There are some people who argue that “people’s brains aren’t mature until they’re 25, so if their brains aren’t mature, they can’t consent to sex.” We could go back and forth about what constitutes the “real” age of adulthood, but for legal purposes, there has to be some type of consensus, at least for a particular jurisdiction. I don’t …
There are some people who argue that “people’s brains aren’t mature until they’re 25, so if their brains aren’t mature, they can’t consent to sex.” We could go back and forth about what constitutes the “real” age of adulthood, but for legal purposes, there has to be some type of consensus, at least for a particular jurisdiction. I don’t think 20-year-olds are necessarily more physically developed than 18-year-olds. I had pretty much the exact same body, in terms of physical maturity - height, weight, bra size, menstrual cycle pattern - from 16 until I got pregnant at 27. People develop at different rates, but nearly everyone is done with puberty at 18, and as for emotional maturity and life skills, those things vary so much from person to person.
I was raised in a Catholic family where my mother (speaking for both herself and my father) emphasized that sex was a very serious thing and something that should wait until after marriage. “Forever” by Judy Blume actually helped convince me that teenage sex was a bad idea. Michael gave me the creeps - ugh, referring to his penis as “Ralph”! - and it struck me as so tragic that Katherine had put so much thought and emotion into the decision of whether to have sex with him, only to have the two of them break up within months. I didn’t want to be Katherine. I didn’t want to share the most intimate parts of my body with someone - to actually let him inside my body - and then realize I didn’t want to be with him forever. I’m now married and my husband is the only sexual partner I’ve ever had, and vice versa. We’re very happy.
There are some people who argue that “people’s brains aren’t mature until they’re 25, so if their brains aren’t mature, they can’t consent to sex.” We could go back and forth about what constitutes the “real” age of adulthood, but for legal purposes, there has to be some type of consensus, at least for a particular jurisdiction. I don’t think 20-year-olds are necessarily more physically developed than 18-year-olds. I had pretty much the exact same body, in terms of physical maturity - height, weight, bra size, menstrual cycle pattern - from 16 until I got pregnant at 27. People develop at different rates, but nearly everyone is done with puberty at 18, and as for emotional maturity and life skills, those things vary so much from person to person.
I was raised in a Catholic family where my mother (speaking for both herself and my father) emphasized that sex was a very serious thing and something that should wait until after marriage. “Forever” by Judy Blume actually helped convince me that teenage sex was a bad idea. Michael gave me the creeps - ugh, referring to his penis as “Ralph”! - and it struck me as so tragic that Katherine had put so much thought and emotion into the decision of whether to have sex with him, only to have the two of them break up within months. I didn’t want to be Katherine. I didn’t want to share the most intimate parts of my body with someone - to actually let him inside my body - and then realize I didn’t want to be with him forever. I’m now married and my husband is the only sexual partner I’ve ever had, and vice versa. We’re very happy.