What should be the unrestricted age of consent?

[Guynemer]

Hugh Hefner is a genius, dude.

Fixed.

[loinburger]

Found a different article on the really friggin old guy, this one doesn't explicitly mention his cradle-robbing behavior, but it does say that he was 82 when his youngest daughter was born which would probably mean his wife at the time was in her 30's or 40's.

[Drake Tungsten]

Fixed.

There's no genius involved in a rich old **** banging dumb young girls.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Besides, I'm sure plenty of 40 year old men would like to have the chance to sleep with a 25 year old (which they couldn't with a X/2 + 7 rule - then again, I am biased on this topic...)

[Drake Tungsten]

I'm sure plenty of 40 year old men would like to have the chance to sleep with a 25 year old

There's also plenty of 40-year old men who would like to sleep with 15-year olds. Just because someone wants to do something doesn't make it right.

[Kontiki]

16 is as good an arbitrary number as any other.

[Combat Ingrid]

The proper rule is x/10 +7:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/281223

A Somali man, 100, married a 17-year-old girl in front of hundreds of guests on Tuesday. The man's family supports the marriage.
On Tuesday in Somalia, Ahmed Mohamed Dhore, who claims to be a centenarian, married a girl that is young enough to be his great great granddaughter in front of hundreds of guests, according to the Associated Press. This may be a shock in the Western world but it is quite common for young girls to marry much older men but, most often, not that old.
Dhore said he wanted to marry Safiya Abdulle for a long time but he wanted to wait for her to grow up. The possible centenarian told the media that his children, his parents and two other wives supported the marriage.
This is the sixth marriage for Dhore and three of his wives have died reports the Toronto Sun.
The London Free Press stated that it’s not possible to verify Dhore’s age.
Polygamy is a common occurrence in Muslim Somalia.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm sure plenty of 40 year old men would like to have the chance to sleep with a 25 year old

There's also plenty of 40-year old men who would like to sleep with 15-year olds. Just because someone wants to do something doesn't make it right.

But a 40 with a 25 is complete right

[Jon Miller]

16 is as good an arbitrary number as any other.

But they aren't legally accountable yet. They can't sign many contracts, vote, be counted as financially independent (unless they take their parents to court), and many other signs of independence.

Why should they be able to do what they want sexually, which can often have greater life changing impact than many of the things that those <18 can't do?

JM

[Drake Tungsten]

But a 40 with a 25 is complete right

Nope. Two years too young.

[KrazyHorse]

It's not a question of what THEY can and can't do. Parents are more than welcome to restrict their children from having sex, if they can. It's a question of the LAW punishing OTHERS for having sex with these children.

If you sign a contract with a minor then the worst thing that happens is you get a civil penalty. If you have sex with a minor below the age of consent then you go to jail for years.

[Imran Siddiqui]

But a 40 with a 25 is complete right

Perfectly ok

Fixed.

[Drake Tungsten]

Maybe in India.

[Jon Miller]

That is true, we want to punish pedophiles.

But wanting to **** a 15 yearold isn't pedophilia. The punishment in that case shouldn't be the same type of punishment.

And I thought it often wasn't? Although I am aware that they make everything a sex crime now. That really dilutes the discriminating power of a person being a sex offender. You don't know whether the guy rapes little boys or was caught naked at an inappropriate place or was 21 and had sex with his 17 year-old girlfriend (in some states).

JM

[Tattila the Hun]

I think it should be based on a written test...