Katawa Shoujo Forums

Steinherz wrote: Japan, Age of Consent: 14
80% of the United States, Age of Consent: 16
Most of the goddamned world, Age of Consent: 16

People get the "oh you have to be 18 to have sex" thing because of something called SoCalization.

Thank you.

Weird then how I read in the local paper about guys having consensual sex with a 16 or 17 year old and ending up in jail.

I think what it means is age of parental consent, if the parents don't like it, that dude is screwed. Or there's different local laws maybe...

Hell if I know, it's not something I'd try to do.

Hisao&Hanako<3 wrote:Weird then how I read in the local paper about guys having consensual sex with a 16 or 17 year old and ending up in jail.

I think what it means is age of parental consent, if the parents don't like it, that dude is screwed. Or there's different local laws maybe...

Hell if I know, it's not something I'd try to do.

Nope. Age of Consent refers to the participating parties. Parental consent has nothing to do with it.
However if the younger member's parents don't like it they can put statutory rape charges against the other, and because the younger member isn't legally an adult they can't testify for their lover.

Though that usually only happens if the older member is more than three years older than the other. Most of the age of consent laws are clear when it comes to that though. And that's where the "Romeo and Juliet" clauses come in

Frankly, any age of consent past 15 is just unnecessary. By 15, people either know enough to make informed choices or the people teaching them just really suck at the job. And the entire idea of statutory rape is just unbelievably insulting to victims of actual rape. "Oh, you two consenting individuals fucked, but your ages weren't high enough? Why, that's totally on par with violent, brutal, traumatizing forced intercourse!"

Oddball wrote:I'm not posting as much latley, but I still read the forums several times a day. I';m trying to catch up on my fanfics at the moment.

That's pretty much exactly my situation. Hell I think this is my first time posting in about a month, I've just been so busy with university and a bunch of other shit I haven't really had the time. I haven't even had much time to read fanfics.

By 15, people either know enough to make informed choices or the people teaching them just really suck at the job.

Or, rather than sucking, the people teaching them simply have no interest in teaching the subject, preferring to simply drop the A-word and be done with it. There's an entire abstinence industry, conveniently located in the places where teen pregnancy is also the highest. Not that the two are related. Not at all.

Hey, abstinence worked for me, cause that's just how I was taught since very young. I for one feel happy waiting for that one special person, cause it will make it feel all the better.

And yet, people that choose to act like rabbits still deserve a loving spouse one day. That's the other side of the same coin. Personally I think it's not what you do that matters, it's who you do it with.

So grab a friend and read some amazing KS today! Better yet, cry together!

Xanatos wrote:And the entire idea of statutory rape is just unbelievably insulting to victims of actual rape. "Oh, you two consenting individuals fucked, but your ages weren't high enough? Why, that's totally on par with violent, brutal, traumatizing forced intercourse!"

The idea is that someone who is too young is unable to properly consent. Just like someone who is drunk or mentally ill. Or unconscious.

And, rape is sex without consent. Hence statutory rape being a thing.

Now, where you draw the age line is tricky, yes, and Romeo and Juliet laws are definitely a good thing.

Steinherz wrote:People get the "oh you have to be 18 to have sex" thing because of something called SoCalization.

Well, in the case of depictions in media, it has a more to do with maximizing legal distributability. Doesn't matter if it's legal in your local jurisdiction; you're trying to make it available to the widest audience you can, and cutting off places where 18 is the standard can only hurt that endeavor.

Hisao&Hanako<3 wrote:Hey, abstinence worked for me, cause that's just how I was taught since very young.

Some of us are taught abstinence; others have it thrust upon us by life.

It wouldn't be such an issue if we weren't such damn prudes in this country. Honestly. Just grow up and teach kids about safe sex and using birth control and get on with it. I think its because everyones afraid to talk about it that its even a problem.

In the end, teenagers having sex is just human nature.

Atario wrote:

Hisao&Hanako<3 wrote:Hey, abstinence worked for me, cause that's just how I was taught since very young.

Some of us are taught abstinence; others have it thrust upon us by life.

Amen to that my friend.

pandaphil wrote:It wouldn't be such an issue if we weren't such damn prudes in this country. Honestly. Just grow up and teach kids about safe sex and using birth control and get on with it. I think its because everyones afraid to talk about it that its even a problem.

And then you get the fact that some of the most backwards states in that regard have some of the lowest ages of consent. (Because they were set back when women were more explicitly treated as livestock than today.)

pandaphil wrote:It wouldn't be such an issue if we weren't such damn prudes in this country. Honestly. Just grow up and teach kids about safe sex and using birth control and get on with it. I think its because everyones afraid to talk about it that its even a problem.

Hear, hear!

pandaphil wrote:In the end, having sex is just human nature.

FTFY :p

Fun fact: In China, a couple in their mid-20s legit believed that a child was made simply by a man and woman laying together. Literally, they just slept in the same bed for three years then went to ask a doctor why it wasn't working.

I can only imagine how the discussion went...

Sounds like a double-facepalm moment to me Xan.

Maybe they were expecting a bird to drop off the baby.