Legal Age...?

Question

In my own opinion I believe that the legal age for many things is wrong.

Such as, someone who is 16 is able to have sex, but that person is not able to watch pornographic movies until they are 18. That means they are able to risk STDs and becoming pregnant at the age of just 16, but they are unable to pleasure themselves using visual aid.

It's not just sex. You are able to drive when you reach the age of 15 (in New Zealand) but you are unable to vote in a general election until you're 18. So, you can go out drive a car, put others and yourself at risk, but you can't have 1 say in how the country is run.

Also, at the age of 16, you are able to buy a knife or a gun, but you can't buy alcohol until you are 18 (in New Zealand and 21 in the USA). So you are allowed to have a lethal weapon but you aren't allowed to go out and have a good night with your friends drinking alcohol?


Please explain...

Princess- Not in New Zealand it's not. You obviously aren't mature enough to have sex though, as you can not spell.

Lori A- I was hoping for some understanding. I asked a question. Please explain why the laws are like this. Why is everyone so anal these days?

Answer 1

The legislative process, in western democracy's and western style democracies, at best, is the majority, imposing its will on the minority. However, most of the time, our duly elected representatives are paying tribute, to the special interest groups that secured their election.

The "religious right", if they had their way, would make all consumption of alcohol illegal, sex outside of marriage illegal, and all homosexual sex illegal. Many, would also want to outlaw various sex acts all together, e.g., fellatio, cunnilingus, anal sex. They would use the power of the state, to impose their religious beliefs on everyone.

In the various states of the U.S.A., the laws creating the crime of "statutory rape", are the most egregious. They are egregious, because they are arbitrary and capricious, demonstrated by their wide variation in the fifty states, and their very selective enforcement.

Two seventeen-year-old boys, are serving a ten-year prison sentence, because they allowed two fifteen-year-old girls to engage them in fellatio, in the State of Georgia. Had these same sexual encounters occurred, in the State of New Jersey, it would have been perfectly legal.

Answer 2

When I was 16 I felt the same way. Buts lets face it some people never grow up. But the fact is when you are young you been protected, in most cases, by your parents from the consequences of poor decisions. So you haven't had time to develop the decision making skills to deal with things like sex, and drugs. So now that its been 35 years since I was 16 I now have a completely different attitude about it.

In both cases these are activities that can quickly spiral out of your control and leave you in a dangerous situation.

I think the legal driving age should be 21 as well. It would make the roads safer for all of us.

Answer 3

I realize the legal age for things doesn't make sense some times but the laws need to have some guidelines or frame of reference and age is a determining factor.Age is also an objective reference which gives chronological age however it does not take into account mental age.Everyone matures at a different rate.I hope this helped a little.This is only my opinion.Take care.

Answer 4

"Legal" ages as you describe them are only parameters that the 'leaders' of our society have come to agree on. In reality what should drive a 'rational' society or a 'thinking' society is basically two things: MORAL values and COMMON sense.

MORAL values should be instituted by our parents at home, and COMMON sense should tell us that they are right and that we shouldn't rebel against that morality.

However the issue here is that the same society in which we and our parents live, has lost direction in both morality valuing and the definition of common sense. Not only most of people don't pay attention to these areas anymore but also we have substituted them with MATERIAL values and a CONVENIENT sense.

Instead of acting morally we are taught that whatever it takes we need to have more material stuff and more money than we really need. Today persons are defined by what they wear, by the kind of car they drive, by the house they live in, by the brand of shirt they use or by a title in a business card. We are taught to do whatever is convenient for us, without any regard for whatever is convenient for the rest of the society or for the rest of the world.

In that scheme, we are driven by 'false' values shown to us on TV, the internet or in the movies. We drink, smoke, have sex, and sadly we are mean to other people, just because that's what we learn to do everyday by all of that 'multimedia' society.

I'm not saying TV, the internet or Hollywood is to blame. I'm saying the lack of MORAL values teaching has made us adjust more conveniently to do what is easier to do: not to obey the rules. And that's where the problem start. As you well put it, accidents and murders can occur the way our society is said to be 'ordered' today ... BUT THIS IS WRONG !!!

Governments should not only set 'ages' to regulate bad behavior. They should invest lots of resources in promoting family values to the extent of instituting services free of charge for people who need help, for families that are totally dysfunctional.

I don't know if you are a religious person, but i am and i think that The Church should also take a more active role on this. They should get out of their fancy 'temples' and start doing some 'media' of their own, promoting those MORAL values and that COMMON sense that should reign our lives.

I live in a society that is a little bit more conservative than yours, but we are slowly being dragged by that americanized style and we are loosing that 'conservative' style and it's being changed by a more Hollywood kind of life, a more 'wrong' kind of life.

I don't want to make you bored. I understand your point completely. I hope you understood mine. I believe in sex with precaution and i like drinking wine. But i believe more in living a responsible life and at the end of the day, the world will be whatever you make of it. How you live and understand your own life and your own society will be totally at your discretion. So please, go ahead and make something great out of yourself and if you decide to, spread good moral values and common sense to those near you and to those who will become your descendants.

One simple guy from Guatemala, in Central America.

Answer 5

the politicians think you do not have a brain until you hit 21 and then that is debatable

Answer 6

please explain what?.......and by the way.....you can have sex at any age but it has to be with someone 18 and under, if you are 18 and under, and if you are 18 and older, you have to have sex with someone 18 and older....otherwise it is illegal

and weather you agree with them or not, they are the law, and you should abide by them because there would not be a law for something without a reason

Answer 7

Yes.

Answer 8

This is not a forum. This is for questions, hence the name "Yahoo! Answers" Not opinions.

Answer 9

yes i agree with you, the laws are retarded,

Answer 10

get a fake id... best way