Confusing to say the least
is the North American approach to sex, be it age-of-consent or under-age.
Example: "little miss" beauty pageants in which girls as young as 3 or 4 are paraded around wearing make up, ball gowns, etc. This can be extended to the recent "Junior American Idol" series on television.
Example: The United States is the largest creator of sexually explicit material in the world. It also has very restrictive laws governing sexual behavior and the creation of sexually explicit material.
Example: teen pregnancies in North America are on the rise, yet there is a strong anti-abortion movement, a myriad of roadblocks to access to birth control including a church prohibition.
Example: the return of syphillus as an STD, the growth of AIDS and other diseases, especially among the young.
Example: the "waif" look popularized in advertising
I could go on and on, but that's not the point here. The topic is sex and minors.
redEva is correct: It is time/age and society that dictates what is acceptable.
Our North American society is confused on the issue.
As an adult male, I have little interest in females who I perceive to be children - which is pretty much all females under age 18. The age is arbitrary - it is the perception that counts for me. I am attracted to women, not girls.
As an adult male parent, I find pedophilia reprehensible - I'd like to see such offenders spend six months in general population before the survivors get transferred to segregation.
As a parent, I know that children of all ages experiment with sex. This is normal and natural behaviour, and yet ...
I have had my daughter tell me she thought she was pregnant - and she was under 16 at the time. So this raised a few important questions: (1) does she have the child, either (2) to raise it herself or (3) leave it to her mother and I to raise? (4) How does this affect her future, (5) not to mention day to day life. (6) Does she have an abortion - (7) not to mention what do we feel about it? (8) Does the father have any say in this - he was under 16 too. (9) What about his parents?
And these are just the top-of-mind questions. It is not, no matter what any one says, a simple matter of age-of-consent.
Fortunately, she was not pregnant, so we did not have to pursue some of those avenues. It was a definite wake-up call, however. Yes, she was definitely old enough to have sex, but ... the consequences could have changed her life and the lives of others.
If you ask me (not that any did), until you have faced that kind of situation, you really can't speak about under-age sex.
Sex between children happens. Sex between adults happens. Our society likes to hide its head in the sand, pretending it doesn't, but ...
It is our responsibility as a caring society to ensure that proper sex education takes place, that pregnancy prevention resources are available to care for our children, and to see that our children do not become parents while they are still children.
We have not behaved responsibly, in my opinion.
Re: Confusing to say the least
Quote:
Originally posted by Fox
It is our responsibility as a caring society to ensure that proper sex education takes place, that pregnancy prevention resources are available to care for our children, and to see that our children do not become parents while they are still children.
We have not behaved responsibly, in my opinion.
Very well stated Fox. Though I may be just a tad bit biased. I agreed with everything you wrote! One has only to look at the examples set by our Northern European brothers and sisters, with lower teen pregnancy rates, lower STD rates and more explicit sexual health education at younger ages, to understand that we in the US can certainly care for our children's health in a more responsible manner.
