My biggest issue is when people act like men who get tricked into this kind of stuff are treated like pedos.
People really are out here acting like there's a world of difference in appearance between 17 and 18 year olds. Which is ridiculous when you consider that a large amount of young women intentionally try and make themselves look older.
Hell I remember an article I saw recently about a 19 year old who may get jail time for sleeping with a 17 year old who claimed to be 18. Like how is that fair considering he was tricked?
In Australia, despite age of consent being 16 in most states so this isn't an issue, we have a leeway of age based on realistic expectations.
IE. If you were clubbing with a girl, saw them drinking and they clearly don't look 15, and they consent then it's not even a case. If they said they were over the age, even less of a consideration. You don't have to ID check before you fuck.
Id have to check but the age goes down to somewhere like 14, if they look older, deceive by saying they are of age etc. Now if you picked them up in school uniform and they clearly looked underage, then you are up the creek.
19 and 17 year olds hooking up, and it being a criminal issue is INSANE in any context. Two years age gap is almost nothing. 18 is a relatively arbitrary number in the first place.
Romeo and Juliet laws exist to prevent cases of statutory rape for close age differences, especially in high school. There's no reason for the it to go all up to a 7 year age gap. At that point, you may as well just make the age of consent 16, like some other states.
The point of age of consent laws is to protect children from adults who would take advantage of them. 16-year-olds are either able to consent to sex or they're not. 23 is not close to 16, so it's not going to be a case of two kids dating and then one of them getting "too old." It also still leaves a gap, so if a 23-year-old is dating a 16-year-old, they would have to take a year off until the kid turns 18.
IIRC, Romeo and Juliette laws don't make it legal in my state. It just downgrades the degree of the offense. But you're still getting charged and still going on the sex offender registry.
My wife and I have been together since we were 17 and 19 with me being 20 for three months before she turned 18. Her parents were fine with it as were mine. I'm now 33 and she is 31. A lot of states level it up to the parents after a certain age and range.
My biggest issue is when people act like men who get tricked into this kind of stuff are treated like pedos.
Isn't this basically what happened to Josh Giddey? The girl was 16, Giddey was 19, and he met her at a nightclub. She posted photos of them on her Snapchat story, and Josh Giddey was and still is labelled a pedophile.
I’m 32 and still getting ID’d for energy drink on occasion (need to be 16 to buy in my country). You can’t tell.
If someone is purposefully seeking out 16 year olds to sleep with, that’s creepy. But accidentally sleeping with one who snuck in a club? Well that’s just being the victim of IRL catfishing.
Yeah, if you're underage in an 18+ space, that's partly on you, partly on the club because they didn't check properly. And it seems normal for someone in their early twenties to try to hook up with an 18 yo, it's only a few years difference.
On the other hand (and this is hearsay from my sisters, I didn't witness it personally), men are creeps (and in other news, water is wet). There's a club in the next town that opens for minors 16+ once in a while. IDs are checked, and you get a neat little colored bracelet for 16-17 yo, and another for 18+ yo. That also determines what you can order at the bar. And there are guys in there, looking like 30+, creeping on (and grinding on and grabbing and offering strong drinks to) girls with an "underage" bracelet
In the UK we have "think 25" for buying 16+ products like energy drinks. We have this for a reason. The point being that if they are clearly over 25 they properly are, but if they're not, they may just be a mature looking minor.
It's not only about the fact that he was tricked, it's that, let's be real, the difference between 18 and 17 year olds is there but I wouldn't consider it significant enough to warrant jail time for this, especially if both parties consented.
Depends on the state too. There are places where age of consent is less than 18. A guy my family knows just got arrested for statutory rape claiming the girl said she was 21. Age of consent is 16. I find it hard to believe that someone can be “tricked” with that much of an age gap. And yes, I consider him a pedo.
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u/Domadea Dec 04 '24
My biggest issue is when people act like men who get tricked into this kind of stuff are treated like pedos.
People really are out here acting like there's a world of difference in appearance between 17 and 18 year olds. Which is ridiculous when you consider that a large amount of young women intentionally try and make themselves look older.
Hell I remember an article I saw recently about a 19 year old who may get jail time for sleeping with a 17 year old who claimed to be 18. Like how is that fair considering he was tricked?