The Age of Consent

I had a post of this on the very first Cupcakes & Cowboys, but I’ve gotten asked in fan mail about half dozen times now on this version what I think about the Age of Consent. Now, yea, I do realize that the askers wanted to know my position on the sexual one. But I have a better answer.

At least here in the U.S., the age of consent laws are a little screwed up. Lets look at everything that has a age law attached to it.

1. Sex – The average age of consent in the U.S. is 16
2. Driving – Same, 16 to get your license.  Less in certain situations.
3. Smoking – 18
4. Joining the military – 18; less with parent permission
5. Drinking – 21

Does anyone else besides me see where this is a little screwed up? We are going to allow the one thing that could change a persons life forever to be the one with the least age required? Two 16 year old kids have sex, have a kid, and they have done nothing wrong. But heaven forbid, we wont let them have a drink? Fuck me!!

If we are going to let kids have sex and raise a family, then they should be able to do all the rest. Let them join the military to pay for the family. Let them smoke and drink cause they are about to find out what life is really like.

When you watch TV or the movies, or even ads on the internet, you see tons about how bad smoking is for you, how bad drinking is (even the ads say ‘drink responsibly’, but we don’t teach kids sex ed until they are how old? From what I found, guess what: 16!! By then most of us have had our own sex ed classes and they sure weren’t in a classroom. Was more like a bedroom. LOL. And by the time I was 16 I probably could have taught the course. Sex ed needs to start WAY sooner. Like 12. Right when we are all starting to explore our bodies and saying “what do we do with this little guy down there”? Did you seen the news story just the other day about the 12 and 13 year old parents in the UK? I think they had their own sex ed class, and guess what it taught them?

According to Merriam-Webster the definition of consent is: to agree to do or allow something : to give permission for something to happen or be done. When I was 13, I gave a lot of consent to people to have sex with me. But I think the term has to be changed. It shouldn’t be “age of consent”, it should be “are you in a position of influence”.

Do I think it is OK for a teacher to fall in love with a student? Sure, but the teacher should then remove themselves from the position of influence. Do I think it is OK for a boss to fall in love with a subordinate? Sure, again, the boss then should remove themselves from the position and find the subordinate a new boss. Do I think it is OK to blackmail someone to do something? Not at all. That is putting yourself in a position of influence which I think is wrong. When I was working, I had a number of people TRY to blackmail me, but when I said that I didn’t care if they posted the pics or vids of me it removed their position of influence and nothing happened. Though I never worked with them again.

I do think driving at 16 is a good age though. Not because I don’t think younger kids couldn’t be responsible drivers, but because the cars are made for adults. I think as long as you can safely reach the pedals and see over the dashboard, then you could probably be a driver. The thing these days that complicates this, and not JUST for kids, is phones and texting. I don’t think the laws go far enough to tell the truth. I think ALL phone makers should make it so if the phone is going faster than 10mph then it stops working. I don’t care if your even a passenger. Just Google how many texting or phones deaths there have been since the invention of the cell phone and if you don’t agree with me, then let me throw a brick at you through your computer screen.

Smoking at 18. It is way to easy for kids to score smokes. Seen it, been there, done that. Why there is even a law for it I don’t know cause it seems pointless. Because from what I can find out, its not illegal for an underage person to smoke them, its just illegal to buy them. The person that buys them for the kids gets in trouble, but the kids don’t.

The same with drinking. I tried to find out on Google if it was illegal for a person under 18 in the U.S. to have alcohol. Most of what came up was in reference to the UK. Which was an interesting read. It says that it is not illegal for a child aged five to 16 to drink alcohol at home or on other private premises. Why do I not think that is the case here in the U.S? But still you read about the parties where the parents were supplying the booze and THEY were getting in trouble, and the kids had a good time. I may just be a lost 18 year old, but I sure don’t see where the lesson is in that.

So yea, age of consent. Hmmm!! The concept is good, the application is pretty bad. And if you want my opinion, the U.S. is a little stuck up in this area too. Take a look at the world wide sexual ages of consent. Most of Europe is 14. The youngest being Spain at 13. Take that with other others of drinking, smoking, military, and driving, and see if you agree with me that it is all a little messed up.

Open for your replies ?

[Originally posted 4/27/14]