A question about sex and age?

Question

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE QUESTION BEFORE YOU ANSWER! I am not advocating under age sex or anything like that but I have a question.

Centuries ago it was considered perfectly normal for girls and boys of about 13 or so to marry people older than them. Lets say a guy age 25 gets with a girl age 19 (a 6 year difference), everybody is cool with that. Now rewind it 6 years, the girl would be 13 and the guy 19 and now it's all illegal. How is it different? So at what point did things change? Now it is illegal to marry and of course to engage in sexual relations with someone under 18 (or younger depending where you live) Again I am NOT advocating under age sex!!!

Answer 1

Because as time change people and their environment around them changes.

Kids back them were somewhat more grown up by the time they were 13 and older. It might have had to do with them having to grow up faster and be more of an adult with responsibility. Like taking care of a house along with their mother and father or helping with their family farm.

Now a days kids are aloud to basically do as they wish and have not had to grow up until most of them want to or are made to.

So this has made their out look on life different and the way they are mentally.

Kids 'back in day' were WAY more mature then they are now. So it would be like letting a little kid get married now a days.

Society has decided that 18 is the age where we are adults, mostly cause they are hoping that by then they have 'grown' up and experienced the world around them.

Kids in the 'olden days' would have experienced the world by the time they were 16.

Did i answer that ok.?

Answer 2

It has to do, on the surface, with adults not wanting children taking advantage of legally or sexually. It is also because the parents do not want their charges to not cost them an arm and a leg. I'll explain.

The age of 18 is now set here because this is when most "kids" graduate from secondary school and need to either get a job of move onto college. It's a jumping off point. As little as 50 years ago "children" grew up much faster; even though the youth of today will cry BS on that one. Girls were not expected to go to school in order to get a job and many boys were expected to be pulling their own weight by the time they were 16. Going back even farther most people lived in rural communities and the more people to help around the farm the better. Marry of Mary quick and you'd have another man around to help out for a while or at least one less mouth to feed.

Also, it was expected for "men" to marry young girls because men are much more stable than boys and the "girl" needed a guiding hand (hey, don't shoot me) to show here the ropes; there wasn't any mass media or gay rights activists around back then.

Lastly it has to do with the legal age of consent. I have a daughter who is 32, she is very pretty, doesn't take after her old man that’s for sure, but when she was 13 or 14 how do you think it would have been for her to have gotten pregnant or picked up aids or syphilis from some "cool" 19 year old? I have to tell you I did pitch a couple of them through the door! What would it have done to our family; she wasn't old enough to marry so I would have ended up paying for her medical bills and the kid. Mr. "cool" dude won’t have a job or at least not one that could support a wife and a kid so the parents get stuck. I believe that this is the major reason.

I laugh at the cell phone commercial where the kid is in the boat telling his dad that he needs a cell phone and his dad says that he needs to get a job. That is great! If you are footing your own bills and can support a baby then by all means go for it but I don’t know of any independent children under the age of about 24 or so that could do that.

Good luck with what you want.

Answer 3

Since we live a lot longer now, there's no reason for the old, if it bleeds it breeds line of thinking.

Plus, it's not the age gap, so much as it's the initial age. There's a HUGE difference between a 13 year old and a 19 year old. Marketing groups absolutely love the 11-13 year olds, call 'em 'tweens, and the reason is that for some reason, that age is HIGHLY succeptable to advertising. They tend to believe anything you tell them (provided you're not their parents, of course). By 14 or so, they've wised up a good deal, and by 18, 19 it's a whole different ballgame. If a 19 year old guy told a 13 year old girl he loved her while trying to get into her pants, she'd believe it, hook line and sinker. If a 25 year old guy tells a 19 year old girl he loves her while trying to get into her pants, she's going to be more likely to know he's full of it. All the law is doing is trying to protect the kiddies from lying, manipulative pervs.

Unfortunately, there's no law in place to protect unwary 19 year old guys from 13 year olds who think they are 19. Moral of that story, CHECK ID! lol

Answer 4

your question is interesting. I don't have an opinion. I don't know when it changed but I'd like to know too. It might have been because back then, people died a lot younger than they do now, and it was VERY important to have children/heirs/helpers, and teenagers are incredibly fertile. Also in those days there was no such thing as a teenager. You were basically a baby, then a young child then an adult. Teenage years were invented in the 20's I think, after WW1. so in those olden days, a girl of 13 was considered an adult, a young one.

Answer 5

Back then, the average life span was 30-35 years old, so it was necessary for people to marry at a much younger age. Now, most girls have not even started their periods at the age of 13, so sex would be totally inappropriate.

Answer 6

At the time girls got married at 13 people only lived to be 35-40. You needed to start breeding young just to keep the population going.
We've also undergone a major shift in the way society looks at children. For most of human history children were looked upon as almost miniature adults. They had jobs and were expected to shoulder their share of the family's responsibility. What we think of as a normal childhood is only a hundred years old or so.

Answer 7

"At what point do things change?" In the example of the 25/19 year olds once being 19/13 year olds, things changed when the youngest of them became a legal adult, able to make her (or his) own choices. If you mean, when did things change in society? At about the same time women got the right to vote.

Really :-)

Answer 8

Its not legal.. not at least in the US ..according to the statues of rape and underage sex but I assure you it happens.Its not always the guys fault.. guys are humans and they can be tricked..I worked in the radio industry for years and had the good sense to know that when it came to older guys ..every young lady that called was conveniently 18 .. yeah right .. i never believed it but there were guys that did and got in trouble.Girls mature very fast and well they can look and act older at that age and it really might be no fault of the guy but well it could be too.Im not siding with anyone here ,but well in some countries its legal no matter what age..its not a good thing but it does for sure happen..In the US be careful of who you are with and make sure they are who they say they are and if you do it on purpose and get caught then be prepared for repercussion from the authorities they frown on it big time especially now.

Answer 9

I believe you have a great point because if you look at some of the older couples now, the products of the marriage at 13, most are still married. They have been married 60 years! People wait now to get married and yet it still ends in divorce.

I guess it goes along with society and they way it shapes our minds.

Answer 10

It's different because at age 13, you're still a child. Back then, people didn't live that long either, and over time society realized that a 13 yr olds intellect isn't strong enough to consent to a real emotional/physical relationship.