a private message, that's OK as well.

[phage]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

That’s very interesting. You’re the third person today (First Blue and then myself) to mention pursuing and getting older guys when we were fifteen or sixteen. It’s a wonder that none of us ever got anyone arrested.

 

Mine was openly gay and I schemed to be “stranded” at his apartment where I was politely offered the couch. He never would have initiated anything and was so guilt ridden afterwards that he wouldn’t do it again – no matter how much I tried. I have always liked guys in their mid-twenties and not much has changed. (The irony is that I’m getting old enough that the attraction is once again becoming age inappropriate!)

[Guest cp8036]

RE: If you could change the legal age...

 

18yo and 17yo, or 55yo and 17yo.

 

The example of an 18yo high school boy and his 17yo girlfiend is probably not what the AOC laws were designed for. In black and white terms this is clearly a violation of the law. I don't think many law enforcement agencies will aggressively seek out 18yo high senoirs for this crime alone. If some other infractions are present, drug use, curfews, DUI, date rape, etc., the AOC may be added to the list.

 

Since I am not a lawyer, I am not too sure, but the above example probably does not violate the spirit of the law it was written.

 

More likely to prevent someone significantly older from exploiting a younger, less mature teen.