sex and minors

[woodsman'sgame]

Mobius wrote:

I dont think it is normal to pierce babys ear's. I dont think it is right to eroticis any thing about a baby/ child /pre teen in any way.

Hispanics pierce baby's ears, but it has nothing to do with eroticism. It does have to do with ornamentation of the body, but they do not see a correlation between the ear piercing and sex.
I had mine pierced as an infant.

There is a big difference between piercing ears and piercing or changing the appearance of the genitals, but even that isn't necessarily sexual.

United Statesian males are routinely circumcised as infants in hospitals, supposedly for health reasons. (Cleanliness usually takes care of this health risk, by the way.) In many countries this routine circumcision is considered a horrible practice that alters the male's penis and reduces his ability to enjoy sex. Circumcised males have reduced sensitivity compared to uncircumcised ones. Males who are not Jewish or Islamic in other parts of the world are not routinely circumcised.

Just some food for thought.

P.S. Ever wonder why this is routine practice in the US?

[Fox]

is the North American approach to sex, be it age-of-consent or under-age.

Example: "little miss" beauty pageants in which girls as young as 3 or 4 are paraded around wearing make up, ball gowns, etc. This can be extended to the recent "Junior American Idol" series on television.

Example: The United States is the largest creator of sexually explicit material in the world. It also has very restrictive laws governing sexual behavior and the creation of sexually explicit material.

Example: teen pregnancies in North America are on the rise, yet there is a strong anti-abortion movement, a myriad of roadblocks to access to birth control including a church prohibition.

Example: the return of syphillus as an STD, the growth of AIDS and other diseases, especially among the young.

Example: the "waif" look popularized in advertising

I could go on and on, but that's not the point here. The topic is sex and minors.

redEva is correct: It is time/age and society that dictates what is acceptable.

Our North American society is confused on the issue.

As an adult male, I have little interest in females who I perceive to be children - which is pretty much all females under age 18. The age is arbitrary - it is the perception that counts for me. I am attracted to women, not girls.

As an adult male parent, I find pedophilia reprehensible - I'd like to see such offenders spend six months in general population before the survivors get transferred to segregation.

As a parent, I know that children of all ages experiment with sex. This is normal and natural behaviour, and yet ...

I have had my daughter tell me she thought she was pregnant - and she was under 16 at the time. So this raised a few important questions: (1) does she have the child, either (2) to raise it herself or (3) leave it to her mother and I to raise? (4) How does this affect her future, (5) not to mention day to day life. (6) Does she have an abortion - (7) not to mention what do we feel about it? (8) Does the father have any say in this - he was under 16 too. (9) What about his parents?
And these are just the top-of-mind questions. It is not, no matter what any one says, a simple matter of age-of-consent.

Fortunately, she was not pregnant, so we did not have to pursue some of those avenues. It was a definite wake-up call, however. Yes, she was definitely old enough to have sex, but ... the consequences could have changed her life and the lives of others.

If you ask me (not that any did), until you have faced that kind of situation, you really can't speak about under-age sex.

Sex between children happens. Sex between adults happens. Our society likes to hide its head in the sand, pretending it doesn't, but ...

It is our responsibility as a caring society to ensure that proper sex education takes place, that pregnancy prevention resources are available to care for our children, and to see that our children do not become parents while they are still children.

We have not behaved responsibly, in my opinion.

[woodsman'sgame]

If you ask me (not that any did), until you have faced that kind of situation, you really can't speak about under-age sex.

I agree, Fox. I have a niece facing the same situation, but she is pregnant, the father is mentally ill, her parents are divorced, and she is going to have the baby (her decision). She is the sweetest, gentlest niece I have. It's heart breaking to see her suffer through this. She was under 18 and not ready for the responsibilities of sex.
I don't know if I said this here in this topic or in another topic, but I repeat. There is a big difference in maturity between teenagers in high school and those out of high school and in college. (18 being that magic age for most youngsters)
Either we teach them real responsibility at an earlier age, or we discourage intercourse until they are mature enough to handle the responsibility.
But, of course, we inform them about birth control etc, in case they don't listen to our advice (and we know that many teenagers won't).

[MrStefens]

Originally posted by Fox

It is our responsibility as a caring society to ensure that proper sex education takes place, that pregnancy prevention resources are available to care for our children, and to see that our children do not become parents while they are still children.

We have not behaved responsibly, in my opinion.

Very well stated Fox. Though I may be just a tad bit biased. I agreed with everything you wrote! One has only to look at the examples set by our Northern European brothers and sisters, with lower teen pregnancy rates, lower STD rates and more explicit sexual health education at younger ages, to understand that we in the US can certainly care for our children's health in a more responsible manner.

[alebeard42]

Certainly we as a society have the right and the need to determine a set of standards by which a person can be deemed to be of the age of consent. But what of the age of non-consent?
When is it the right time to kidnap someone and torture them to your hearts content? at what age should we look to as the appropriate for the rape and torture of innocent preppie girls waiting at the bus stop after pep squad?
certainly I cant provide all these answers but its something that as a society we need to debate.
Certainly having developed breasts is important so they can be tortured and abused, this standard seems a good base to begin

Alebeard

[Master_chris]

'Certainly we as a society have the right and the need to determine a set of standards by which a person can be deemed to be of the age of consent. But what of the age of non-consent?'

This statment say's it all, I know that some countrys have the age of consent from the age of 10 years old, like the east countrys.

I think it is our place as a society to monitor the standards and change them as and when the society feels it is right, and that if someone cross over line or post underyear images on the web then we should report them to the local law enforcement

[john964]

The age of consent is at most a recent problem. My great-grand parents were married at age 15 and 22 and celebrated 56 years together. My grand parents 16 and 20 and were married for 72 years today my grandfathers would be arrested and sent to prison.