I was just visiting the Japantoday site and they were having a discussion about the legal age in Japan for a girl to have sex. According to the law, it is 13. Obviously, many of the posters thought this was too young.
This got me wondering about Taiwan and two questions came to mind that I thought some of you may be interested in discussing:
Does anyone know what is the legal age in Taiwan for local girls to start having sex?
What age do you think a girl should be in order to legally have sex?
For the record, I would hope that the age of consent would be 18 but I don’t have a good or rationale reason for my believing 18 is a good age. It just seems to me that a girl, like a guy, is an adult at 18, and thereby able to make mature decisions.
I think 16 is a pretty good age for the age limit. Does the age limit, in any country, actually have any sort of effect anyway? For example, if a 15 year old wanted to have sex, would he or she say “oh no, I cannot have sex, the law says I have to wait 1 more year - in that case, I shall wait”…
/ Trapper
PS - for other countries - take a look at this web site:
[quote=“Trapper”] Does the age limit, in any country, actually have any sort of effect anyway? For example, if a 15 year old wanted to have sex, would he or she say “oh no, I cannot have sex, the law says I have to wait 1 more year - in that case, I shall wait”…[quote=“Trapper”]
Trapper,
You bring up a good point but I think that sometimes the legal age is very important, especially in cases where a girl’s age can be used to prosecute some unfortunate guy who just happens to have picked a partner whose age may not match her “experience.”
You mentioned in your 1st post that you thought 18 was a good age as we are then adults.
But surely everyone matures at different ages - esp women. The majority of girls mature alot quicker than most males - does this mean that the legal age for females should be lower than males? - i.e. 16 Vs 18?
I remember a small piece in the China News circa 1991 or so, back in the days when the editors would translate the strange-but-true stuff happening in the country, for the local news in-brief section of the paper. The article was about a 12 year old Kaoshuing girl who had just married a 49 year old man - with her parents consent. Apprarently, as long as the parents signed off on the deal it was okay. The article described her as a precocious girl, mature beyond her age, which I took to mean that she was a 13 year old trapped in a 12 year olds body.
I’m not sure if the laws of the ROC still allow this kind of thing.
[quote=“Trapper”]You mentioned in your 1st post that you thought 18 was a good age as we are then adults.
But surely everyone matures at different ages - esp women. The majority of girls mature alot quicker than most males - does this mean that the legal age for females should be lower than males? - i.e. 16 Vs 18?
/ Trapper[/quote]
Trapper,
I guess that my problem with the legal age being 16 is that it is so close to age 15, which is simply way too young, in my opinion. Granted, the ages are arbitrary, since there is really no logical reason why a girl is mature enough to engage in sexual activity at 18 but not at 17.
However, I would not be willing to allow the age of consent to be different for guys and girls since not all girls mature more quickly than boys.
Except for the legal reason you mentioned about an older guy being prosecuted…is there any real reason why a legal age of consent should even be set then?
If it is agreed that most people, if they find themselves in the situation, would ignore the law, then why have it?
On a slightly different point - do you think it corresponds with the overall mentality of that country? i.e. a low age of consent equals to an “open-minded” country?
Except for the legal reason you mentioned about an older guy being prosecuted…is there any real reason why a legal age of consent should even be set then?[/quote]
Yes, I think the law stops those people who may otherwise decide that any age is fine to have sex. For instance, if a 20 year old man decided to have sex with a 10 year old child.
It is impossible to say if most people would ignore the law. Thus, we need to have the law in place in order to hold people accountable for their actions.
I’m not sure about this one. Perhaps, one could argue that the lower age of consent is equal to a country that really doesn’t care about the citizenry but, again, I am not certain.
18 is the legal age of consent. 16 is the legal age of marriage with permission for females, but it is 18 for males. 20 is the legal of marriage without parental consent.
This may be slightly aside, but I think it may question the actual reality of what is going on here. A student of mine was telling me that there is a phenom happening in today’s high and jr high schools. It’s called “70s girls”. Basically, born in the Taiwan years 70-79. What is most shocking is that my student claims that the younger the girl, the more prevelant the behaviour.
What’s actually going on is these 11/12/13 year olds are engaging in sexual activity. They really have no morality at all, or so claims my source. Can anyone back this up?
I, for one, now that I am teaching kids again, will strive to use my class to try and bring some morals to these kids. If true, I hope other 'umosans would take the lead here as well.
Off the top of my head, I am thinking of using lots of “Princess” imagery during story time and video if any. Any other ideas? Maybe a new thread or a merge with the Sex in the Classroom thread. Good discussion potential here. I believe.
[quote=“Stewart Pendous”]What’s actually going on is these 11/12/13 year olds are engaging in sexual activity. They really have no morality at all, or so claims my source. Can anyone back this up?
I, for one, now that I am teaching kids again, will strive to use my class to try and bring some morals to these kids. If true, I hope other 'umosans would take the lead here as well.[/quote]
Interesting choice of words - I wouldn’t describe such behaviour as “immoral” in itself. Remember that Taipei is not a Christian country and doesn’t have biblical attitudes to sex. If an adult is involved, and hence taking advantage of a child’s ignorance/innocence, then that is immoral, or perhaps if an adult knows of the situation and makes no move to prevent it, but I wouldn’t place that label on the child. If normal sexual desire is immoral, then it is at any age.
What they need to be taught is that it is potentially dangerous, to their physical and emotional health, and that they should therefore wait until they are old enough to understand the full consequences of their actions.
[quote=“daasgrrl”][quote=“Stewart Pendous”]What’s actually going on is these 11/12/13 year olds are engaging in sexual activity. They really have no morality at all, or so claims my source. Can anyone back this up?
I, for one, now that I am teaching kids again, will strive to use my class to try and bring some morals to these kids. If true, I hope other 'umosans would take the lead here as well.[/quote]
Interesting choice of words - I wouldn’t describe such behaviour as “immoral” in itself. Remember that Taipei is not a Christian country and doesn’t have biblical attitudes to sex. If an adult is involved, and hence taking advantage of a child’s ignorance/innocence, then that is immoral, or perhaps if an adult knows of the situation and makes no move to prevent it, but I wouldn’t place that label on the child. If normal sexual desire is immoral, then it is at any age.
What they need to be taught is that it is potentially dangerous, to their physical and emotional health, and that they should therefore wait until they are old enough to understand the full consequences of their actions.[/quote]
When I taught at a buxiban, my students were always joking around about sex. They were elementary school students. At least some of the boys seemed to have had sexual experience. I would say elementary school age is too young, but none of the students seemed to think so.
