this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 73 points 1 week ago (5 children)

The purple ones aren't full of goddamn pedophiles

[–] pentastarm@piefed.ca 89 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)
[–] NottaLottaOcelot@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago (3 children)

In the red states, why would the common law age be younger for girls (12) than it is for boys (14)?

Both are horrifyingly young, but I’m curious what justifies two extra years of child molestation for girls

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 12 points 1 week ago

That's simultaneously a fascinating question but also one I am not at all interested in researching.

[–] Ice@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

The most at hand explanation I think would be biological differences between the genders. Male puberty is, on average, delayed by approximately 18 months in comparison. Girls/women are earlier in development and mature earlier, boys/men later.

Puberty was pretty much the defining factor back in the day for adulthood vs childhood.

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Ayy my state not being one of the bad ones for once

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[–] kn33@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Common MN win

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 8 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Nah, they're full of them too. If laws prevented pedophilia, it would have disappeared long ago.

[–] Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 week ago

Just like homosexuality!

Wait...

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[–] KryptonNerd@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Well... DC is, they just can't legally marry children.

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[–] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 1 week ago (47 children)

We so often forget that the USA became a superpower because everyone else was totally crushed in the WW2, so they could just scoop it all up afterwards (which they absolutely did as much as they could).

It seems like things are changing back. History will tell, but the USA is only liked because of its dominance, not because of its morals. IMO. And USAnians have to figure out why "it is not working anymore" (hint: you were lucky and greedy in the fifties, but the luck has ran out since a long time), so good luck to you, it's usually a bit excruciating, but most countries figure it out.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

Wasn't that the case with Europe and colonialism tbf?

[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The species became a superpower because of fossil fuels which allows each person to benefit from energy accumulated over millennia all in one geological eyeblink.

The chaos you are seeing around us is simply what happens when the drugs run out. The tinder was smoldering all along.

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[–] Apepollo11@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago (3 children)

But isn't the age of consent 18 in the US? How does that work?

In the UK you used to be able to get married at 16, but the age of consent is 16, so it kind of made sense.

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 56 points 1 week ago (2 children)

But isn’t the age of consent 18 in the US? How does that work?

Common misconception, but nope! The U.S. decided to leave that one up to the states, since apparently whether or not it's okay to screw children depends on... what geographical coordinates within the U.S. you're located in. It's also separate from whether or not you can marry btw.

It also depends on a number of different factors in some jurisdictions. For example, the age of consent might be 18, but with exemptions for someone who's 16 or older with someone who is within 2 years of their age. (e.g. a 16yo & 18yo, 17yo & 19yo)

It can also vary based on larger age gaps. For example, Washington has the age of consent at 16, but it can go up to 18 if the other person is more than 5 years older and other conditions are met.

Or, you could be like Iowa, who sets it at 16... but allows people 14-15yo to do it with someone up to 18 or 19yo respectively.

For marriage, sometimes it lines up with age of consent and sometimes it doesn't.

For example, California sets the age of consent at 18, and any sexual activity with someone 18 regardless of your age (even if you are also under 18, or even the same age) is a crime... unless you're married, which can be done at any age in the state, so long as there is parental consent and a judge says yes.

To be very transparent... I'm basically just paraphrasing from these two Wikipedia pages 😅

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States

[–] Apepollo11@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wow, that's a lot more complicated than I would have expected!

Our system, although it's basically the way it is because things change slowly here, kind of works for us. Between 16-18 here, you're no longer in school, you go to college (different meaning than in the US!) or vocational training. It's an in-between child and adult stage, where most people start doing grown-up things for the first time.

[–] dan@upvote.au 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Wow, that's a lot more complicated than I would have expected!

This happens a lot in the USA, because of how much autonomy the states have. A lot of decisions are left up to individual states, and some states end up doing strange things and add all sorts of exceptions to their laws. Even basic things like sick leave aren't federally mandated (and only 19 or so out of the 50 states have mandated paid sick leave).

Sometimes it can be a good thing though... For example, California has the strictest privacy laws in the country (CCPA and CPRA, similar to GDPR in Europe), and Illinois has very strict laws on usage of biometrics (like fingerprints and facial recognition). Those would have been extremely hard to approve nationwide. Things that go well in one state often end up rolling out to other states too.

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[–] Flames5123@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I will say that the 2 year age gap actually makes sense though. Dating in high school would be a lot weirder with restricted ages based on if your birthday was in May vs January of the same year.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that precedent. Stuff would be incredibly hard to navigate without it and you'd essentially just end up with a bunch of high schoolers technically committing a crime.

Certainly one way to speed up the school-to-prison pipeline 💀

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

“Fun” fact! Marriage is a defense to statutory.

In rural Oklahoma, you can fuck a teenager as long as you put a ring on it.

[–] Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In some cases it's also a easy way out of an abusive house hold for high schooler.

My mother for example was beat basically daily and abused by her parents. My father putting a ring on her allowed him to become her legal guardian and remove her from her parents while allowing her to keep going to school and be protected from the state forcing her to go back home.

My mother was 16 my father was 18. They met when she was a freshmen and him a junior. Dates all though out high school.

Sometimes being a little flexible is the right call. It sucks that we don't have better systems in place to deal with such things. But you work with in the system you have.

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[–] 33550336@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

This meme made me to watch a femdom porn again

[–] Klear@quokk.au 10 points 1 week ago

Bet the next shock is gonna come from slavery still being legal in the USA.

[–] sik0fewl@piefed.ca 6 points 1 week ago

It doesn’t sound humane.

[–] Virtvirt588@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Marriage on its own is a problematic concept. The problems with child and essentially teen marriage are the tip of the iceberg.

It is the case where thousands of people past the common age are still being abused. And even within countries where the children's rights have been ratified, those individuals are yet again prone to abuse when they reach the arbitrary number which is the common age.

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