hamilton Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 According to this article, the government is considering raising the age of consent from 14 to 16, while still allowing partners within five years of each other to legally have sex: Story here. When Diane Sowden's daughter became pregnant at 14, the current age of consent, she soon succumbed to a downward spiral of drugs and sex in Vancouver's downtown eastside."My daughter became pregnant at 14 and when I went to the police they told me there was nothing legally they could do," she said.Sowden now works for the Children of the Street Society, a non-profit organization aimed at helping sexually exploited children and youth like her daughter.Justice Minister Vic Toews said changing the age of consent to 16 will help reduce cases like Sowden's daughter.Is Mr. Toews an idiot? I fail to see how changing the law will "reduce the number of cases like Sowden's daughter." All it will really do is allow the police to throw the guy who impregnated the daughter into prison, which is not the same as reducing the number of teenage pregnancies.Discuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 Is Mr. Toews an idiot? I fail to see how changing the law will "reduce the number of cases like Sowden's daughter." All it will really do is allow the police to throw the guy who impregnated the daughter into prison, which is not the same as reducing the number of teenage pregnancies.Yep. It's even borne out from the quote by the mother: "My daughter became pregnant at 14 and when I went to the police they told me there was nothing legally they could do," she said.This law isn't about prevention, it's about punishment. Not saying there's anything wrong with that either... just be upfront about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazlo Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 This is why everybody should be sterilized at birth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted June 1, 2006 Report Share Posted June 1, 2006 Cf. the "Test shows pollutants" thread. We're all working on it in our special way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothedShredder Posted June 7, 2006 Report Share Posted June 7, 2006 In no way do I condone relationships between sexual predators and minors I have heard/read that Ageism is perhaps the next big hurdle for humanity/civilization to confront, define, and adjust.We've dealt with racism and sexism in a serious and concious way, speciesism to a lesser extent, but the age debate is still very scattered. We have accepted arbitrary points in time which are hardly consistant across juristictions for things such as voting, drinking, going to war, consent, driving... and we also treat things the other way... for example, the government or law says that at no point is someone old enough, or competent enough to decide if they want to use recrational drugs, or commit suicide. I'm not saying that I have a strong stance, but I am saying that alot of the argument on age related issues remain in the dark. I think if we shine a light on the greater issue on which the consent issue lies, we will remove the dark corners where all the dirty buisness of today hide. We can create a vehicle for dialog between those of different ages, especially the young, and be able to more effectively communicate with them why these actions are so bad for them...I fear that most of these relationships between 'underage' and sexual predator are symptoms of a broken home, a cry for help, a need to fill something that is missing from their own upbringing. I think we need to get to the root cause, and unfortunately in the mean time, things like this will continue to happen.Still, I was way ahead of my parents generation when I was 13 when it came to things like the environment and computers. At that age kids who are really in tune with the world also have an invested interest in keeping the world around for a long time... Ageism suggests that we do or don't treat these people with a certain kind of respect... I certainly felt a great deal of patronization at that age, and even today from some of the same characters who reamian older and 'set in their ways'... "I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now!" - Bob DylanKids are smarter than we think!--- This was all generalizations... please don't take it personally! Just trying to crack open the playing field a bit for a wider debate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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