by D. Anderson

Created on: May 14, 2008   Last Updated: September 28, 2010

Yes. With age comes certain privileges and rights: At 18 you can vote, move out of mom and dad's house, get married, see an "R" rated movie, enlist in the army and buy cigarettes; at 21 you can buy alcohol; 25 is a great age for men because there is a reduction on their car insurance premiums; many people look forward to 65 when they can retire and get senior citizen discounts. I'll say it again, with age comes certain privileges and rights, and yet an act that can cause STD's passed on to others or that can produce the greatest responsibility of all another human life is legal at ages as low as thirteen?

Shockingly, yes, there are states that have had or still have the age of consent as young as thirteen years old. Some states make "exceptions" such as "the age of consent is 13 as long as the older party is not more than 2 years older than the younger party." An exception to this was the age of 16 where the other party could not be more than 5 years older, that equals out to a 21 one year old having sexual intercourse with a 16 year oldtoo much of an age gap for my tastes, and frankly, no one can remember the laws when math has to become involved.

I am not a prude, seriously. But the developmental stages mentally, emotionally and physically at such young ages are completely different. Think back to the ages when you were 16, then 21, then 30 and see how different your views, responsibilities and actions are. Now, an age gap of 5 years when both parties are older such as 25 and 30 or 65 and 70 is not such a stretch because the mentality and such is very similar. But think of the age difference between 13 and 18.

So, that being said I believe the age of sexual consent should be 18 years old. The majority of a person's responsibility and rights hit when they turn 18 since this is the age that the government has deemed a person is a legal adult. Granted, an age of sexual consent will not deter many youths from having sex prior to that age, just as it doesn't stop any of the other things that teens are not supposed to do. Having such a law also won't stop menstrual cycles and the chances for pregnancy to stop coming to women at ages as young as nine years old.

But if an age requirement and possible punishment in the form of probation, sexual education classes or community services can deter even a few wanna-be copulating couples then isn't it worth it?

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