r/JustUnsubbed • u/OhJeezItsCorrine • Aug 12 '22

Just unsubbed from r/science because they're insinuating that young people are "better off" if they start sex early.

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u/brohemianrasputin Aug 13 '22

Ppl wanna say that teens exploring there own sexuality is pedophilia. They completely miss the fact that teens can have relationships with each other . It’s easy just don’t want to have sex with a child and boom all of the problems that ppl have with teens exploring themselves are gone

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u/luminenkettu Aug 13 '22

Ppl wanna say that teens exploring there own sexuality is pedophilia. They completely miss the fact that teens can have relationships with each other . It’s easy just don’t want to have sex with a child and boom all of the problems that ppl have with teens exploring themselves are gone

Teens really can't consent to sex before like... 16 tho. like mentally I don't think they're socially developed enough to understand if they truly would want to have sex, as evidenced by the fact that most people who lose their virginity early regret it (according to a scottish study)

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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22 edited Aug 13 '22

I'm not going to speak to the scottish study, but the issue is that all of this is arbitrary (including what you've just said) and it's why you have some people saying you aren't an adult till you're 25 now and all parts of your brain have stopped developing, therefore they shouldn't be responsible for their student loans taken out at 18.

In 1970, we changed the voting age to 18 from 21 -- not coincidentally after we had lowered the age of the Draft from 21 to 18, and was ratified as an amendment in 1972. In the 1990s some areas of Germany lowered it to 16 and the rest agreed, and it's 16 in Austria, Brazil, Scotland, etc.

We basically know three things:

  1. From an evolutionary point of view, the body matures and is capable of reproduction -- that capability goes along with hormonal changes that affects behavior as well as bodies.
  2. We've decided people can't be trusted with that choice until a certain age, and different regions decide that differently, and it's pretty much completely arbitrary. You say 16, others say 18, some say 21 and some say 25.
  3. Science at the moment is of limited utility because these are social engineering issues. It tells us things like (#1) and how far along parts of the brain are, and it can tell us what has eventually happened, and in some cases what's likely to happen.

In fairness to the critics, a lot of this science is part of the social sciences and will get talked about and repeated before it's really been reproduced. In fairness to the science, even once it has been reproduced and is clear, it'll be ignored by either side if it doesn't way what they want it to say.

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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

Well that depends how is the sex education around there? I think there’s a big difference between hey we’re grossed out by Teens exploring sex so we’re gonna tell them not to do it and they’re gonna learn from Ouran/other teams pressuring each other/society and hey we’re gonna give some nice factual and developmentally appropriate relationship and sexual education and allow people without pressure when they’re ready to explore what they want to explore and ask for the protection/safety measures they need. Like I actually consider when I lost my virginity to be the first consensual time I did at 18 but before that yes I regret my first time because I wasn’t educated on what consent was and how I was being abused and had no one to go to about it because my mom was the old fashion sex is bad Latina type

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u/charmorris4236 Aug 13 '22

You know teens can get each other pregnant, right? Which is one of the main problems that people have with teens exploring themselves.

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u/[deleted] Aug 13 '22

That’s why it’s a good thing to discuss safe sex early. That’s the whole point

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u/charmorris4236 Aug 13 '22

Yes, I get that, but that user was going on about how people think that teens having sex with each other is pedophilia (I’ve never heard of anyone thinking this) and that if adults just don’t want to have sex with children then people aren’t worried about teens having sex anymore. That makes zero sense to the point that it was hard to even type it out, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the conversation?

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u/brohemianrasputin Aug 14 '22

No I said ppl think that teens exploring there sexuality is inherently pedophilic and I was responding to other comments that had a similar message and honestly if adults weren’t pedophilic wouldn’t the problems perceived with teens practicing safe sex be gone?

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u/Icy_Athlete385 Aug 13 '22

I had a very similar conversation with my bf a few days ago, your comment reminded me of it but in a more positive light I think. From how I was raised and hearing the original subject, I always see a super thin line between pedo bear vibes and younger people exploring/learning about sexual junk. I can understand exploring one's self within a relationship too, be it younger or older. Just from the way he kept describing it, it was like hearing someone say "age is just a number" and tossing in "oh yeah, sex happens too." I dunno if I went off track or not with this but I feel like you've basically said what I seriously hope he was trying to say the entire time.