The age of consent or statutory rape laws are intended to protect people like every other law is. The people in this case being minors.
The rationality behind the law is that a minor, due primarily to hormones, may,(keyword being may) not be capable of the making the best choice regarding sexual acts.
In short, hormones make you hornier, horniness can affect judgement, affected judgement = nonconsent, you get the idea.
Unfortunately, this isn't as cut-and-dry as the lawmakers would have you believe. Nothing about it is.
There are several, serious problems with these laws, such as they are, and I'm here to take the time to explain them.
1.The blatant hypocrisy regarding what constitutes a "minor" and the implications wherein.
As you can see here, the most common age in America is actually 16. Other states have it at 17 or 18.
That right there speaks volumes. How can anyone say "group x is incapable of consent" when the group itself is a variable?
Essentially this law says anyone 18 and above partaking in a sexual relationship with people between those ages is either a law-abiding citizen or a sexual predator depending on what state they were born in.
Hell, some states have it as high as 21. So, those of you who've ever done an 18, 19, or 20 year old at 21 or older would all be called rapists too. If you were born there. If not, you're completely clean.
Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense when I spell it out like this, does it?
2.The dangers of presumption.
The big problem with laws in general is that they don't discriminate.
A man who only stole to feed his hungry family is still a thief, a man who only killed in order to avenge a lost loved one is still a murderer.
Nowhere does the lack of distinction do more harm than in these laws, and it harms both parties involved.
On the minor's side, it tells them in every scenario, no matter how much thought they've given it, no matter how much they love and trust the one they're with, they will be considered incapable of making one simple choice.
Now... Historically speaking, laws that have deprived a person of their right to choose for themselves haven't been looked too fondly on, and haven't lasted, and for good reason.
(Frankly, these laws are about the closest thing to slavery we still have...)
For that matter the adult in question also suffers from the law's presumptuous nature. It doesn't matter to the law if he or she's good or bad. It doesn't matter if the adult would never in a million years do anything to harm the minor, nor, again how much he/she loves them.
If they break this law, they're considered a rapist, and get the same treatment an actual rapist does.
No matter how you slice it, this is simply not logical.
Sex is not an inherently harmful act, and it does not become so merely because one person's draft age and the other isn't.
3.It is not proven fact that having a higher hormone count automatically overrides one's judgement at all times. The facts themselves say the opposite.
Treating every case like that is nothing but misguided presumptuousness, as I said.
Simply being a tad bit hornier than the average joe does not mean one cannot sit down, think, and come to a decision for themselves, it only means, it could, keyword being could have a mild influence, at one time or another.
What so many forget is teenagers are still people, first and foremost. People with brains, standards, and ideas of their own, and therefore are more than capable of making their own choices, yes even choices as huge as deciding to have sex.
If you really think otherwise, if the law thinks otherwise, why do we let teenagers drive?
We put life and death in their hands every day with this incredibly stressful activity.
"It's not that stressful"? you say?
Think again.
You're really going to sit there with a straight face and tell me they can handle all that, but not sex?
Simply put...
By this logic everyone who's ever took an enhancement formula and got busy would be considered a victim of rape as well.
A higher libido is hardly equivalent to being drugged out of your skull or drunk off your ass.
4.The fact that laws themselves are not facts, and therefore are not always right. Likewise, things that are wrong aren't always illegal.
Yeah, that's pretty much it. Laws are not fact. They don't state what is, they state how things will be treated, and they're constantly changing. Some stay, some go, and some are just plain wrong in the first place, not just standing beside justice but opposing it.
Did you know that marital rape wasn't illegal until 1993? Yeah. Slavery was once legal, meth was once legal... in some parts of the world it's still legal to chop a man's hand off for shoplifting, or even to murder someone for their style.
The point is, "legal" and "right" do not, and have never gone, hand-in-hand.
5.These laws do much, much more harm than good, and they do nothing that a better system couldn't.
Ideally, the best system would involve making sure both parties are giving informed consent.
Sex ed would be mandatory, of course, and everyone who had any interest in having sex would be tested.
Tests would determine how mature they are, and determine how much they know about sex and it's potential consequences.
It would also serve to determine their character, making sure they have every intention of being straightforward with their sexual partner.
Oh, and of course, there should indeed be a bare minimum age. Too young is too young. A reasonable amount of physical development is important, too.
Bare minimum... I suppose 15 would be acceptable, if they passed all the above critieria.
Younger than that feels unnatural. I mean, if they were the same age, I suppose it'd be fine.
Once they passed the tests, they'd be given a card, which could be scanned for authenticity.
A "Criteria Card" you could say...
The new and improved system would ensure that neither the minor nor the adult in question would suffer needlessly because of corrupt laws run by dated values.
The minor would not feel powerless and demeaned, the adult would not be wrongfully branded a rapist and treated like one.
Everybody wins! Well, everybody that matters.
Congratulations, America! One of your most controversial and most broken laws now has a replacement that's superior in every way, courtesy of me, the greatest critical mind of all time.
You can thank me when you put it in place. Maybe with a humanitarian award? I want an awesome metal mask like that guy from New York. What was his name? Van Damme?
P.S. No, I am not trolling you dumb motherfuckers... It's called levity. I like to end things on a funny note.
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