Your friend tells you they're a paedophile

[Sterben]

I agree. Using it in legal terms is just stupid. It's a psychological condition. Being attracted to your average 14 year old doesn't make you a paedophile, because they will generally be post-pubescent. In some countries the age of consent is lower, last I heard it was 12 in Holland.

We protect those under the age of 16/18 because of consent issues rather than anything else. They either won't understand what's happening, or if they do, they're likely to later regret it because they're not emotionally mature enough to make such a decision. They are also easier to manipulate by an unscrupulous adult.

So if someone is having a conversation, they need to be clear what the words mean. Just like a religious discussion. Definitions are important. Finding out you mean different things halfway through just wastes time.

What is the "correct" age of consent? There isn't one. Morality isn't a science. Personally, I think 16 is too young these days. 18 is more like it. People grow up slower now, in England at least. The age is more to protect people under that age from people over if; rather than to stop two people under that age doing things.

Side note: in England, I can have sex at 16 but I can't watch a video of someone having sex until I'm 18. Maybe we should change the law so that I can't watch a video of someone driving a car until I'm 19.

        That is the millionaire dollar question, is it up to the country's of the world, or if your in the U.S is it matter for the states to decide? The logical interpretation of pedophilia is a prepubescent of being. The law can not stop sexual relations between two 16 year old's, but anything involving them with a picture or a video is child porn. That has always confused me. You can't call a 16 year a child, that's a young adult. I guess it all depends on a persons individual idea of what a child is. It was not all that long ago that it was common for a father to take his son to whore house on his 16th birthday for his rite of passage into manhood.

      What about the whole virgin shaming concept as well. I'm sure us guys has heard this a million times or have known people who went to collage has virgin. It was a bad thing for a male to be virgin in collage right? Were taught that the V-card is a terrible burden to carry around and it's best to rid yourself of it early. So, then in the modern overly sensitive culture discussions such has this is something that is frowned upon. Why should we be uncomfortable with discussions about sexuality.

     So, my view of the word pedophilia is a prepubescent person, those people are fucking sick! But, if a friend came to me and said I slept with a friends 16 year old daughter, I would not use the term pedophile to him.