In honor of Poindexter, can sex with a minor be consensual?

Sex with a minor can never be consensual.

 

This is the most disturbing game of semantics I've ever come across.

 

Indeed.

 

I draw the line at the legal age, Simon. I'm not out patrolling for 14-year-old boys (anymore). Are you asking me to rewrite the law? I'm not going to. That's not my job. I answered the question.

 

The concept that two 17-year-olds can't make a fully informed decision that they want to have sex with each other willingly is absurd. And heck, the 4-year-old can consent, too. Not that it would be informed consent, in the same way that a senile person can consent to giving money to the fly-by-night driveway repair guy. And that's why the laws involving sex with minors don't involve consent; they don't say there can't be consent.

 

In fact? yes.

In law? No.

 

I don't think laws can be written to say "on a case by case basis" to allow for every permutation possible. The letter of the law can say that someone who's 17 years and 364 days old can't have consenual sex with someone who's 18 years old exactly, but that's where the human beings who run the court system could take how close the partners are in age into consideration.

 

Yes, but human beings have daughters, and we see how that goes ("If that happened to MY kid, I'd rip the guy's eyes out!!!")

Can't let irrational emotion decide whether an 18-year-old kid goes to jail until he's 30.

 

I do think the law needs to say that an underage person and someone of legal age can have sex as long as the difference in age is 12 months or less to get past the 17 years, 11 months and 10 days old girl getting her boyfriend thrown in jail scenario.

 

For fuck's sake, you answered nothing.

You say sex with minors can be consensual. YOU said that.

I asked... at what age CAN'T it be?

 

I'm not arguing the law for one second here. I'm in the "words mean things, so let's be precise." camp.

If the thread were titled "Can sex with a minor be consensual and legal?" then in my opinion, there wouldn't be much for me to discuss.

 

I can't answer that, because it's not for me to decide. I answered the question. It can be consensual. IF you're going to ask when it CAN'T be, then the answer would be if one's over 18 and one's under. That's the law. What's confusing?