Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Your answer is non-responsive. You explain why statutury rape and pedophilia laws are good (which is hardly a toughie), but the question was if you could state "a coherent, non-religious analysis of how to distinguish between a minor and an adult" of those laws. In other words, why is the day you turn 18, or 16, or whatever, such a magical moment?
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Ohhhhh. My bad.
18 was never a religious milestone. Neither was 21. It was a social one, because we had to draw the line somewhere. Literally
had to --- you can't have a sliding scale of adulthood between 12 and 21. "You've been drafted, but you're 16, so we'll put you in the, um, National Guard as a compromise." So we picked two milestones. It's not like you're substantively different on one side of 18 than on the other, unlike the line drawing necessary for procedure/murder. But you are legally responsible for your own fuck ups, including bad sexual decisions, on the other side of that milestone.
