Ooops, I said it first.
December 21, 2007
A few days back I happened to mention here and on other message boards mentioned there were serious legal implications for the Jamie Lynn Spears pregnancy. Low and behold. now everyone is on the bandwagon beating this drum. A few of them are actually on the right track though. They noticed that the laws governing such acts have a wide disparagement of enforcement. Is there a solution? Sure, but there isn’t going to be anyone happy about it.
Before you talk about finding a solution you need to ask the question, should teenagers even be having sex? The answer is a most definitely yes, but within limits. Latest research shows that there are real problems associated with people who wait too long to have sex. That isn’t to say that those who start early also don’t have problems, nor does it address the issues of inappropriate relationships. The research shows 14 and under as early starters, and 22 or older as late starters, with an average age of 17 stated for surveyors as first sexual encounter. Too young and you have a higher risk of doing something stupid and end up throwing your life away by getting pregnant or catching a disease, on top of other emotional problems. Too late and you not only have problems enjoying sex or pleasuring your partner, you lack a lot of the emotional maturity it takes to have long committed relationships.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/12/19/spears.statutory.rape/index.html
So what is the solution? Well it is definitely not more laws, though better enforcement of the ones we do have wouldn’t be uncalled for, especially the ones leveled against biased prosecutors, wouldn’t be out of line. I am already sensing that there is going to be an outcry for an ill advised federal law. Not only would it be unconstitutional, any notion of the federal government dictating who can and can’t share in hide the sausage is bound to be looser than any of the Catholic school girls I dated as a teenager, or full of more pork that the fat girl who can’t even get laid by promising blow jobs afterwards. So what are my legal solutions? First the prosecution must be dealt with fairly. Too often we have outraged parents screaming for the prosecution because they simply don’t like the boy or the color of his skin. That last part is particularly true in the south, no surprise there. It is also unfair that it is the boy who is the only one ever prosecuted. I have heard many anecdotal stories testifying that despite the guy being the younger partner, he was the only one prosecuted. The biggest help in the legal situation would be to tell every boy and girl in school from the time of puberty if you have sex before the age of consent you can BOTH be prosecuted. That particular fear might keep a lot of junior high girls knees a little closer together, not that I usually find them that sensible, but just maybe.
http://ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm
In truth I find there will be very little putting the genie back in the bottle or closing pandora’s box (no matter what sort of chasity belt we give her). Sex and young people is here to stay. In the end all we can do is educate them truthfully on all the consequences and make sure we as parents do our part to keep them safe.
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