After all, we think a 14 year old should be in control of her body enough to decide on her own to have an abortion, so why isn't she old enough to consent to sex?
I'm thinking about this because of a case that's in the news today:
Kaitlyn Hunt, or “Kate,” has just refused a plea deal in a case that has focused the nation on discriminatory prosecutions and ways in which LGBT people are treated differently by some prosecutors. Kate Hunt, a high school senior who began a consensual relationship with a classmate three years her junior, when she was 17, was arrested when she turned 18 after her girlfriend’s parents demanded her arrest and expulsion from school.
The Florida prosecutor, Brian Workman, offered her a deal vastly different from those generally offered to teens in her situation engaged in opposite-sex consensual relationships. Instead of offering her a misdemeanor charge Hunt is being charged with two felonies. Her plea deal would include her being forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life, no possibility of her case being overturned or records sealed, and forced to serve two years’ house arrest.
“Hunt will appear in court June 20, and could face 15 years in prison if convicted... (source)
I'm curious what your thoughts are on the question in the subject line as well as on this case.
@ Angela Evangelia There is no visual description there about the history of Mohamad. You specifically mentioned sexual body parts of a 14-year old girl and an older male and sexual activity between them. You did not do the same with Mohamad - you only mentioned a marriage but did not describe its consummation.
Actually Angela, Mohammed married a 6 year old but chose to wait until she was 9 before consummating the relationship... is he not merciful?
I've always found the word, "titilating," titilating.
"is he not merciful?"
"May Piss Be Upon Him"
"I've always found the word, "titilating," titilating."
Now find the 'L' you left out of titillating ; )
(and dont go back to look at how I spelt it before.)
OK, you got me, but as I was typing it, I wasn't thinking about "l's" --
RE: "Wow, what a dirty mind." - I've always liked that in a woman --
"Saying that men "just don't get it" is not only cliched but ad hominem."
That doesn't prevent it being the truth though and I do apologize if I've offended you.
Pretty much the average man cannot know the full scope of the problem and I see that it satisfies you that the young mothers might get pre-natal care because thats all they need isnt it?
'She'll be right' ....
It makes its validity as a true statement questionable and as our culture matures it becomes even more so. It's a sexist stereotype - put it to rest.
And simple prenatal care does not satisfy me. A young, first time, mother needs all the emotional and psychological support she can get (and really not just the first time ones either). Our culture is more oriented in shaming such young girls. You can thank the fundamentalist types for that. A girl's mental health is vital for her survival and that of her child (if she wants to carry it to term).
And, unfortunately, our society only considers a person's general functionality to determine if "they are alright" - men and women. Our current mental health support system is pathetic.
@Richard - Vagina and penis are not dirty words.
Do you feel just as offended by the term Child Pornography?
Well, isn't this a fun topic?
A child's power to make sensible decisions depends on their specific mental growth rate and what experiences they learn from. Different minds mature into having good judgment and self-control at different ages. To me, it's a big 'Duh' that a person's mind, views, tastes and perspective of life in general changes as they age.
I certainly don't think a 14yr old should be registered as a sex offender. Talk about crippling a life before it starts! And I think it's an arrogant act of homophobia to treat these two girls any differently than a boy/girl couple.
I sympathize with the 14yr old, she may have just been innocently expressing love for the other girl. However, I have a serious hatred of all types of sex abuse, especially America's unspoken favorite pastime, childhood sexual abuse. I agree with the 18yr old being regarded as an adult. Sorry, there has to be an age limit on this kind of fun.
Adult retrospective studies show that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men were sexually abused before the age of 18 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2006). This means there are more than 42 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S.
I am one of those survivors. You can't imagine the disturbing affect it can have on your life.
I in no way feel it's my place to tell another person how to live. I just think that the longer children can wait before they start acting like adults and making potentially life-altering decisions the better.
"America's unspoken favorite pastime, childhood sexual abuse."
Finally a comment from a man who lives in the real world and who is not afraid to mention the elephant in the room.
"You can't imagine the disturbing affect it can have on your life."
And thats why a lot of the comments here bother me - people who dont know - trying to tell people who do - how it should be.
"Child sexual abuse" is a product of the definition one uses. Define it broadly and there is a lot of it; define it narrowly and there is a lot less of it. What child sexual abuse is isn't a fact like "metals expand when heated," it's an expression of the particular morays a society wants to codify in a definition, which are often largely based on religious views (despite what Biblical characters did 2500 years ago). If you want evidence that it's just a matter of definition, look here to see how wide the variations are in terms of when a child reaches the age of sexual consent around the world, which always figures into how child sexual abuse is defined. You'll be shocked. It's 14 in Georgia but 20 in Tunisia. Latin American countries sometimes have separate ages of consent. In Colombia it's 12 for girls, 14 for boys; in Panama it's the same. Often, "backward" countries are far more conservative than prosperous Western countries. In Cameroon it's 21 while it's 14 in Iceland. The point is, child sexual abuse is what someone calls child sexual abuse.