eeg! 51-year-old actor marries a 16-year-old girl

[Amaris]

I'm always flabbergasted that some places in the US allow 16 year olds to marry. What possible good could come of it.

Most of them are just old laws made during a time when 16 years old meant starting a family and making a living. Due to the increasing quality in nutrition, medicine and longevity, adolescence is extended well beyond what it was even a scant hundred or so years ago. Yet back in the 1700-1800s (and early 1900s) where life expectancies were shorter and QOL was lower, you were working your ass off by 12 or 13, and married by 16-17.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I'm always flabbergasted that some places in the US allow 16 year olds to marry. What possible good could come of it.

The marriageable age in Nevada is similar to the rest of the English speaking world:

Nevada (where they were married): 18, 16 with parental consent

Most US states also roughly follow this pattern.

Canada: Varies by province, but generally 18 years old, 16 years with parental consent, 14 years with judicial consent.

United Kingdom
* England and Wales: 18, 16 with parental consent.
* Scotland: 16, 15 with parental consent.
* Northern Ireland: 18, 16 with parental consent.

Australia: 18, 16 with permission from a court and both parents (only granted in exceptional circumstances).

New Zealand: 18, 16 with parental consent.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'm all in favor of young-looking guys in their 50s getting hot young chicks.

But I certainly wouldn't marry one. And certainly not that one.

And Anderson Cooper is even more sarcastic than I am.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I'm always flabbergasted that some places in the US allow 16 year olds to marry. What possible good could come of it.

Most of them are just old laws made during a time when 16 years old meant starting a family and making a living. Due to the increasing quality in nutrition, medicine and longevity, adolescence is extended well beyond what it was even a scant hundred or so years ago. Yet back in the 1700-1800s (and early 1900s) where life expectancies were shorter and QOL was lower, you were working your ass off by 12 or 13, and married by 16-17.

Researching my family tree, I was surprised to learn that only handful of my female ancestors married before the age of 18, and a few of them didn't marry until they were in their mid-20s. My grandmother for example was married at 25.

 

[Amaris]

I'm always flabbergasted that some places in the US allow 16 year olds to marry. What possible good could come of it.

Most of them are just old laws made during a time when 16 years old meant starting a family and making a living. Due to the increasing quality in nutrition, medicine and longevity, adolescence is extended well beyond what it was even a scant hundred or so years ago. Yet back in the 1700-1800s (and early 1900s) where life expectancies were shorter and QOL was lower, you were working your ass off by 12 or 13, and married by 16-17.

Researching my family tree, I was surprised to learn that only handful of my female ancestors married before the age of 18, and a few of them didn't marry until they were in their mid-20s. My grandmother for example was married at 25.

Oh, I'm sure there will be plenty of exceptions to the rule.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It could be a result of those on my father's side being convicts (at least before 1850). Convicts, of any age, had to have government permission to get married.

On my mother's side they were farmers who arrived as free settlers. Possibly the girls were not encouraged to marry early because they were a source of free labour on their father's farm.

 

[Amaris]

It could be a result of those on my father's side being convicts (at least before 1850). Convicts, of any age, had to have government permission to get married.

On my mother's side they were farmers who arrived as free settlers. Possibly the girls were not encouraged to marry early because they were a source of free labour on their father's farm.

Good points all around. I didn't know that about convicts requiring permission to marry, though!

 

[Miss Chicken]

It was a good thing that they had to ask permission to marry. We had an ancestor called William Davis and we were having trouble separating him from all the other convicts and free settlers of that name (there were about 20 of them). We eventually located his wife's permission to marry - she was still a convict, he was listed as free by servitude - and luckily the permission to marriage form listed the ship he arrived on. As a result we could go to the records of that ship and get his convict record.

 

[bluedana]

It seems the 16-year old is ok with this so why would anyone want to kill the man she's dating? Tell him off, prohibit the marriage and further dates - I can get that, but murdering someone over a consensual relationship and sex?

It's just another example of the pervasive sexism among many males in the US. Girls are objects to be treasured, and their virginity is a priceless possession. How dare anyone attempt to take it! That's like keying my Benz, dude. It smacks of treating girls as property, especially when you consider that teenage boys who sleep around are encouraged or even praised for their studly masculinity.

And God forbid young women make their own decisions about anything, and that includes bad decisions.

Oh, for heaven's sake. I'm not the least bit concerned about her vagina. She's barely on the far side of adolescence, and her brain isn't fully developed. All 16 year olds make bad decisions; they're not fully mature.

I cannot imagine what a 51 year old man or woman has in common, enough to be married, with a 16 year old girl or boy.

 

[Amaris]

It seems the 16-year old is ok with this so why would anyone want to kill the man she's dating? Tell him off, prohibit the marriage and further dates - I can get that, but murdering someone over a consensual relationship and sex?

It's just another example of the pervasive sexism among many males in the US. Girls are objects to be treasured, and their virginity is a priceless possession. How dare anyone attempt to take it! That's like keying my Benz, dude. It smacks of treating girls as property, especially when you consider that teenage boys who sleep around are encouraged or even praised for their studly masculinity.

And God forbid young women make their own decisions about anything, and that includes bad decisions.

Oh, for heaven's sake. I'm not the least bit concerned about her vagina. She's barely on the far side of adolescence, and her brain isn't fully developed. All 16 year olds make bad decisions; they're not fully mature.

I cannot imagine what a 51 year old man or woman has in common, enough to be married, with a 16 year old girl or boy.

Joseph didn't seem to mind getting married to Mary, and she was almost 14 while he was about 41.
And for the record, all people of all ages make bad decisions. That's not exclusive to 16 year old adolescents.

 

[Dream]

If it is legal and the girl has parental consent, than I don't see why anyone should have a problem with it.

Not sure why she didn't wait until she was at least 18 to get married. Whatever.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Hmmm, I have a number of reactions.

First reaction - she actually looked a lot older in that picture. Must be the angle.

As a general principle - I think there should be a standard age for being adult so I am not sure if she should be allowed to marry at 16. On the other hand I don't think there is anything wrong with the relationship.. She is old enough to make dating choices and decide who she is in love with.

As a man - well truthfully, hot 16 year old girl is REALLY hot. A gorgeous, busty 16 year old blond girl who is really in to you is a fantasy come true for most guys, and this dude should be named honorary King Of All Men

As a 41 year old man - I am not sure I could hang around after the sex is over. It's hard to see what the two would have in common. One of the reasons I love my girlfriend so much is we are of the same genration and we are so in sync. We get all each others references and jokes and we can just lay in bed and talk for hours about our lives and loves and have a wonderful time. I wonder if these two really have that. As gorgeous as she is I'd rather have my somewhat plain 44 year old girlfriend who makes me feel good in every way.

As a music listener- she reminds me of a bad version of Kesha, and considering how I feel about Kesha that is saying A WHOLE F'N LOT

As a human being- Anderson Cooper really strikes me as kind of a douche

 

[Lookingglassman]

Once she burns through what money he has she will be gone.

 

[Dream]

As a man - well truthfully, hot 16 year old girl is REALLY hot. A gorgeous, busty 16 year old blond girl who is really in to you is a fantasy come true for most guys, and this dude should be named honorary King Of All Men

I'm pretty sure most men don't want to marry 16 year olds, hell most of them don't want to even marry in the first place.

 

[RoJoHen]

As a man - well truthfully, hot 16 year old girl is REALLY hot. A gorgeous, busty 16 year old blond girl who is really in to you is a fantasy come true for most guys, and this dude should be named honorary King Of All Men

It might be hot for a teenage guy, but nobody I know would ever be into that. I don't even think it's legal in my state.

 

[bluedana]

Joseph didn't seem to mind getting married to Mary, and she was almost 14 while he was about 41.
And for the record, all people of all ages make bad decisions. That's not exclusive to 16 year old adolescents.

I have no idea how old Joseph was when he married Mary, but I do know that a teenager's brain isn't fully developed, particularly in the lobe that influences executive function and decision making. So, yes, obviously people of all ages make bad decisions, but adolescents and teenagers make bad decisions precisely because the part of the brain which influences the ability to make good decisions (including thinking about consequences) is still under construction.

 

[Miss Chicken]

At one stage one had to be 21 to get married in Australia without a parent's permission. This changed about 5 years before I was married, the age of adulthood was lowered to 18. I made a big mistake getting married at 18 but that doesn't mean that I think the age of marriageable age should be raised back to 21 in Australia.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

As a man - well truthfully, hot 16 year old girl is REALLY hot. A gorgeous, busty 16 year old blond girl who is really in to you is a fantasy come true for most guys, and this dude should be named honorary King Of All Men

I'm pretty sure most men don't want to marry 16 year olds, hell most of them don't want to even marry in the first place.

Well of course not marry! I am talking strictly banging here.

 

[Myasishchev]

As a man - well truthfully, hot 16 year old girl is REALLY hot. A gorgeous, busty 16 year old blond girl who is really in to you is a fantasy come true for most guys, and this dude should be named honorary King Of All Men

It might be hot for a teenage guy, but nobody I know would ever be into that. I don't even think it's legal in my state.

I would consider it, but she would have to be an exceptional human being.

17, less so. 18, completely fair game. Fat, thin, big nose, boring, whatever.

I can get behind raising the marriage age to 18, but binding commitments are a different story. The age of consent should be 16 in any civilized nation (or lower in some instances, to fix obvious problems in the AoC regime, like an 18 year old fucking a 15 year old or two 13 year olds fooling around both being charged with a crime). The way I see it, AoC laws' only justification is to prevent what is effectively actual rape, not to regulate young people's (or old people's) sexual freedom. There's enough evidence to suggest that 16 year olds have the ability to intelligently consent to sexual activity that criminalizing it is dangerous and will hurt more innocent people than it will hurt guilty ones. Keeping stat rape a strict liability crime is an abomination against all principles of law.

 

[watermelony2k]

I'm neither of the two parties so I don't really care...