How old should you have to be to...

[Hatman 🍁]

How credible would it really be for a 16 year old to run a business? And how successful do you think any such business would actually be? Seems like to much youthful dreaming and little reality around here, sometimes.

Let the free market decide whether or not he will be succesful!

[MaC]

Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? NOLIMIT

prude!

My answer would be that the state arrests parents who attend places of worship while raising children (even without the children actually going)

[minionofmidas]

Buy birth control? 6 years old, as for any financial transaction.
Have sex? Onset of puberty
Get an abortion without parental involvement? Onset of puberty
Drink alcohol? No law (well, except for the ones on child abuse)
Buy alcohol? 14 or 16 for beer, two years later for the hard stuff
Smoke cigarettes? no law (well, except for the ones on child abuse)
Buy cigarettes? 14 or 16
Watch a pornographic film? no law
Star in a pornographic film? no major qualms with 18. No major qualms with lowering it a bit, either.
Drive? 18 (certainly older, rather than the same, than the drinking age!)
Be able to drop out of school? 16? Dunno
Rent your own apartment? Noone's going to rent to a minor anyways unless he's got guarantees, which will usually be parental ones, that the money will be coming anyways, so this is a complete nonissue
Own your own business? Well, "own" from birth obviously. Run... basically that'd be limited by the laws on child labor.
Go to a strip club? 16?
Fight a bull? 16? Dunno. 12?
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? No limit.

[Richard]

Buy birth control? [no age restriction]
Have sex? [after puberty]
Get an abortion without parental involvement? [18]
Drink alcohol? [no age restriction]
Buy alcohol? [no age restriction]
Smoke cigarettes? [no age restriction]
Buy cigarettes? [no age restriction]
Watch a pornographic film? [after puberty]
Star in a pornographic film? [16]
Drive? [18]
Be able to drop out of school? [14]
Rent your own apartment? [no age restriction]
Own your own business? [no age restriction]
Go to a strip club? [no age restriction]
Fight a bull? [no age restriction]
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? [no age restriction]

[??????????]

How credible would it really be for a 16 year old to run a business? And how successful do you think any such business would actually be? Seems like to much youthful dreaming and little reality around here, sometimes.

Let the free market decide whether or not he will be succesful!

Well, theirs the whole issue of practicality.

[Joe Republic]

How credible would it really be for a 16 year old to run a business? And how successful do you think any such business would actually be? Seems like to much youthful dreaming and little reality around here, sometimes.

Let the free market decide whether or not he will be succesful!

Well, theirs the whole issue of practicality.

How so?

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Buy birth control? No age restriction
Have sex? 15
Get an abortion without parental involvement? 18
Drink alcohol? No age restrictions
Buy alcohol? 18. This also goes for drinking in public
Smoke cigarettes? No age restrictions
Buy cigarettes? 18
Watch a pornographic film? no age restrictions
Star in a pornographic film? 15
Drive? 15
Be able to drop out of school? 18
Rent your own apartment? 18
Own your own business? 18
Go to a strip club? 18
Fight a bull? 18
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? No age restriction

[MODU]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)
Have sex?  18
Get an abortion without parental involvement?  18 (For the same reason as question 1)
Drink alcohol?  21
Buy alcohol?  21 (Becuase you shouldn't be buying it until you are allowed to drink it)
Smoke cigarettes?  18
Buy cigarettes?  18 (Because you shouldn't be buying it until you are allowed to smoke it)
Watch a pornographic film?  18
Star in a pornographic film?  18 (For the same reason as question 1)
Drive?  16
Be able to drop out of school?  16
Rent your own apartment?  18 (Because you are not allowed to sign a contract until you turn 18)
Own your own business?  12 (but you cannot sign contracts without an "adult" as a cosigner until you turn 18)
Go to a strip club?  18
Fight a bull?  18 (Though why anyone would want to is beyond me)
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents?  No real age limit on this, though by age 18, you should be able to go wherever you want since you are no longer a dependent of your parents.

[opebo]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)
Have sex?  18

Haha, so, MODU, the 'punishment' for breaking your law against sex is to have a baby?  Don't you think a good deal of that punishment falls upon the poverty stricken child?

Better to kill or castrate the offenders, no?

[MODU]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)
Have sex?  18

Haha, so, MODU, the 'punishment' for breaking your law against sex is to have a baby?  Don't you think a good deal of that punishment falls upon the poverty stricken child?

Better to kill or castrate the offenders, no?

It's called being responsible for your actions.  If you break the law, you have to suffer the consequences of your actions.  Of course, that's an alien concept for you, right?

[Bacon King]

Drink alcohol? 12 for light alcoholic drinks, 18 for liquor. Home/parent exceptions, too.
Buy alcohol?  14 for light alcoholic drinks, 18 for liquor

what is the difference between 'light' drinks and liquor?

drunk is drunk.

it doesnt matter what you drank to get that way.  sure, it takes more 'light' drinks to get drunk, but it doesnt mean they are any more safe than hard liquor.

i would argue that 'malternatives' are more harmful to teens than liquor.  the sweetness disguises the alcohol content.  you dont realize how much alcohol youve had.  keep in mind, most of these drinks have a higher alcohol content than beer.

it's like 'light cigarettes'.  people are dumb enough to believe it is somehow less harmful.

Well, when I wrote it, I was thinking more along the lines that kids should be allowed to, say, have wine during dinner at a restaurant or something. in retrospect, the division i made is pretty much arbitrary; i need to think more about this kind of thing before i come up with some complete policy to support.

[Alcon]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)

I'm going to be a jerk and call you out on this a little.

By and large, it's probably dumb to have sex before 18.   I wouldn't say in every situation - I know very intelligent sexually active people under 18 who realize that there is a small chance of accidental pregnancy (very small), but are willing to take that risk.

But limiting birth control to 18+ is an horrible idea.  Do you really want the teenage pregnancy rate to skyrocket?  Teenagers don't have sex because condoms are available.  What are we going to do, prosecute people for handing out condoms to 17-year-olds?  Sorry, but that's ridiculous to me.

[7,052,770]

Buy birth control? should be free, no limit
Have sex? 18
Get an abortion without parental involvement? not sure
Drink alcohol? 21
Buy alcohol? 21
Smoke cigarettes? illegal
Buy cigarettes? illegal
Watch a pornographic film? no age restrictions
Star in a pornographic film? 18
Drive? 15
Be able to drop out of school? ought to be illegal, but realistically 18
Rent your own apartment? 18
Own your own business? whatever
Go to a strip club? 18 is all that makes sense, though it seems high
Fight a bull? 18
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? No age restriction

[opebo]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)
Have sex?  18

Haha, so, MODU, the 'punishment' for breaking your law against sex is to have a baby?  Don't you think a good deal of that punishment falls upon the poverty stricken child?

Better to kill or castrate the offenders, no?

It's called being responsible for your actions.  If you break the law, you have to suffer the consequences of your actions.  Of course, that's an alien concept for you, right?

That makes no sense, MODU, since the same actions could be performed without any consequence if one used a method of birth control.  You would outlaw the method of 'being responsible', you joke of a man!

[MODU]

Buy birth control?  18 (Because you shouldn't be having sex until...)

I'm going to be a jerk and call you out on this a little.

By and large, it's probably dumb to have sex before 18.   I wouldn't say in every situation - I know very intelligent sexually active people under 18 who realize that there is a small chance of accidental pregnancy (very small), but are willing to take that risk.

But limiting birth control to 18+ is an horrible idea.  Do you really want the teenage pregnancy rate to skyrocket?  Teenagers don't have sex because condoms are available.  What are we going to do, prosecute people for handing out condoms to 17-year-olds?  Sorry, but that's ridiculous to me.

Remember, the topic is 'how old "should" you be' . . . which means the reasonable person "should" be obeying the rules.  Now if in a state where the right to consensual sex is 16, then the brith control purchase age should be . . . 16.  No teenagers "should" be having sex.  I didn't say my choices were realistic with the irresponsible youths that exist in society.

[Gabu]

I didn't say my choices were realistic with the irresponsible youths that exist in society.

Don't take this the wrong way, but what's the point of having an opinion on something if it knowingly does not take reality into account?

[minionofmidas]

I didn't say my choices were realistic with the irresponsible youths that exist in society.

Don't take this the wrong way, but what's the point of having an opinion on something if it knowingly does not take reality into account?

Worse, a law that does? That's actually pretty frivolous, and *certainly* an example of lawmakers not taking responsibility for their own actions.

of course it happens all the time.

[Ebowed]

Well, I certainly hope such a stupid law wouldn't be enforced.  Minors would either not use protection at all or try to make their own, which would be bad for obvious reasons.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Buy birth control? 14
Have sex? 14 (Well it should be allowed, but it wouldn't encourage it.)
Get an abortion without parental involvement? Depends on the cause of the pregnancy.
Drink alcohol? NA
Buy alcohol? 16
Smoke cigarettes? 16
Buy cigarettes? 16
Watch a pornographic film? 16
Star in a pornographic film? 16
Drive? Never, Cars should be scraped as they are clearly evil. Otherwise 18 or so
Be able to drop out of school? 15
Rent your own apartment? 15
Own your own business? 16
Go to a strip club? 16
Fight a bull? 16
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? 1 day old

[Alcon]

I still would really, really love to hear someone give a practical explanation for having a minimum age requirement for birth control, and why the current system of having no limit doesn't work.

[Gabu]

I still would really, really love to hear someone give a practical explanation for having a minimum age requirement for birth control, and why the current system of having no limit doesn't work.

I would imagine it's probably roughly the same thought patterns behind proponents of abstinence-only education: that if kids are not provided with any material at all to help them have sex and are encouraged not to, that maybe they won't.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I have no clue why I put down an age now honestly. Just doing it quickly and figured it should be the same as the sex age.

[DownWithTheLeft]

Buy birth control? 18
Have sex? 10
Get an abortion without parental involvement? never
Drink alcohol? no limit
Buy alcohol? no limit
Smoke cigarettes? no limit
Buy cigarettes? no limit
Watch a pornographic film? 12
Star in a pornographic film? 15
Drive? 13
Be able to drop out of school? no limit
Rent your own apartment? 12
Own your own business? 10
Go to a strip club? 15
Fight a bull? 7
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? 13

[Sensei]

Buy birth control? No Restriction
Have sex? No Restriction, but age of consent should be 16.
Get an abortion without parental involvement? No Restriction
Drink alcohol? 18
Buy alcohol? 18
Smoke cigarettes? Never
Buy cigarettes? Never
Watch a pornographic film? 16
Star in a pornographic film? 21
Drive? 16
Be able to drop out of school? 18
Rent your own apartment? 18
Own your own business? 18
Go to a strip club? 18
Fight a bull? 21
Choose to go to a different place of worship than your parents? 10

[Gabu]

Buy birth control? 18
Have sex? 10

uh