fallsauce

I don't understand why it is that you can engage in the act of sex at 16 but can't look at it until 2-5 years later.
Surely if you're allowed to do it, looking at pictures isn't a big deal...?

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snowy

The age of consent varies from state to state in the United States. For instance, where I am, the age of consent is 18, which means lawfully you are not considered able to consent to sex until you're the age of 18. Therefore, most porn sites cover their butts with the 18/21 thing so that you're of the age of consent everywhere.

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MageB420666

As far as I've seen the laws in my state, you can have sex at 13 years of age, it just has to be with someone within 4 years of your age, but not with someone younger than 13.

And that is just the ability to consent to the sex, it does not mean that it's legal, just that the elder of the two can't be charged with statutory rape. It's a decriminilized situation, not a legal situation. I don't think that you can "legally" have sex until 18. Anything younger than that has to meet certain criteria and really only counts for the ability to make the sex a consensual act, not a legal one.

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analog

Well, it isn't everywhere that the age of consent is 16. In many states in the US, it is 18 (not sure what you're referring to with the 21...). In other countries, i've seen age of consent as low as 14 for boys and 15 for girls (can't remember which country). In my state, a male can have sex with a female of 16 or 17 years, but not younger than that, if the male is still under (not including) the age of 24. So at the most, you could be 23 with a 16 year old.

The reason the "age for porn" is set at 18 is because, to be honest, I think the US set it as their "standard" and asked that everyone else follow suit... and probably followed that up with some thinly-veiled threats, to pull in the stragglers. I'm sure plenty of other countries agreed this was a good idea anyway, as i'm not aware of ANY country wherein the age of consent is HIGHER than 18, so it stands to reason that setting the "standard" at 18 would make it all fair game for everyone.

That being said, I've seen a few sites in my travels through the interweb from a few countries that are specifically meant to be viewed in that country alone, that go down to 16 for pornography- but those sites are based in that country, marketed only for that country, feature pictures taken in that country, and are in that country's native language. This pretty much covers them against any kind of international reach to curb their 16+ practices. These are usually softcore pic sets, not actual sex or anything hardcore... though there are always exceptions.

Suave

As one ages, impressionability decreases (generally). Even between 16 and 18, there can be a lot of changes. Pornography can, and frequently does, depict sex in very misogynistic, or sexist manners. It could be argued that even into the mid-to-late teens, this type of material could alter the sexual and relationship behaviours of (particularly) young males for the negative.

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fallsauce

about the 21 thing, I was probably thinking about alcohol age limits.

Suave has a good point, although doesn't psychologists keep on saying that your behaviousrs tend to be established by the time you're five or something?

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BigBen

Having sex before you are 18 is illegal?!

Oooooooh, That's why all the kids are doing it.

And here I thought that it was because it felt good.

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