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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026

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The arguments for an age of consent of 15 are multitude. First there's evospych; studies show most men in their twenties are attracted to 15 year old girls.

Being nubile at 15 is nowhere near being mentally or emotionally mature enough, and you're sailing right into Epstein Island waters by proposing "but why not 15 year old masseuses providing escort services, Science Shows guys think if they're hot enough, they're old enough!"

To be clear, I'm not imputing such views to you personally, but right at this particular moment it may not wise to start that hare.

Then there's ancient demography; the median age of marriage ranged from 16 to 18 for girls until 1600 AD and the minimum legal age of marriage ranged from 12-14 in most societies. ...Finally, the data don't seem to indicate that teenage girls are too young for pregnancy; the negative causal effects on their pregnancy are extremely mild and don't justify banning a 20 year old from dating a 15 year old.

Married off at 12 does not necessarily mean "and the older husband immediately deflowered his pre-teen bride"; often the extremely young ages were more to do with locking down alliances and getting prime inheritances into your hands e.g. Charles Brandon, aged 29, became betrothed to his 8 year old ward Elizabeth Grey which enabled him to be raised to the peerage as she was heiress to a title and a fortune. This contract was annulled when he married Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth was married off aged 10 to the 17 year old Henry Courtenay. She died aged 14 so it is unlikely the marriage was ever consummated.

Early pregnancy, even in the Middle Ages, was considered harmful to health; Margaret Beaufort was married at 12 to the 24 year old Edmund Tudor, who did consummate the marriage; he left her pregnant and a widow by the age of 13, and the birth of her only son was so difficult it was believed that it was the explanation why she never had any more children, despite being married twice more after that.

Married off at 12 does not necessarily mean "and the older husband immediately deflowered his pre-teen bride"; often the extremely young ages were more to do with locking down alliances and getting prime inheritances into your hands e.g. Charles Brandon, aged 29, became betrothed to his 8 year old ward Elizabeth Grey which enabled him to be raised to the peerage as she was heiress to a title and a fortune. This contract was annulled when he married Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth was married off aged 10 to the 17 year old Henry Courtenay. She died aged 14 so it is unlikely the marriage was ever consummated.

Later Charles Brandon married a 14 year old who he was also the ward of, and they definitely consummated because she gave birth to a son at the age of 15.