Age of consent??

I was talking about this with a friend the other day. Can someone explain this to me? How can the "age of consent" vary so much by state and by country?

I looked it up here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_age_of_consent

If you are able to consent at a certain age in one state/country, surely a lawyer could argue it's not something set in stone?? How can it be 16 in Nevada, 18 in Oregon, then 21 in Washington??!

Compare 14 in China, 13 in South Korea. Then in Maldives it is 18 for a guy, but 9 for a girl. Wtf??!

Arkansas is almost there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_the_United_States#Arkansas

"there is a defense for sexual contact if the younger (<14) minor is not more than 4 years younger if 12 or above, or not more than 3 years younger if under 12. For acts involving penetration, the exception is 3 years for all ages below 14."

Seriously?

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

Keraunos · 36-40, M

It is definitely not so high as twenty-one in Washington or anywhere else in the United States, and laws arguably appearing irrational doesn't actually make them "not set in stone". But yeah, all the same, I'll agree it could be less-insane. The thing is it basically works well enough in most places, and since there really isn't any obvious "best way" to draw the line, the argument for putting any effort into changing that shit up once it's on the books is not easily made.