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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 29, 2026

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I'm totally against 25/17 and the OP but this logic doesn't hold water either.

Are you against a 30 year old marrying a 50 year old? When the 50 year old was 30, the 30 year old was only 10! Nevertheless, it seems quite clear that a 30 year old can consent to marry a 50 year old.

I'm totally against 25/17

How do you justify that at all?

It's quite simple. There needs to be a line drawn somewhere, and 18 is as good a place as any.

No, I don't think this withstands basic scrutiny. The optimal line drawn curve is definitely n shaped, and it definitely doesn't peak at 18. Also, there does not need to be a line drawn somewhere, other strategies like test and examinations could be used instead.

Exactly. It could be 17 or 19 and the moral arguments wouldn't change much. The important part is that there's a widely agreed line below which you are violating a social compact. This is also why a less formal environment might bend the rules sometimes, so as not to punish less anti-social cases.

You can move too far in the other direction; Mr 50 and Ms 32 may be okay now, but when Mr 70 and Ms 52 are together? Too much of an age gap and it ends up where the younger partner is more or less the caretaker for the older one while the younger partner is still near their prime.

Very few men are clamouring for the right to date 40 year old women, it's the guys who are pushing the limits on "if 17 old enough, why not 16? If 16 old enough why not 15?" that set off the alarm bells.

You can move too far in the other direction; Mr 50 and Ms 32 may be okay now, but when Mr 70 and Ms 52 are together? Too much of an age gap and it ends up where the younger partner is more or less the caretaker for the older one while the younger partner is still near their prime.

First of all, that's not really a good reason to oppose a relationship. Second of all... one partner is rather likely to end up the caretaker of the other one way or another.

Too much of an age gap and it ends up where the younger partner is more or less the caretaker for the older one while the younger partner is still near their prime.

Well sure, it's ill advised, but I hardly see why it's anyone else's business, unlike the 25/17 situation.

unlike the 25/17 situation.

This is not anyone's business except the 17 year old's parents. Society does not own other people's daughters. It's kind of creepy that random unrelated grown men are worried about what other people's daughters are doing with their private parts, actually.

I don't actually believe that parents should be able to do whatever they want with their children without limits, so this line of argument isn't convincing to me.

Also it's not without limits since the parents can only veto the relationship, not compel it. Also what is even less convincing is that my daughter's genitals are your business at all. A pretty weird notion if you ask me.

Also it's not without limits since the parents can only veto the relationship, not compel it.

There's plenty of things that we don't allow people to let their kids do.

Also what is even less convincing is that my daughter's genitals are your business at all. A pretty weird notion if you ask me.

Pal, you don't have a daughter. This whole post is about how you want to coom in underage pussy. Let's drop the "no, you're weird!" act.

There's plenty of things that we don't allow people to let their kids do.

Yeah, like allowing them to play outside. The exact same excuse of "but random marauding penises" is used to justify that too, in fact.

You've got it backwards. As long as you agree that there is at least one thing that we shouldn't allow parents to do, then the argument of "it's none of society's business what parents let their kids do" is bogus.

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Pal, you don't have a daughter. This whole post is about how you want to coom in underage pussy. Let's drop the "no, you're weird!" act.

You don't know anything about me. this is clearly bad faith / inflammatory but society tolerates this bad attitude on this topic so it's unlikely the mods will enforce any rules on you here for this. In an unbiased and reasonable world your view would be on the defensive because it is poorly thought out, in general and especially when weighted by how extremely controlling it is. A romantic relationship involving two families is not sarker's business at all. You are literally irrelevant to what family A and family B and their son and daughter do and you need a lot better reasoning than saying your rules are good enough before you can justly enforce anything like that.

You don't know anything about me.

So, do you have a daughter?

A romantic relationship involving two families is not sarker's business at all.

A romantic relationship involves two individuals, not families.

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You're happy to have your daughter's genitals be my business if I'm the thirty year old guy wanting to fuck your seventeen year old girl, though.

Adults being concerned about the behaviour of children and young not-yet-adults, and older kids and actual adults around those kids, is how society protects children. "Not my kid, not my family, not my business" is how abuse gets ignored and permitted to continue.

Am I allowed to be concerned about "your daughter's genitals" if she's fifteen and working as a public prostitute in danger of STIs and unwanted pregnancy? Or should I just shut up, Daddy is happy since he's pimping her out and only Daddy gets to make it his business? Am I allowed to be concerned if Daddy is the one fucking her, or is that still none of my business?

The court heard that Sophia Murphy was subjected to "depraved, deeply inappropriate and extensive abuse" by her father.

While the prosecution did not argue that Curran witnessed the abuse of Sophia Murphy, it did contend that, due to the frequency at which it occurred, she was aware of it.

Over the course of the proceedings, Garda Inspector Thomasina McHugh told Judge Sinéad McMullan that the victim was aged between three and 16 years of age, at the time the abuse took place. It happened on a daily basis in multiple rooms of the family home and also in a car.

The offences were said to have been carried out in a "brazen" manner and were "prolific in their frequency".

This is not anyone's business except the 17 year old's parents.

Unfortunately, in ${CURRENTYEAR} parents are unwilling or unable to thot-patrol their daughters, so they want the state to act on their behalf.

Both conservatives and progressives agree that there exists a tradeoff between the freedom and protections afforded to teenaged girls and young women, so a compromise is struck by having the state restrict the freedom of and protections for teenaged boys and young men to maintain and/or expand the freedom of and protections for teenaged girls and young women.

Both conservatives and progressives agree that there exists a tradeoff between the freedom and protections afforded to teenaged girls and young women, so a compromise is struck by having the state restrict the freedom of and protections for teenaged boys and young men to maintain and/or expand the freedom of and protections for teenaged girls and young women.

It's not really a compromise, it's more like a tyranny.