Mentally impaired or those without high-enough IQs shouldn't be allowed to have sex

[Delta4Embassy]

...Caught your attention didn't I? Commenting on a blog on another site just now, the blogger was talking about his outrage at some 12yo he heard on NPR offering their opinion about the illegal immigration crisis. He disagreed with the 'put them in jail' the 12yo suggested and then went into how upset he was 12 yos would assert that and how they can't think critically and thus shouldn't be allowed on air (in effect.) Naturally I disagreed and brought up an old L.A. Law episode where a retarded character wanted to have sex with another retarded character. The character "Benny" is said to have an IQ of a 4 year old (in the show.)

I remember the episode and the media commentary about it afterwords. Even in the episode itself were sentiments and assertions low-IQ or mentally handicapped people can't consent to sex. And indeed the character was charged with statutory rape since the also retarded female character, though of legal age, supposedly couldn't consent to having sex.

No one then, or today would gon on tv or radio and suggest mentally handicapped people can't consent to having sex. Especially with one another. Yet that's exactly the logic used forbidden teens from having sex with other teens. "They're not smart enough to make good decisions like having sex." Ironically, thinking rationally and critically isn't a requirement for adults to have sex as the alcohol and drugs many choose to use prior indicates. The very definition of not thinking sufficiently well. Another popular assertion is they can't consent to sex because their brains haven't finished developing. If we bought that the age of consent would be somewhere in the mid to upper 20s when neural development and growth actually stops.

The bottom line though is kids aren't allowed to legally have sex because they're too young, not smart enough, or mentally impaired due to insufficient brain development.

So are the mentally impaired, yet they can have sex.

While I agree protecting minors from adult exploitation is desireable, at least when it's two close-in-aged teens wanting to have sex with one another, they outta be allowed to since there's no good reasons to forbid it. Pleanty of adults have unintended pregnancies too so that's not a legitimate reason to forbid it. Pleanty of stupid people have sex too. And we don't forbid mentally impaired people from having sex so brain development can't be a legitimate reason either.

Got enough people in prison already without criminalizing love or even lust between horny teenagers. Why ruin a teen's life making them into a sex offender for doing what biology and evolution have conditioned them to desire doing? Time for the US to catch up to the rest of the devleoped world and lower the sexual age of consent, at least when it's two close-in-aged teens involved.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Another thing that came to mind was the difference in decision making between a child and an adult is the child's opinion comes from a much purer perspective where judgements are made more solely on "is it good or bad?" Whereas adults overcomplicate things and have more predjudices from greater experience. In effect, children actually can make better decisions akin to judges offering their opinions based solely on the merits of a question, without all the predjudices and overcomplication an adult would. So claiming kids can't make good decisions is flawed since they actually make decisions better on many things in the same fashion we hope judges would. Impartially and without bias or predjudice.

This isn't obviously true across the board, nor is is it true by virtue of someone's age, but I"d go as far as to say it's generally true. Children give their opinions on whether things are good or bad. They don't take into account political strategy or agendas as much as adults do. Thus when teens wanna have sex they're simply asking themselves "Is sex good or bad?" We'd hope there's also some consideration to "will she get pregnant, or will we get something icky?" some where in there too, but with adequate sex-ed that'll be in the mix.

Legally there's no reason to make teen sex with other teens illegal. They're gonna do it whether it's legal or not, so why not make it legal so health care and educational services can be extended to them officially instead of giving out condoms to school while simultaneously making using those condoms illegal? That's the stupid insufficiently intelligent decision making, not the teen wanting to feel good.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Legally there's no reason to make teen sex with other teens illegal. They're gonna do it whether it's legal or not, so why not make it legal so health care and educational services can be extended to them officially instead of giving out condoms to school while simultaneously making using those condoms illegal? That's the stupid insufficiently intelligent decision making, not the teen wanting to feel good.

How would Health Care and Educational Services make ANYTHING better when those "services" are already sh*t now?

Where do you Liberals get this idea from? It must be just some "cool thing to say" in public because you couldn't actually believe it.

Would you allow a 12 year old to drink a beer? Would you allow a 12 year old to join the Military? No. A 12 year old isn't mature enough to make such Adult decisions for himself. I wouldn't care if he got straight A's and spoke 10 languages. They aint mature enough.

The funny part is that you probably believe in Child Labor Laws to prevent a child from being exploited, but at the same time it wouldn't enter your mind that a child could be sexually exploited.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Unfortunately for you, I'm not a liberal, democrat, or anything else. I go out of my way to stay neutral and impartial. By affiliating myself with one side or the other I'm immediately viewed as biased. I'd rather avoid that. Especially since I think there shouldn't even be political parties for this very reason.

Drink a beer at 12? Sure. Military? No.

And adults by virtue of their age are automatically mature absent anything else? What about liberal adults?

 

[Disir]

First of all the difference between an adult thinking and a kid thinking is the piece of the brain that deals with time and consequences. It doesn't grow in until almost 30.
Even so, there are huge mental,cognitive, and emotional changes between 12-14 and 14-16 and 16-18. Too, more or less educational opportunities instead of age of consent may not be the answer. The question is what are the legal ramifications and are more males prosecuted then females?

And if you as a parent are held responsible for this kid then what tools are in place for them to control or protect him/her?

 

[percysunshine]

Everyone is born a liberal, and grows up to become a conservative.

It is, like, a law of science or something.

.

 

[Disir]

Everyone is born a liberal, and grows up to become a conservative.

It is, like, a law of science or something.

.

That's not true. That's a bumper sticker.

 

[Rikurzhen]

The trick here is to write laws which address actions, harms and consequences appropriately.

The goal is to prevent harm to adolescents who engage in sex with older people. The harm isn't necessarily that sex took place rather it's that there was either exploitation or manipulation. The young person was tricked, cheated, used and discarded, etc.

Compare two situations.

1.) Young girl gets strung along by the HS Quarterback, they have sex and the classic pump 'n dump plays out and he move on to his next admiring groupie.

2.) A young girl gets to know an adult male who is friends with the family and a rapport develops between the two. He respects her, she respects him, they're good for each other in that even the age-disparity brings something positive to each and after they have sex they continue on as a couple.

Which is the more harmful scenario to the young girl - the same age sexual encounter or the age disparate sexual encounter?

 

[Rikurzhen]

Everyone is born a liberal, and grows up to become a conservative.

It is, like, a law of science or something.

.

That's not true. That's a bumper sticker.

No, it's true. Those conservatives that liberals are screeching about used to by hippies and flower children back in the 60s and 70s.

 

[percysunshine]

Everyone is born a liberal, and grows up to become a conservative.

It is, like, a law of science or something.

.

That's not true. That's a bumper sticker.

If it reached bumper sticker status, there has to be something to it..

'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism' was on every DC limo bumper for eight years.

.

 

[percysunshine]

Oops...I am wandering off topic again...sort of...maybe...

 

[Disir]

Everyone is born a liberal, and grows up to become a conservative.

It is, like, a law of science or something.

.

That's not true. That's a bumper sticker.

No, it's true. Those conservatives that liberals are screeching about used to by hippies and flower children back in the 60s and 70s.

Danigelis and collaborators Stephen Cutler of the University of Vermont and Melissa Hardy of Pennsylvania State University analyzed data from the U.S. General Social Surveys of 46,510 Americans between 1972 and 2004. While the surveys did not provide data for the same individuals at different stages, they represented snapshots of the changing attitudes of respondents in different age cohorts over time. The researchers corrected for the fact that the age groups at different survey times are made of up new members with unique baseline opinions.

The surveys assessed attitudes on politics, economics, race, gender, religion and sexuality issues. In some cases, such as racial issues and questions of civil liberties for communists, the researchers measured a greater change toward liberalism in older people than in younger people.

"What we believe has happened, at least for the race relations, is that the older group, starting out at a position of significantly more negative feelings, had further to go," Danigelis told LiveScience.

If people really become more liberal as they age, why does common wisdom hold the opposite to be true?

People might find an average 60-year-old to be more conservative than an average 30-year-old, Danigelis said, but beware of extrapolating a trend. The older person, for example, might have started off even more conservative than he or she is now.

Danigelis also blamed the misconception on pervasive negative attitudes toward the elderly in our country, and stereotypes that depict seniors as rigid, ornery and set in their ways.

Busting Myth, People Turn More Liberal With Age

 

[Freemason9]

Actually, this is a discussion of eugenics. Eugenics was discredited decades ago because of its association with Hitler's fascist movement. If we were to face the harshness of economic reality, however, we would acknowledge that (1) population growth has already been excessive and must be controlled in the future, and (2) we should be selective about how we propagate as a species.

So there.