Aswad
Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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Age of consent is 13 in Spain and Italy; 14 in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Portugal, San Marino and Serbia; 15 in Czechnya, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Monaco, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sloveni and Sweden; 16 in Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Finland, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and the UK; 17 in Cyprus and Ireland; 18 in Malta and Turkey.
These are current figures, putting the typical at 16 and the median at 15.
Most of these countries have exceptions for all parties being of comparable mental and physical development (moving the limit downwards) and for one or more parties being prepubescent (usually makes it criminal regardless of consent). Also, all of these figures have changed with the introduction of Christianity. For instance, in Norway the distinction used to be between sex with a prepubescent (pedophilia, and thus illegal) and biologically normal sex (the average male is most attracted to the interval 14~24, but has zero attraction to anyone not yet physically mature). The Lutherans pushed for a fixed age and wanted it as high as they could get it, leading to anything from 14 to 16 throughout our history. Japan recently raised the age of consent to 14.
The common denominator is this: virtually no culture has ever accepted sex with a prepubescent. Condemning sex with children is one of the closest things we have to a moral universal among humans, with murder being a close second. What has varied most in this regard, is the age at which puberty starts, which has been dependent on factors like wealth. That has shaped the resulting age of consent around the world, together with Christian influences, and tradition has been the main factor keeping it from changing a lot (which holds true in the USA, as well).
It's been well established that sex with children is near universally harmful to the child.
It's been established beyond a shadow of a doubt that sex with a postpubescent (i.e. young adult) is not harmful if consensual in nature, but that a high age of consent can cause a conflict with law enforcement, parents and society that will severely traumatize the youngest party in the interaction most of the time. This finding has been better reviewed than any other piece of science outside the hard sciences, and found to be perfectly solid. It has also, of course, been unanimously condemned by Congress, which says something about how similar the state of science in the USA is to the Dark Ages.
The long and short of it is that the following statement is bullshit:
quote:
ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam
I'm sorry folks but a 57 year old man fucking a 17 year old is pedophilia.
Never mind that the very definition of the word excludes that interpretation.
Most of the civilized world puts age of consent between 14 and 16, whether counted by citizens, countries or land mass. Most men prefer 14 to 24, in terms of sexual attraction, if they do not know what the age of the person they are rating is. Most men aren't able to perform in bed at a level that provides both parties with comparable gratification until about 24 or so. Most fertility doctors are pretty clear that you should have started having the kids you want to have by the time you get to 24 or so, and that earlier is generally better so long as your body is mature enough for a pregnancy to be completed.
Insisting that 57 and 17 is automatically so wrong as to be illegal seems outright ludicrous to me.
IWYW,
— Aswad.
_____________________________
"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.
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RE: Resign hell, he should be arrested. - 
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