underage kids

^Yeah exactly. Sex is just a physical thing that feels good you share with someone. It's the emotional aspect that can be traumatizing when it ends. Kind of reminds me of Vladimir Nabakov's book Lolita. Where an early sexual experience and forcible separation results in lifelong compulsive behavior and attraction to girls that remind the main character of the girl he lost.

@Lenny, generally the desire for sex won't happen until puberty and hormones create a sex drive. I think I was 10 or 11 before I knew what sex was. Although I had a desire for physical closeness with attractive girls as long as I can remember, sex itself seemed weird at that age and not something I thought much about till I was 12 or 13 although I wanted to kiss a girl and see girls naked from about 10 on. I think education needs more focus on the emotional aspects of relationships rather than just sex. Which should start even from late elementary. Problem is that nobody can agree on what to teach kids.

I think what to teach kids in general is a pretty tough call to make, especially when it comes to emotional things. Because everyone is different and there is no one size fits all lesson plan that could be easily implemented into public schools. Any sex ed program would inevitably have flaws minor or major depending on the child. So while I agree with the premise that kids should be better educated about this stuff from an earlier age, I think the people who should do the teaching on the subject should be the parents. They are the most likely to be capable of tailoring the lesson to their individual child. The issue is getting parents on board with this idea, since it seems to be a natural instinct of a parent to shelter their kids rather than expose them to potentially scary or confusing subjects.

@Animekirk, I agree. Unfortunately there are so many parents who have messed up relationships themselves or are unwilling to talk to there kids in much detail. Only a very few parents are really good at that type of education. The whole system is a big mess.

I'm with you on both points Animekirk. It is definitely a parents responsibility as it is pretty much their purpose. They are there to support and give guidance to a child to help them into adulthood. I think a lot of parents forget how important their role is and don't realise the things they teach or the way they act can have a huge impact on their childs future. It is a really difficult subject in general with many conflicting opinions and unfortunately I can't see any resolution. I agree Loli, the system is huge mess.

I just saw on Facebook last night a friend from grade school, who I will share the age with in a couple of weeks (34), is now a grandmother. Her eldest child is 18. That's fine for him. Well I mean it's not really, but when she was 15 she got pregnant. Not to throw shade her way because she's actually doing the best she can now, but know for a fact they survived by socio-economic programs (welfare). People will fuck and kids will fuck, but the age of consent and laws such as actually help curb the potential of teen pregnancies and living off the system. The laws could actually be stricter for my taste. I am pro-education. I think as young as kids start school they should be educated and exposed to the human body via diagrams and pictures. The Victorian era is long gone and there should no longer be shame regarding the human body. Talking about puberty and changes should happen several years before children actually go through them. When they gave us these talks in school I had already been on my period for over a year. When it happened I knew NOTHING about it. I had just turned 10. I thought I was sick or dying. It was 2 months that I summoned up the courage to tell my mom. And she gave me a pamphlet. Everything I learned about puberty and sex I learned on my own. Which now explains why my mom shelled out money for like 2-3 magazine subscriptions for me. XD I digress. Anyway, I think if the afore mentioned things were implemented, children may become more aware, and if something is not right in the home (sexual abuse) maybe they would be more open to talk about it with authority figures or other people to stop things before more damage is done.

I just don't see age of consent laws doing anything aside from secretive relationships and arrests when people get caught. Considering the shear number of underage people having sex and more commonly, young girls with older guys. Multiple freshman girls at my school who were 14 lost their virginity to senior guys who were 17 or 18. Technically all those guys could have been arrested for statutory rape and forced to register as sex offenders the rest of their lives. That doesn't mean I don't think their should be laws but there is a big difference between 13 or 14yr old girls (or guys) who actively seek to have sex (even if it's with older guy/girl) and guys (or girls) who take advantage of (usually pre-pubescent) children) who have no concept of sex, for there own sexual gratification. By which I mean that instead of having these black and white laws of over/under 18 or 16 depending on state there should be more gradual tier levels of legal ramifications based on circumstances with very low level legal ramifications for consensual relationships from around 13 on up with serious ramifications for adults who have relations with pre-teen/pre-pubescent children, etc.