A child is 13 years old. Can this child meaningfully consent to sex with another child of the same age?
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If free will doesn’t exist, there’s no such thing as “consent” for anyone of any age. The difference in the experienced psychology of choice, as between children and adults (if there IS any difference), would be irrelevant.
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If the answer is no, and they have sex anyway, are you intending to throw both in jail for statutory rape?
The word "consent" has weird legal connotations. I would tend to say "no", but putting both in jail seems like a bad outcome.
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Yes, but. It's usually a bad idea that should be discouraged, especially on the ground of the risk of pregnancy.
Also, although they *can*, this is not usually the case. Most of the time there is too much pressure from the other party, or their peer group.
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Most likely no. And neither can the other child, because both are too young to grasp the full risks of it. If there is no coercion involved, then both are not at fault - from a moral perspective it's not a good thing, but also not bad.
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Not sure how 'can' is to be interpreted here. There is likely at least one child at some point in history that was able to meaningfully consent, but many cannot.
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There are a lot of different 13-year olds. Is the question about existence or majority?. Are there 13yo who can do it, or can the majority of 13yo do it?
First one is clearly yes. Second one idk, but I am inclined to also say yes.
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What does "meaningfully consent" mean?
Should we prosecute one (or both) of these children for statutory rape? No.
Was this a good idea? Will they get emotionally screwed up? I've no idea, and for obvious reasons it's hard to do a study.
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13 is 8th grade. When I was in 8th grade people were very aware of sex and its risks.
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