The age of consent should be changed to 25. The brain does not fully develop until then and so anyone over the age of 25 who dates 18-24 years old are preying on children.

wtknight · 2022-10-04T17:10:33+00:00

Re-flaired to CMV as this post is making an affirmative claim

JDWhiz96 · 2022-10-04T16:08:05+00:00

If the age of consent is raised to 25 then so should the drinking age, age to serve/get drafted, age to purchase a house, etc. This isn’t feasible and also illogical due to the number of things that would have to change with it.

AstronautLoveShack · 2022-10-04T16:08:56+00:00

The age of consent is 18 in many states and kids aren't even waiting that long. I wouldn't expect them to wait until 25.

risdeveau · 2022-10-04T16:12:03+00:00

Nah, but it should be acknowledged that you’re usually fucking stupid until 25

I know I was

CanOfWoody · 2022-10-04T16:23:47+00:00

The brain does not need to be fully developed in order to be allowed to make decisions for yourself. Think: driving a car, voting, drinking, smoking, etc etc.

Only developed "enough". Which is societally subjective.

Even with a fully developed brain, some people are much smarter than other people who also possess developed brains. Does that make it inherently predatory? No.

Anyways, regardless of logical arguments, its not really feasible to implement. You will be very hard pressed to find people to agree to make that into law and have it done.

bodaciousbonsai · 2022-10-04T16:22:59+00:00

Do you believe the legal age for making porn/OF content should be 25? How about drinking, driving, smoking, legal recreational drugs, signing up for the military, etc?

AwesomeDog59 · 2022-10-04T16:27:08+00:00

If im 24 and im dating a 19 year old, would that automatically make me prick in 2 years time? When that time comes would you advise i break up with her, even if we have a healthy, loving relationship?

You imply people are children until 25, but they re still allowed to go into higher education, pick their field, take on massive debt, vote, run for office, serve in the military, drink, get a job, buy property and start businesses. Should we take all that away to protect those who don't understand the consequences of their actions, as you put it?

Truth is most people want to be able to do some of that before turning 25. Most young people including myself would be open to dating someone above 25. Which is to say, most people under 25 would openly oppose this kind of legislation.

Of course if you took away our right to vote on account of us being children, it will be easier to pass legislation that goes against our interests. But is that really good in the long run? Is safety more important than freedom?

Id argue that making mistakes in your teens and early twenties is part of life, I ve learned from mine and they made me a better person. I wouldnt want to take that away from people.

CruelAngelGradThesis · 2022-10-04T16:38:19+00:00

Feel like there's a troll in the dungeon, but I'll bite.

I'm personally wary of large age gaps before 25ish but I don't think legislation has any place in that after the age of 18. The 18-year-old needs to develop their own process for deciding who they will and will not date. It could entail asking relatives or older people they trust for advice. It could entail doing stupid shit and learning the hard way. Outsourcing all major decisions until 25 to legislation seems like a great way to end up with a lot of 25-year-olds still functioning mentally at the level of teenagers.

LadyofTheGreyPath · 2022-10-04T20:30:08+00:00

Uh my first relationship when I was 19 was with a guy who was 25 at the time, I wasn't groomed or forced into dating him. Granted I wished he'd been upfront about a lot of stuff BEFORE we started dating, but besides that it wasn't some "creep" dating a child.

EsotericRoadCase · 2022-10-04T16:30:00+00:00

You misunderstand what that means. It’s not like you don’t have a “developed” brain before the age of 25, it’s just that certain parts of the brain, and mechanisms are still maturing until about the age of 25. You aren’t a “literal child” from 18-24. Naive, and still learning how to navigate the socio-sexual matrix yes, but thats a lack of experience, not from being incapable. Plus, if that’s your metric, people under the age of 25 should be considered children and have little to no autonomy. This WOULD make sense in the context of drugs, because drugs can influence and change how those things develop into adulthood.

Novadina · 2022-10-04T16:51:02+00:00

What is your argument for not being allowed to have sex until your brain is fully developed, though? Like, so what if the brain isn’t developed yet? You need to start learning how to be an adult before it is developed, there is no reason to not live your life and learn it’s lessons until after it’s done. People often start having sex as teenagers, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. Especially if they have sex education and know how to prevent pregnancy and STIs.

When I was 24, I had been living on my own and financially supporting myself for 7 years, I had put myself through school, started a career, and was with the man who I am still with 15 years later. I had also been having sex for 7 years and I had no pregnancies or other consequences, because you actually can learn about that even before your brain is done growing. I am not seeing any reason why I shouldn’t have been allowed to consent to sex by then.

bottleblank · 2022-10-04T16:51:39+00:00

Because that works so well for smoking, drinking, and drugs... and, come to think of it, sex.

All this would do is unnecessarily criminalise consenting adults. Teenagers already experiment with all kinds of things underage, they're not going to stop just because you changed an arbitrary number. They'll still do it. You'll just end up sending half the young adult population to jail for no good reason, which I don't think is very practical.

Youth is a time for experimentation, learning, pushing boundaries, establishing who you are and how you experience the world, about discovering your emotions, what they mean, and how to control them. You'd have a hard time convincing me that leaving that until you're a quarter of a century old is a great idea.

Edit: ...besides, I thought it was supposed to be the case that women mature faster than men?

tired_hillbilly · 2022-10-04T19:11:20+00:00

How do you feel about trans kids?

AwesomeDog59 · 2022-10-04T22:11:50+00:00

Behavioral control requires a great involvement of cognitive and executive functions. These functions are localized in the prefrontal cortex, which matures independent of puberty and continues to evolve up until 24 years of age. It has been suggested that, during this period, adolescents should not be overprotected, but be allowed to make mistakes, learn from their own experiences, and practice self-regulation. Parents and teachers can help adolescents through this period by listening and offering support and guidance.

From the study she linked...which she likely didn't read as this contradicts her entire argument.

dbz19_kai · 2022-10-05T09:06:41+00:00

So can two 24 year olds have sex together or is that committing a crime? If a 24 is too stupid to have sex with a 30 year old and is damaging themselves unwittingly by doing so, how are they damaging themselves any less by having sex with a 24 year old?

FutureBannedAccount2 · 2022-10-05T23:13:29+00:00

Age gaps relationship being more likely to have abusive power dynamics doesn’t mean that age gap relationships themselves are the problem.

Let’s take another stat and apply the same logic. Statistically if a woman is to be raped or sexually assaulted or would be by a man and likely by a man she knows. Therfore heterosexuals relationships are problematic and we should stop women and men from dating.

That makes zero sense don’t you think?

cunningcaring · 2022-10-04T16:45:31+00:00

The age of consent should be puberty. Biology takes precedence over human constructs.

FlyV89 · 2022-10-04T17:11:02+00:00

Ok I'm going to mess things up a little, here we go...

An 18 years old woman is not a child. And yes, 18 years old women suck dick, and some of them suck WAY older dicks, and they love it.

Period.

darkvalleys · 2022-10-04T16:40:05+00:00

We can just use the old fashioned options of judgement, shaming, ridicule and criticism

mib732 · 2022-10-04T18:59:52+00:00

Hmmm...there is a plausible argument here. I mean, in comparison to other things like firearms license and alcohol, it does seem sensical.

Embarrassed-Tune9038 · 2022-10-04T16:11:00+00:00

On one condition, if a woman below this age of consent is chasing men above the age of consent, it should be considered a criminal matter and she should face charges.

HMosadek · 2022-10-04T16:28:09+00:00

No law will make 18 year old girls become celibate, or incentivize them to actually want to have sex with 18 year olds over 25 year olds.

More money, more confidence, more experience, just better overall.

Likewise, most guys don’t want girls that have done everything. We prefer to be the one’s that show them the world.

Chrissyboy1980 · 2022-10-04T17:18:43+00:00

Great, so 18-24 year old women will be getting older men in trouble by lying about their age all over the God damn joint.Top idea!

Flightlessbirbz · 2022-10-04T17:55:11+00:00

I do see where you’re coming from, age gap relationships where one person is very young tend to be highly predatory. But because nothing magical happens on the 25th birthday, and because most people’s brains are developed enough to function decently by their early 20s, I would propose something less extreme. Age of consent is 21 for anyone 25+, and maximum age gap for under 21 is 4 years. Because while we can agree a 30 yr old doesn’t need to be dating a 19 yr old, there isn’t anything wrong with let’s say a 24 yr old dating a 26 yr old, they are still pretty similar.

Now would I be in favor of actually legislating this? Not really... it’s rather draconian. But it should be the social convention that large age gaps when one person is in their teens or very early 20s, are not acceptable.

DisasterPeace7 · 2022-10-04T17:15:58+00:00

I agree that it should be changed for women and ONLY women, they're the only ones that complain about this nonsense, I am fully on board with women not being able to drive, go to college, vote, rent an apartment, build credit, join the military etc., until they're 25

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RearwindowPinecone · 2022-10-04T16:09:03+00:00

agree with you

OhDestinyAltMine · 2022-10-04T19:45:49+00:00

Everyone is rightly saying how immensely stupid this is from a legal pov of what else you’d need to change without specifically saying “women are idiots with their pussies until 25 and cannot be thought of as adults.” And obviously your argument should fall apart there specifically.

But also! This would just delay the already pathetically delayed onset of adulthood and agency by giving ppl yet more time to ossify into their stupid self diagnosed mental disorders and do nothing about fixing them. We already have enough twitching humanities majors who want to destroy the society they wouldn’t last five minutes without bc of their pharma needs alone. We need fewer of those people, not more.

localmicrodosechamp · 2022-10-04T20:06:19+00:00

i'd be happy to honor this.

BulletReaper · 2022-10-04T20:18:24+00:00

So basically you want to be treated like a child until you’re 25….. lmao ok good luck with that.

KayRay1994 · 2022-10-04T20:35:20+00:00

yeahhhh no, i’m fairly vocally against age gap relationships but changing the age of consent to 25 brings on a whole lot of issues in itself - for example, a 26 year old dating a 23 year old should not be illegal as both are adults, and it is inherently different from a 20 year old dating a 17 year old.

Besides, these are instances where some age gaps work - they’re rare, but it occasionally happens, this also opens the door to a slippery slope where the govt would decide what is and isn’t consensual - large age gaps should be frowned upon and advised against, but they shouldn’t be made illegal since the very concept of sex and relationships differ, then you get into the topic of sex work, etc - its a messy can of worms

lostwanderer28 · 2022-10-04T22:54:49+00:00

We have to add to that to make it make sense. Anyone under 25 also shouldn't have sex with each other.

BasedSifu · 2022-10-05T01:39:25+00:00

this is reaching way too far buddy

Valuable-Marzipan761 · 2022-10-05T05:00:34+00:00

The brain doesn't suddenly develop at 25. It's gradual so people approaching that age are pretty much fully developed. Also it shouldn't matter whether or not they still have developing to do, it's about whether or not they are developed enough to make these decisions.

At 25 I was married with three children. I wasn't a child.

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