Totts : Well, I won’t lie when I say I both drank and smoked underage. Can’t say what was my rational at the time but it wasn’t wise of me I will say that much. As far as the age of consent I’m not going to say whether it should be raised or lowered because to say either would make me sound like a hypocrite and I don’t want to do that.

I will say though that there needs to be a better emphasis education wise on the potential consequences of partaking in such practices. I do feel however and based on my own experience that some kids are simply set in their ways and will do what ever they want to do regardless of whether or not someone tells them what the ramifications could be. Still though there are kids out there who will benefit from better education on both subjects. Personally I don’t think you will ever see smoking or drinking outlawed but there can be a greater awareness of the consequences.

I think about 60% of my freshmen are sexually active, and it's a fact that makes me very sad.  I think it's a terrible thing, to lose your innocence when you're still... well, innocent about the world. Kids seem to be in a rush to grow up, but it's not until they grow up that they realize they should have enjoyed being kids.

We've caught kids having sex in bathrooms, in teacher's empty rooms, and under stair cases.  Like most of the media world, they seem to be be caught up in a fascination of knowing each other physically before anything else.  It doesn't matter how often someone tells them that sex will mean so much more if they wait for someone they love and cherish.  They don't understand the emotional side of such an act of trust.

It really depends on the person, though. Not everyone universally fails to understand these things if they're told. That's why the best we can do is give information to children to help them make informed decisions. Those who try to hide stuff from kids are only doing more harm than good. Education provides the best opportunity.

I know that when I was a teen, I actually had a pretty good grasp about what it meant to have sex and all the ramifications. My understanding then isn't much different than my understanding now as an adult and it's because of that understanding that I didn't give it up to just anyone and make some stupid decision. I had plenty of opportunities to lose my innocence when I was as young as 13 but I chose not to. It's not because I wasn't supposed to. It's not because I was told not to. It's because I understood that I wasn't anywhere near ready to do something like that yet.

This truly is an interesting issue lol, To put an age on something like that is obviously needed but in today's society kids are seeing it everywhere its talked about everywhere and the exposure is rediculous that some kids know these terms before they should. Honestly sex is for two people who honestly care and love each other. Corny, I know. But still very true 18 should be the age. and i think parents should take the proper steps to make their kids aware of this, most parents don't bring up the issue for fear of things being awkward.

Crazy Li : Going back to the subject of "double statutory rape" on page 1...

I've also been really bothered lately by how "child porn" laws have been used to convict teenagers who take pictures of themselves and put them on Facebook or whatsuch.

One of the unfortunate things about consent laws in the modern day is that they're being used against the very people they were meant to protect. I don't want to link all the various examples here, but suffice to say it's a problem big enough that some people who've previously cried for stronger underage sex laws have turned against law enforcement for how they're being applied.
There should be serious reforms in the law so that people stop criminalizing and antagonizing teenagers who are just being teenagers.

As for the age of consent itself... maybe instead of just having an arbitrary age, there should be proper ways to judge someone's readiness for sexual activity on an individual basis....

But of course, surely people will snark about a "License to Breed"...

KiddoCabbuses : I have to agree, though I don't believe teenagers should be taking inappropriate photos of themselves in the first place. You still shouldn't go after the very people you designed the law to protect. That's foolish. This is a classic example of people losing touch with the spirit of the law in favor of the letter of the law. Too many laws in the US have gotten to a point where enforcers seemed to have forgotten the reason they were even made.

It would be ideal if you could just sexual readiness on a case-by-case basis, but something that would be impossible to properly assess and then enforce. It would probably also be very costly, so it's an impractical solution.