To think some people are SUCH hypocrites about historical age of consent

[RestlessSoul]

Today I was reading about age of consent in the past out of curiosity after a remark from an American friend of a friend about Prophet Mohamed's relationship with his wife Aisha and how simply awful & barbaric it was that she was only 9, accusations of pedophilia etc.

After googling and reading about historical ages of consent around the world, I am with this person. What an idiot. They don't even know their own history.

In 1880 in the US just 133 years ago the age of consent in Delaware was 7 . In most other states it was 10 and in a few 12.

I don't understand what he is pontificating about when his home state Georgia allowed grown adult men to freely sleep with 10 year old girls in 1880. And he is condemning something that happened 1400+ years ago.

Source: chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/24

Yes, matilda, it's still common practice in many cultures to 'betroth' small children. When the girl reaches puberty, they consummate and have a ceremony. They are referred to as husband & wife from the betrothal, however. It used to be like that pretty much everywhere.

Agree about the inventions of childhood and paedophilia.

The thing about people living only a short time isn't about averages, it's as it sounds. Archaeologists can assess the age of a skeleton, plus there are detailed records from way back. Even as recently as WW1, ordinary people in Britain often died before the age of 30. So, yes, you had to cram a full life cycle into 15 years or thereabouts - and would be working from about 7yo.

I like Josephine Butler :) Wouldn't agree with all of her views, by any means, but what an amazing woman!

Have just looked it up in a biography of Josephine Butler and would you believe, in 1879 this was the law:

If you "seduced" a girl under 12, it was a felony. Between 12 and 13 it was a misdemeanor. Over 13 it was not a legal offence, though abduction with the intention to seduce a girl under the age of 16 was. If the girl was an heiress however, the age of consent (unless she was married) was 21.

So I'm guessing age of consent related to unmarried girls. As soon as they were married, it all went out the window by the looks of it.

Hopefully an historian with an interest in this will come along and put us all straight in a bit.

why do you think girls got married as a minor in the 1800's, because they were pregnant. The parents had to give permission for them to get married but they had already had sex and that was why they had a shot gun marriage

Yes she really was an incredible woman Garlic - a real heroine IMO.

I think the age of mary and joseph is irrelevant as she didn't have sex!!!! jesus was the immaculate conception

Mary was the Immaculate Conception, not Jesus. It's relevant because she was betrothed to Joseph at a very young age.

linky

Here's a vair interesting site on European age of consent laws:

chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/teaching-modules/230

This stands out:

"There was one exception: a man's acts with his wife, to which rape law, and hence the age of consent, did not apply."

An interesting subject. Josephine Butler was an incredible woman.

The mind boggles sometimes! The idea of dd, at ten, getting married, is repulsive. She is a child. A baby.

I always found Juliets' mother very silly and immature. Maybe this is why!

I think she is supposed to be. I am re-reading "Wicked" by Jolly Super and Juliet's nurse is described as the most irritating woman in English literature.

Ivykaty - they had already had sex been raped :(

Oh god I've just clicked on a link on my FB which is the story of a child bride in Yemen who died of the injuries her 40 year old groom inflicted on her on her wedding night.

You learn something new every day. I thought the immaculate conception was when Jesus was conceived inside Mary.

I have two daughters. Very young still. But it makes my blood run cold to think of the reality for young girls not that long ago (and actually still happening in other countries)

My former boss got it wrong and every year told the whole (Catholic) school that Jesus was the Immaculate Conception so it's understandable!

I always thought it meant St Anne never had sex as well.

I think I had a confused impression that Mary came from a long line of women who in the midst of patriarchal religion, were for some reason blessed with the gift of autogenesis.

lol at Basil. Remarkable isn't it? Fucking patriarchy.

seriously??? Mary was the product of immaculate conception, not Jesus? blimey, that's something I missed out on in my convent secondary years.

In Italy the age of consent is 14 or 13 if your partner is 16 or under, so Romeo and Juliet were probably legal. It's 14 In lots of Europe.

There are many things that were normal in the not too distant past, however this does not mean they were good or should be continued going forward into the future and the historical age of consent is one of those things that modernity has got correct in my view.

Vaultfulloftwizzlers, can you explain?
Jesus was the immaculate conception because Mary conceived him without having sex. What do you mean when you say Mary was the immaculate conception?

No, Mary is the product of the immaculate conception, her parents just had a chaste kiss and lo! her mother was pregnant. It's not in the Bible though, just later Catholic doctrine.

The feast of the immaculate conception is in December, on the 8th. Which wouldn't make sense if it referred to Jesus' conception (I know these are all artificial feast days, but there seems to be some internal logic to this one, at least).

Mary was conceived in the usual way, but was miraculously free from Original Sin. Hence she is the Immaculate Conception.

See Catholic Encyclopedia here

December the eighth, when my former boss would take assembly and make an absolute tit of himself in terms of religious knowledge.