for anyone surprised at this, I learned from an Ask Lemmy thread that the age of sexual consent in well over half of the USA is 16 years old, in something like 30 states.
As bad as that is, a kid doesn’t have to be anywhere near the age of consent for their parents to marry them off to an old man (let’s be real, that’s what’s happening).
And since they aren’t old enough to be the one consenting to the marriage, they can’t file for divorce and if they try to escape, they are treated as run aways and returned to their abuser (again, let’s be real, that’s what’s happening).
Statuary rape is legal if the poor child’s parents consent. And they can do it in 36 US states. Including California. Do better.
Well, that’s just a rule of general not-being-a-creep. I think a better law is: No one can consent to marriage (or sex) for someone else, ever, including parents.
Swearing won’t make your argument stronger. It’s just rude.
My comment wasn’t in relation to child marriages. That is wrong and illegal in most countries. The debate is because an American doesn’t really understand the context in other countries.
Here in the UK, age of consent is 16. Most have already been at stuff at 14, 15 etc. All raising age does is punish 17 year olds getting busy. A 16 and 17 year old had sex in Dubai, both from the UK where it is legal. He got locked up when her mum reported it. It’ll just create criminal records for young folk and you know it’ll not be enforced with white youths. Just another way to swell the prison population.
US are weirdly prudish when it comes to sex yet award ceremonies and the young are watching the celebs walk in in see through clothes. Truly baffling to outside observers.
That’s our own fault though. The number 1 demographic causing drunk driving accidents was people 18 to 21. Making it so that they couldn’t drink in bars made them more likely to stay home to drink.
for anyone surprised at this, I learned from an Ask Lemmy thread that the age of sexual consent in well over half of the USA is 16 years old, in something like 30 states.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States
up until that point I figured it was 18 across the US.
I was real wrong.
As bad as that is, a kid doesn’t have to be anywhere near the age of consent for their parents to marry them off to an old man (let’s be real, that’s what’s happening).
And since they aren’t old enough to be the one consenting to the marriage, they can’t file for divorce and if they try to escape, they are treated as run aways and returned to their abuser (again, let’s be real, that’s what’s happening).
Statuary rape is legal if the poor child’s parents consent. And they can do it in 36 US states. Including California. Do better.
Shower thought: maybe there should be an age / 2 + 7 law for marriage, with the minimum age of the youngest involved in the marriage being 18.
Then you don’t get any of that 50 yo people marrying 18 year olds anymore. Instead, those would have to look at 32 years.
Well, that’s just a rule of general not-being-a-creep. I think a better law is: No one can consent to marriage (or sex) for someone else, ever, including parents.
It seems pretty obvious: if you can’t sign a legally binding contract, you can’t sign a marriage contract.
In the UK and many other developed countries also. Seems quite standard. America likes to infantise the youth so it’ll be 25 before long.
“Infantise” while trying to shut down child marriages.
Fuck off.
Swearing won’t make your argument stronger. It’s just rude.
My comment wasn’t in relation to child marriages. That is wrong and illegal in most countries. The debate is because an American doesn’t really understand the context in other countries.
Here in the UK, age of consent is 16. Most have already been at stuff at 14, 15 etc. All raising age does is punish 17 year olds getting busy. A 16 and 17 year old had sex in Dubai, both from the UK where it is legal. He got locked up when her mum reported it. It’ll just create criminal records for young folk and you know it’ll not be enforced with white youths. Just another way to swell the prison population.
US are weirdly prudish when it comes to sex yet award ceremonies and the young are watching the celebs walk in in see through clothes. Truly baffling to outside observers.
I think they were refering to the drinking age. It’s beyond fucking stupid you need to be 21 to drink in the US.
That’s our own fault though. The number 1 demographic causing drunk driving accidents was people 18 to 21. Making it so that they couldn’t drink in bars made them more likely to stay home to drink.
It makes more sense (in my opinion) to require you to be 21 to drive a car. Cars are fucking death traps.