I've long argued that the age of consent needs to be rethought, for a couple basic reasons: puberty is happening earlier, and I also think that society has a role.

In my view (and I'm not saying this because I believe it per se, it just seems to be a natural progression), consent also plays a role. If a 14 year old girl can go to the school nurse and request birth control info and/or pills, then she is making an "informed" decision. Ditto for trips to abortion clinics. If her parents are not notified, then she is, in a very real sense, being treated as an adult, i.e. she is making decisions on her own without the guidance of her parents.

Is that not a plausible definition of an adult?

As for the whole question of age appropriateness, I don't buy that at all. Once a person is an "adult", by whatever measure, then it becomes a matter of legislating morality. Sure, I think that if the Age of Consent were lowered to 12, there would be something creepy about me (I'm over 40) seducing a 13 year old girl. But if she's 18, what difference does it make? I know people who connect with someone 15-20 years older, and they're happy and stay together for years. What's wrong with a 35 year old man (or woman) getting together with a 19 year old?

Once you decide on an Age of Consent, you live with it. Deciding that a girl is a "mature" 13 and can handle sex with a 17 year old, but not a 25 year old is ridiculous. Which of the lovers is going to be more likely to actually care about her and her experiences?

Finally, I think that we must recall that other agendas can be involved. For instance, what about NAMBLA (I think that's the correct acronym)? Some of their members advocate sex with young boys, for whatever reason. And in some societies, Islamic for instance, women are "marriageable" at younger ages than we in the US are comfortable with. Is it permissable for a Muslim to marry a 13 year old? In their culture, yes. According to the author of this article, no. But that could be considered discrimination, right?

Let me note in ending this overlong comment that I have no particular dog in this fight. I don't have a young daughter, and I'm not terribly religious. I just happened to read an article about this one day, and found that there were a lot of inconsistencies in our laws. And I do agree that, while I've seen attractive young women who, to my chagrin, turned out to be 13 or 14, I do understand- and think- that it would be completely inappropriate for me to do anything other than shudder at the thoughts that might have passed through my mind.

To me, this is all just an intellectual exercise. But the entire issue has some ramifications that we don't tend to consider. I think the change is coming, and it probably ought to.