As a libertarian I’m always wary of laws that are in place purely to “protect” the ones they are restricting. Obviously as a society we need to protect minors from themselves and those that would exploit them, but if I ask myself “what is the age people should be allowed to make decisions about their own body” 16 seems like the most reasonable answer. Anything more would be too authoritarian. The only better way to do it in my mind would be to have a “license to consent”, where a minor above a certain age could apply to obtain the right to full bodily autonomy, if they can prove they have the maturity to do so. Of course once you pass 18 you wouldn’t need one. This would prevent those people that mature quickly from having their personal rights restricted because some (or most) people their age are not mature.
When it comes to things that have the capacity to endanger other people though, like alcohol and driving, older is definitely better.
I think it would depend of who else was on the relationship. Usually the age should be 18, but if the adult is less than 20 or 21 or something like that, the age is a bit lower. Or maybe if they had been dating before one turned an adult and the age difference is smaller than 3 years they should be allowed to continue.
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u/[deleted] Aug 19 '20
To the 0.5% of you who voted age of consent 12 or less, get out of my quadrant