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Biological maturity (self.SRSDiscussion)

whatdoido50 が 投稿

As most of you all know, there are many instances on reddit where someone will find a teenager attractive (15-17) and they will rightfully be called out as being gross. I know we're quick to call them pedophiles, but what if the person in question was 18? Would they still be a pedophile? IIRC, I've heard a few of you'll say that women didnt reach sexually maturity till 24-25, so would it be pedophilic to be attracted to a 20 year old? 18 seems too young for a girl to be sexually mature OR emotionally mature enough. What age do you think makes someone creepy or pedophilic?

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[–]PiscineCyclist 4 ポイント5 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I think a lot of people get so caught up with the younger party's age that they ignore the older party. The safety of an adolescent relationship is determined not by the younger's power, but by the power disparity between the younger and the older. To talk about mental maturity is a massive red herring. It can't be objectively measured, and it invites us to a Zeno's paradox sort of problem: If somebody feels wiser at age 40 than they did at age 30, were all their previous encounters retroactively immoral?

Age is just a number, which is "good enough" for legal fictions, but lacking for ethical debates. Step away from the age concept for a second: is it possible for Person A to safely abandon sexual relations if they are abused by Person B? This is all that matters in relationships. Everything else is just a marker that suggests power and power disparity, but may not determine it.

[–]questionable_alt 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (1子コメント)

I think there's a distinction to be made between "it's creepy to find this person attractive" and "it's immoral to have sex with this person". I think it's possible to find a 17-year-old attractive and still think that it would be immoral to have sex with them because they can't provide informed consent.

Also, just from a practical perspective, it's problematic to have a definition of 'pedophile' that includes large segments of the adult population. Even if we think that women don't reach sexual maturity until 24-25, do we really want to be calling someone a pedophile for being attracted to a 20-year-old?

[–]Willetscat [非表示スコア]  (0子コメント)

This is right. At some point we need to recognize a person's right to personal agency, which is our society is at approximately 18 years old. At this point they are free to make their own choices.

[–]bahamut19 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I know we're quick to call them pedophiles, but what if the person in question was 18?

The way we interact with people on an anonymous forum is that we tend to assume the person on the other end of the conversation is an adult. They may be twelve, but we never treat them as such. I think this is the safest assumption when talking about sexual attraction to children, because paedophiles will hide among the anonymous teenagers to gain legitimacy. If a paedophile accusation is levelled at a 13 year old, that kid can just shrug off the comment as not directed at them, but the public message that paedophilia and the sexualization of minors will not be tolerated under any circumstances remains.

Age of consent at first glance seems arbitrary, and in some ways it is. However, sometimes you need to use common sense and draw a line in the sand. The age of consent is 16-18 in a lot of places because you can be reasonably sure that the person is emotionally mature enough to be able to give informed consent. There may well be some people who can at 15, but tough shit. We have no way of testing it, so it's better to assume otherwise.

There is also the fact that age of consent often coincides with the age at which people can legally leave school. I don't think this is a coincidence - the power imbalance between a schoolchild and an adult is quite massive.

At the end of the day you have to draw the line somewhere, and I think 18 is about right. However, I think it also takes common sense, an awareness of any power imbalance, and a willingness to not abuse people. Just because 18 is the age of consent, it doesn't mean a 45 year old is free of moral responsibility in having sex with that person even if it is legal.

[–]raveiskingcom [非表示スコア]  (0子コメント)

As a voluntaryist I believe that two individuals should be able to engage in sexual activity as long as it is consensual. Obviously the term "consensual" is a sticky one but if there were punishment it should be more or less proportional to the extremity of coercion used in the act.
People may personally not like it when a 19 year old sleeps with a 15 year old or something similar but ultimately there are plenty of coercive sexual acts occurring that to be busting someone for a seemingly consensual act doesn't make much sense to me.
It is also very pompous to believe that all human are the same or that someone under 16 or 18 isn't "smart enough" to know what they are doing. Legal repercussions are only one tool that can be used to try to reduce the occurrence of statutory rape, and perhaps we should focus on some of the other more consensual tools at our disposal.