Age of sexual consent... Is pedophilia real or something we made up?

[Mikeferdy]

A few weeks ago, a local news covered a story about 52 men were arrested for patronizing a local prostitute who lied about her age. Everyone believe she is 20 years old when in reality, she is 16.

This actually sparked a debate in the local forum on who is actually in the wrong here. True these men did have sexual intercourse with a sixteen year old but they genuinely believed that she was 20 years old. She even admitted that she lied about her age coz the money's good.

But another debate sparked about the age of sexual consent. Throughout the world, age of sexual consent varies from region to region. Some countries have age of sexual consent as low as 12, some as high as 20, while others depends on marriage status instead of age.

Generally, people's perception of pedophilia is having sexual intercourse with someone who is under aged. But what is the consideration when deciding the age limit? Is it puberty, education, IQ?

Then there are strage theories about is it illegal to have sexual intercourse who is underaged in my country but is not underaged in another country? Also is there any legal standing with having sexual intercourse with someone who is just a few days away from his/her birthday?

I think we can all agree that having sexual intercourse with someone who have not hit puberty can be counted as real pedophilia but can we truly call someone who have sexual intercourse with another who have achieved puberty but is still under country's legal age a pedophile?

[Lori S.]

If current age of consent laws were in existence and followed throughout all human history, it's safe to say that very few of our family trees would make it back more than a few generations.

My paternal grandmother was married at 18, and my maternal grandmother at 16. Both of their husbands were 4 or 5 years older. And, they married older than their mothers did.

Honestly, most of these laws seem to be based on hysteria rather than thought.

I'm certainly not advocating for people marrying at 14 or 15, but I do think that we should recognize that there is nothing inherently wrong/immoral about doing so, and that the realities of modern life make that an unattractive enough option for most people that these laws aren't really all that necessary. It's not like many people really want to get married at 14 but don't because it's illegal.