Quote:
Originally Posted by SNR
4-year olds aren't capable of giving consent. Can we agree on that?
Most 16-year olds are capable of giving consent.
However, the law treats both of these individuals as minors. The 16-year old is not a sub-adult or Minor Class II. They're both juveniles.
In other countries like Japan, the age of consent is lower. The point is, the Japanese believe that there IS a point where children can't understand letting adults do stuff to them.
That's the point of pedophile laws.
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Yeah, I understand the point of pedophile laws. This is about the more abstract concept of morality though. The state of the law is an approximate reflection of society's moral judgment, not the other way around.
The fact is that we do make moral judgments about lifestyle choices and consequences of those judgments sometimes involve lack of access to government benefits, fines, incarceration, etc. Some of those judgments change over time.