Are we really old enough to be treated like adults at 18?

Bit of a dumb question, but should the law perceive us as children or as adults between 18 to 23?

Cause recent medical research says mentally and i guess legally, we continue developing until 27 half or 37 half.

Or should we be held as adults younger, like 13 half or 14? Genuinely curious.

I didn't feel like a man at 18, i felt like a girl (cause i was actually mentally and emotionally a girl but lived my boyhood out 'til 19)and only have felt like any "other man" since this year, so my childhood is boyhood to adulthood or really manhood (i grew into a man sweetie, ewww, teen a.s would be so disappointed😂thats what happens to boys with unloving parents, we grow up to be deeply MENTALLY effeminate, highly emotional faery men with crushes on and over hairy buff alpha dudes).

I am very adult but also quite manly😭but...i feel it and own it so should 18 to 21, but really 23 be the cut off point?

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TinyViolins · 31-35, M

The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that regulates things like reasoning and planning and even many aspects of our personality, isn't even finished developing until a person's mid-20s. On a neurological level, you can make the argument that they're not fully adults.

But on a legal level, you have to set a line somewhere. Everyone matures at different rates and have varying levels of intelligence, but the distinction ultimately lies in the idea that the law assumes that we're old enough to distinguish right from wrong.

The cutoff points vary from country to country depending on their values, but the protests following the Vietnam War argued that if we're old enough to die for the USA, we're old enough to get all the rights an adult gets. The voting age wasn't always 18 either.

Dogemilataka

@TinyViolins honestly sweetie, i think 23 half or 24...set as a universal age of consent, for everything...i mean everything.

What you said about neurological development, i 100% agree with, i have read that too and looking back i now know that whilst i should of transitioned as a teen boy, obviously that couldn't of happened with my parents consent and i had to respect that. But it also gives me a lot more to play with as a adult girl in her mid-20s to relate to my male partners and/or spouses. I lived as a young adult man and genetic or cis guys are sweethearts who have a lot of expectation placed on their shoulders, starting as teen boys and growing into young men, so even though i live isolated...mostly i totally understand and heavily sympathise with my genetic or cis men.

10s, 20s and 30s, best time to transition and find my love (s).

I am grateful for that, but culture ought not dictate and dominate law, updated and upgraded biology SHOULD, regardless of country, community and culture

Lucyy · 22-25, F

I don't really care if it's 18 or 21 tbh. I feel like you grow a lot between 18 and 21, but the same can be said for between 21 and 25. Different people mature at different rates and times. Some are forced while some have the leisure of waiting, while some simply do so naturally. What I DO think is that there needs to be a SINGLE age that defines you as an adult. The age of consent should be the same as the legal voting age. And the legal voting age should be the same as the legal drinking age. We're so confused over adulthood because the lines are so blurred. We're constantly thrown between "you're an adult, so you need to make this adult decision" and "you're a child so you're not capable of making this decision"

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