(April 18, 2016 at 8:21 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:

(April 18, 2016 at 7:37 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I'm not in favour of child or adolescent sex or marriage, but I would be interested to know from an evolutionary point of view, why it is wrong for biologically able people to engage in sexual activity before the government-approved age. If you have sexual maturity, why is it "wrong" to use it? Doesn't natural selection indicate that sex at 12 or 13 is normal?

The push to raise the age of consent is only about 120 years old.  The age of consent was 7 years old in Delaware in 1895.  There was no lower limit during slavery times, which is one of the reason the slave owners fought so hard to retain slavery.  

Full penetration sex with young girls is very damaging physically, especially if they get pregnant because their bodies are not large enough to carry and deliver full-size babies with major damage to themselves.  In addition they are not emotionally developed enough to raise a child when they are still children themselves.  

A lot of people try to pass this off as an ancient practice but a number of people you might know had grandmothers who were raped when they were seven years old or younger.

I agree with your observations here but what about the 14 year old male having sex with a 22 year old female? What is the damage here?

(April 18, 2016 at 7:46 pm)pocaracas Wrote:

(April 18, 2016 at 7:42 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I don't know. What I do know is that for whatever reason, it doesn't work. If there was a drug that came with a massive suicide risk, it would be banned immediately. With this suicide rate, why isn't there a ban on gender reassignment surgery?

Why isn't there a ban on discrimination?

We haven't established that discrimination is the cause for the suicide. I would think that mutilating the body and taking foreign hormones really isn't "fixing" anything. The underlying problem is psychological, so a psychological solution should be sought.

(April 18, 2016 at 7:48 pm)abaris Wrote:

(April 18, 2016 at 7:42 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I don't know. What I do know is that for whatever reason, it doesn't work. If there was a drug that came with a massive suicide risk, it would be banned immediately. With this suicide rate, why isn't there a ban on gender reassignment surgery?

Citation needed. to be taken seriously.

williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/.../AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf

This is the website but the document is a pdf and this is an incomplete link. You can google "transgender suicide rate" and Williams institute and this will get you there.

(April 18, 2016 at 7:37 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I'm not in favour of child or adolescent sex or marriage, but I would be interested to know from an evolutionary point of view, why it is wrong for biologically able people to engage in sexual activity before the government-approved age. If you have sexual maturity, why is it "wrong" to use it? Doesn't natural selection indicate that sex at 12 or 13 is normal?

No, and there's no such thing as an "evolutionary point of view"; any more than a gravitational point of view, or a fluid dynamics point of view. Stop being silly.

(April 18, 2016 at 10:06 pm)Stimbo Wrote:

(April 18, 2016 at 7:37 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I'm not in favour of child or adolescent sex or marriage, but I would be interested to know from an evolutionary point of view, why it is wrong for biologically able people to engage in sexual activity before the government-approved age. If you have sexual maturity, why is it "wrong" to use it? Doesn't natural selection indicate that sex at 12 or 13 is normal?

No, and there's no such thing as an "evolutionary point of view"; any more than a gravitational point of view, or a fluid dynamics point of view. Stop being silly.

Can anyone answer the question?

(April 18, 2016 at 7:37 pm)AJW333 Wrote: I'm not in favour of child or adolescent sex or marriage, but I would be interested to know from an evolutionary point of view, why it is wrong for biologically able people to engage in sexual activity before the government-approved age. If you have sexual maturity, why is it "wrong" to use it? Doesn't natural selection indicate that sex at 12 or 13 is normal?

In essence, it boils down to mental age.

Granted, for starters, females mature faster than males in relation to mental age.

However, the law in question came about mainly because children are no longer taught the same kind of responsibility they were in the past.

Basically, it is a "let them be immature until they are required to enter the work force" type of deal.

Sad, but that is the type of society we have built for ourselves.

I think the law of age consent is there to protect emotionally immature teens from being preyed on by older people.

I don't see it as that problematic for teens to experiment with eachother, as long as they've been educated around it and know how to protect themselves. I feel like there's no real power dynamic there if it's two people who are the same age. The consent laws are to stop older people taking advantage of a teenager's iffy attitude towards sex and their lack of sexual experience.

I wish I had been taken advantage of by an older person when I was a teenager, to be honest, however.

I was a virgin until twenty, and my attitude toward sex to this day is "don't want it".

To be honest, however, the fact that I am quite anti-social and may perhaps have psychotic tendencies could be an indication toward my lack of interest in sex.

(April 18, 2016 at 11:58 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: I wish I had been taken advantage of by an older person when I was a teenager, to be honest, however.

I was a virgin until twenty, and my attitude toward sex to this day is "don't want it".

To be honest, however, the fact that I am quite anti-social and may perhaps have psychotic tendencies could be an indication toward my lack of interest in sex.

The thing I don't understand with atheism is where and why morality fits in. From a purely naturalistic point of view, one would think that the appropriate age for sex would be any time after puberty. After all, isn't this what nature is suggesting?

There would be huge numbers of underage male adolescents (13-16) who would be only too happy to be introduced to sex by an older woman. What damage does this do? Aren't such restrictions merely a product of Judeo- Christian values?

(April 19, 2016 at 12:12 am)AJW333 Wrote: The thing I don't understand with atheism is where and why morality fits in. From a purely naturalistic point of view, one would think that the appropriate age for sex would be any time after puberty. After all, isn't this what nature is suggesting?

I actually do agree. Puberty is an indication to the body it is procreation ready. Modern humanity disagrees, due to two main factors: Emotional and Mental capability.