Should the age of consent be lowered? read this article and give me your opinions http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536008,00.html?

Yes, I do, and here's why... Biologically speaking, our bodies get ready for sexual interaction around age 13. Most are pretty much ready for sexual interaction by then. However, society as dictated that a person is not a full adult and able to give consent to certain actions until age 18.So, what you end up with is a bunch of teenagers hopped up on hormones wanting so badly to mess around and experiment, but trying not to because society dictates it's the wrong time.

So, they hold off and hold off and hold off because that's what they are told to do until one day they get so full of it they just can't stand it and end up making mistakes and THEN they are full of shame and guilt over it which creates whole new problems. The concept this country has failed to recognize is that you can't dictate what people do by making law after law and then expect everybody to abide by those laws and punish those who don't abide by those laws, especially when it has to do with something as natural as sexual intercourse. Virginity is overrated.

I saved myself for marriage and ended up divorcing the man because he was completely sexually incompatible with me and I rue the day I ever decided to "save myself. " It's a big joke and never works out right. This same concept can be applied to our marijuana law, which has been the most embarrassingly futile law in existence, ever.

A huge percentage of Americans smoke marijuana on a regular basis, many of whom you would never know because they keep it hidden due to the stigma attached to such a behavior. If you want to have better control over your kids, or if the government wants to have better control over it's citizens, you need to loosen up, not tighten up, because all tightening up does is make that thing taboo, which makes a person want to do it. Then, if you tell lies to try to scare the person or kid away from engaging in this behavior, you end up with resentments, distrust, and anger.

The best thing to do is make all these things okay to do and then counsel the person or child with regards to the consequences of such action. It's the only way to go. I think America is finally waking up to this fact, but it's taking awhile.

Even though the couple mentioned in the article were only five years apart, there is a much greater gap maturity wise at 14 and 19 than say 35 and 40. In a case like that I believe there should only be a difference in age at most two years. Or else it start to seem more like pedophilia.

No, I do not think they should be changed. The couple in question was in love, no doubt, but the fact remains that most 14 year olds would be easily manipulated by a 19 year old. My advice to someone with that much of an age gap would be just to date and not have sex until they reached the legal age (I believe in most provinces and states it's 15 or 16) Or just do what normal teenagers do... sneak around and don't get caught.

Remember, you're asking if the age of consent should be lowered based on exceptions to the rule but if you make the change it would make the option available to EVERYone. Not everyone displays similar maturity levels at the same age. So a default age is chosen that seems to be true for the most people in that demographic (typically 18 years old).

What you're saying though isn't that a 14 year old should be able to pick their sexual partners at an earlier age, the story you linked suggests that you're advocating a lack of responsibility for those OVER the age of consent to choose partners that are also over the age of consent. If the 19 year old in that story truly loved the 14 year old, he should have been willing to wait until she was 18, or moved to a State further north where the age of consent is closer to 12 and 14. A 14 year old may get chastised for sexual contact with another 14 year old but it's not against the law in most states.It's the age difference that makes it illegal (1.5+ years difference in some states).

Odd that the age of consent isn't keeping up with the age of responsibility. Kids are committing violent crimes at younger ages and being held accountable (and tried) as adults - but they are not even able to sign a release form or consent to counsel at their age. We send the message that viewing and enacting violence requires a different "age of consent" than acts of love/sex.

Somehow a person isn't mature enough to view sex as appropriate but being able to describe in detail 10 different methods of torture and murder with things you have around the house is perfectly fine. Parents will teach their kids how to handle a gun safely but not a condom.

The question in my mind is whether the two parties are truly giving consent. You could be way beyond the age of consent, but not able to say "no. " We live in a domination system where most people are trained from birth to obey, and so they lose the ability to say "no".

If you cannot say "no," then you cannot say yes. We need to change our culture so it is easy to say "no," and for that utterance of "no" to be taken seriously. When the "no" is not taken seriously, then it starts to become coercive and violent, and that is where the problem lies.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.