LogFAQs > #892039637

adjl posted...

Sociology is not a more arbitrary basis than biology. Living in a society with those norms is pretty unavoidable when we're talking about a society with those norms. Go to a different country, where people tend to start living on their own during high school? Yeah, the expectations of maturity would differ. But we're not looking at a different country.

I hope you realize that your entire argument is fundamentally flawed. It's based around societal expectations which can literally be changed with the drop of a hat. If congress got together tomorrow and decided to up the increase or decrease the length of high school, your argument goes out the window and that's why it's wholly arbitrary. More importantly, maturation and responsibilities don't start at the *end* of high school. Most kids get jobs earlier on and vast majority of high school students have sex before they're done with high school. The argument, "Oh, they don't understand what sex is!", when they're already having it is weak at best.

adjl posted...

It's the difference between not needing to have your own money to survive and needing to. That's a pretty big deal, in terms of the need to make responsible life decisions. Student loans and continued support from parents tend to mean the transition is relatively gradual, but it's still a very big difference. Somebody who completed that transition over a decade prior actively seeking out a romantic partner who hasn't started it yet is definitely no bueno.

And what age is that cutoff, exactly? Because there IS no guideline for it. If the argument is financial responsibility and independence, then you'd be setting AoC at closer to 25 for college students (particularly because kids are taking 5 years to finish their bachelors and then moving back in with their parents). Likewise, that's an even more arbitrary standard. It's like decreeing everybody must own a green hat before they can get a driver's license or tell you how many jellybeans are in the jar before they can vote.

adjl posted...

One could pretty easily argue that financial independence is the most important form of maturity here. When you get one person who's financially established picking up someone who isn't, there's always room to question whether the allure of financial support is playing a role in the latter person agreeing to the relationship. When the latter person is a minor, and the better-off person can offer them freedom from the looming threat of needing to support themselves? There's definitely a power imbalance there, and it's power imbalances that are the basis for the concept statutory rape.

That, and while different forms of maturity certainly exist, they're not entirely independent of each other, barring some considerable mental health concerns. Acting as though they typically are is pretty absurd.

By the logic, the rich shouldn't be allowed to date the poor.
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