there's something ... odd about your insistence that pre-pubescent human females should be equated to the mental, physical, and psychological development of adolescents, and even older women

Look mate, the OP is clearly talking about a romantic/sexual relationship between himself and the "girl" in the picture. So whatever nudge nudge wink wink accusations you want to make about me being a pedophile should be leveled against the person who posted it.

. But I guess my point is that if you call a 12-year old boy a man, or a 13-year old girl a woman, you are implying much more than just the idea of taking someone's political thoughts seriously - you are implying they have reached a certain stage of maturity, physically, and mentally.

Yes. They have reached a certain stage of maturity - it's called adolescence. It's when human beings are no longer children - ie, "boys and girls".

It's not uncommon for adolescent boys to be refered to as "young men" - especially if it's in the context of their ideas.

I mean this is some dangerous territory, because if a 12 year old can be called a woman, and can be taken politically seriously, et cetera, are we willing to stand by the implication that a 12 year old "woman" can consensually enter a relationship with a 35 year old man because she is, after all, a woman, with the level of maturity that term implies?

No. I don't think anyone is willing to stand by that implication, and I'm not sure why you keep raising a woman's sexuality in the context of talking about their political ideas.

Also, forget this business about twelve year olds - I'm talking specifically about teenagers - people in "middle school" in America. I don't know why you keep trying to blur the question.

It's factually the case - as the article I posted above outlines - that refering to female human beings as "girls" infantalises them. As socialists we want to include young people - especially young women - in politics.

This is hampered by society's conditioning of them; making them think that their ideas are less important than men's, that they shouldn't think critically about the world, that they shouldn't argue with or talk over men etc etc.

As socialists we should do everything we can to make it easier for young women to be involved in politics. One way we can do this is to stop calling them "girls".