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Answerman - Is Japan Or America More Prudish About Sexual Content?

The age of Federal sexual majority in the US used to be 16 (and lower historically) until 1984, where it was raised to 18 along with the drinking age to 21. We were treated as adults in high school back in my day and I remember TV shows and films up until the late 1990's treated high schoolers as the young adults they were. After all, no matter how much you change societal laws, you won't change nature's laws.

configspace wrote:

The age of Federal sexual majority in the US used to be 16 (and lower historically) until 1984, where it was raised to 18 along with the drinking age to 21. We were treated as adults in high school back in my day and I remember TV shows and films up until the late 1990's treated high schoolers as the young adults they were. After all, no matter how much you change societal laws, you won't change nature's laws.

I'm going to call bull on this. While the "teenage brain" theory is still under contention, I don't think anyone would disagree that the way they acted and thought about the world as a 16-year-old is vastly different to how their 20-year-old self would react, and I think it's fair to extend that critique to sexuality as well. I'm not saying this to be demeaning, but there's no world were a 16-year-old is on the same footing as a typical adult, even a very young one; they simply lack the life experience (and all the screw ups that come with that) to stand on equal ground. To equate the two strikes me as misguided at best, possibly predatory at worst.

crosswithyou wrote:

This hasn't been mentioned anywhere but since it's been in the news lately, convenience stores in Japan can sell adult magazines in the open on the regular magazine racks

Soon not anymore the major chains

[Thu 24 Jan 2019 11:17 am ET; p. 3 of the thread]

Quote:

Historically, there's no question that America, with our societal underpinnings in Christian Puritanism, is the more buttoned-up country sexually.

I would note that most historians would call this a gross misunderstanding of both Puritanism and the influence of Puritanism in early American culture, and generally comes from significantly later depictions that are roughly equivalent to how an edgy teenager describes his parents.

[Fri 25 Jan 2019 01:04 am; p. 4 of the thread] I'm not sure to be honest, I mean, both have different laws regarding different things they say are obscene, Japan doesn't allow genital hair or explicit genitalia (hence a lot of hentai doujins having the black bars/mosaics)

First, regarding the change in age for minors from under 16 to under 18 it was the Child Protection Act of 1984 (its history on pg 4 of the pdf, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251-2253) Second, brain even development itself can't be used because overall, it's a lifelong continuous process, the frontal lobe actually keeps on developing until mid 30s, not mid-20's as previously thought and who knows if later discoveries may show it to keep developing, while the rest, the neurons and axons keep developing and forming new connections through life. And those connections also very relative to every person. So the only true consistent, discrete and distinct biological marker are changes related to puberty: hormonal changes and immune system and telomere development and decline.

In all of human history up until the 20th century and all of the animal kingdom, puberty marks the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. This you cannot change, no matter what laws you write. In modern society only the Amish still keep their tradition of 15 year olds being given responsibilities as adults. If you look back in history you'll see for example,
Henry II of England
He became actively involved by the age of 14 in his mother's efforts to claim the throne of England, then occupied by Stephen of Blois, and was made Duke of Normandy at 17
Henry III of England
Going by the dates, he was given military training in his childhood years and took reign by 9!
Richard I of England
Again, military training and responsibilities from a very young age, so much so that by age 16, he commanded his own army and fought against Saladin in the crusades

Do you think people are infants until their 18th birthday where they suddenly turn into adults? Meaningful experience as shown in the Stanford marshmallow experiment where children are allowed to make hard decisions on their own, rather than being made for them, can begin at an early age and have an impact later in life. The more you infantilize young adults as we see more and more today, the less experience they have to become adults they biologically are and the less prepared for challenges they are as they age. If anything, the issue seems to have extended into college. That already began decades ago with the drinking age extended oxymoronically and more recently with coddling of the mind.

This also begs the question of if they are not legally adults until the age of 18, then why can they be charged of crimes and even charged as adults--which is absolutely the case for 16 year olds--if they are children who cannot voluntarily make decisions on their own?

In my high-school one of my friends joined a gang--there were many wannabes but unfortunately for him, he turned to the real deal--and got killed while trying to rob a bank. Now if he is a child that means that he could not have been held responsible. Do you think the guard who shot him should've been held responsible? After all, to be logically consistent, if he can't make voluntary decisions, he can't be held responsible for his actions.

Likewise what happens when a teenage rapes an adult. If they cannot legally make voluntary decisions on their own, then how could they even be held responsible?

I disagree. While royalty married young, those were largely political and on paper (just look at the birth dates of their sons). Similarly, the "involvement" you mention was either symbolic or education, in the same was gym class could be characterized as early military training.

be it in an anime or a Green Lantern comic, girls with adult bodies but the mind of a child is awkward

@doc-watson42
Oh, I see, thanks for letting me know.

configspace wrote:

The age of Federal sexual majority in the US used to be 16 (and lower historically) until 1984, where it was raised to 18 along with the drinking age to 21. We were treated as adults in high school back in my day and I remember TV shows and films up until the late 1990's treated high schoolers as the young adults they were. After all, no matter how much you change societal laws, you won't change nature's laws.

The age of consent in the United States is set at the state and local level, there are no federal laws governing age of consent specifically. Furthermore, the most common age of consent in the US is 16, and in only 11 states is the age of consent actually 18. I don't know where this notion that the US has an age of consent of 18 comes from; maybe it's been popularized by Hollywood movies, because California is one of those 11 states where the age of consent is 18.

The Japanese government just forbade 7/11 in Japan from selling adult or pornographic material, magazines, etc.