Thailand Set To Raise Age Of Consent To 20 For Sex With Women?

[wolf5370]

I take such comments as this minister's with a large pinch of salt. It's just lip service after the media making such a fuss over the fetuses in the temple story. It doesn't take much insight to realise, when there are contemporary stories about 9 year old Thai mothers, that a number in a book makes diddly squat difference. If they want less unwed mothers, then legalise abortion, give away free condoms (all the time at proper family planning clinics) and educate the young properly.

With the voting age at 18, Thailand is telling their youth that 18 is adulthood - adult enough to choose a government, but not adult enough to choose to drink or screw. I don't suppose they have considered how the 7% of voting public they would affect will react come April (perhaps???)

I like the sliding scale laws that some places have adopted - where an underage (slightly) person has sex with a lover where a small age gap exisist then its off to do a sex education course - big age gap and its off to prison we go. Scale also sliding up the severity scale as the minor's age drops. However, this is to protect children - not to underwrite some political rhetoric aimed at replacing human rights with non-existant cultural ideals.

In the UK (as mentioned above) teenagers have been known to get pregnant because they have very little ambition, see no viable alternative (because they are a 3rd or 4th generation of state scroungers and its all they have seen) and because the state supports them with housing, income, schooling and support in many ways.

Here there is not that state system, so it is due to other factors than pure choice I would suggest (although some may still be seeking to escape family or trap a lover I suppose) - most of these reasons can be mitigated with 3 things: Education (so they understand the risks, the problems of starting a family so young, health issues, VD, and so on); Aims (again with the education - improved academic education and state pushing for the detruction of old-school-tie philosophies); and fee, readily available condoms. Its just far cheaper and safer (especially when one and one's own children wear those old-school-ties!) to plat lip service with another new law that will never be enforced outside of police profiteering.

I dare say a lot of pretty powerful hands make some pretty pennies out of young ladies under 20 and I dare say that a few ministers might endulge in a mia noi or several of that ilk too - immorale is one thing, and easily hidden, illegal is somewhat different.

I can't see this ever coming about in reality for many reasons: politcally, logistically and logistically. No one would be the winner on this.

Edited December 27, 2010 by wolf5370

[CheGuava]

I think they are more surprised when they see a Farang with a girl that is close to their age and wonder why the guy isn't with a much younger girl.

Absolutely! Though personally I think it looks great when I see an older Western gentleman with an older Thai partner. Looks super sweet and respectable.

[chops]

I can see the sex tourists leaving already..

[dannyman]

I LIKE YOU Jingthong every where I look your on Thaivisa. CHEERS !

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Maybe you two should get a room.

[mca]

I think they are more surprised when they see a Farang with a girl that is close to their age and wonder why the guy isn't with a much younger girl.

When I first extended my visa in Nong Khai the officer said to my wife " He has to bring his wife with him " Raised eyebrow from the guy when my wife said " I am his wife" ( My wife is 11 months younger than me ). I assume the officer was jumping to conclusions based on experience.

Edited December 28, 2010 by mca

[Jingthing]

I LIKE YOU Jingthong every where I look your on Thaivisa. CHEERS !

I LIKE YOU too Dannymon!

Edited December 28, 2010 by Jingthing

[thaibeachlovers]

For those of you trying to justify older farang male-Thai girl relationships involving an age difference of 20+ years: The point is that this is very offensive to the general Thai society. Think "pedophilia".

On other threads, Mark45 has generously described some of his experiences with previous Thai friends and shopkeepers when he started going out in public with his teenage concubine (Mark is in his 60's)

Most Thai men don't do this. While many may have mistresses or kept women, they do not flaunt it in the public eye. Certainly not in front of friends, acquaintances or relatives.

That is the difference. You may see it as hypocrisy but it is the cultural norm.

Thai society will tolerate your inter-generational relationships, but they won't like it.

So don't expect a rose garden when you flagrantly abuse the cultural rules.

Haven't been to Pattaya then!

I've seen more than a few "older" Thai men holding hands with young girls in Central mall, and they definitely weren't their daughters.

Anyway, what about Hugh Heffner marrying a 24 year old? Is that wrong? I don't think so, though I think he's foolish.

[pjclark1]

A small story here related to the bar and recounted by a friend of mine who has lived in Thailand for 30 years.

Many years ago the age of consent for sex workers was age 15, this was then raised to age 18.

So what did the girls do while waiting to reach age 18 ......

They worked as construction workers on building sites mainly in Bangkok!

They slept in the same dormitory conditions as all the male construction workers.

One assumes they had a lot of sex with said male construction workers.

At age 18 they moved to working in the bar, their hands as rough as sandpaper .........

How did the girls benefit from having the age of consent for sex workers raised?

They certainly missed out on sleeping in comfortable hotel rooms for 3 years.

Beats me what anyone expected them to gain ...........

Edited December 29, 2010 by pjclark1

[MJP]

For those of you trying to justify older farang male-Thai girl relationships involving an age difference of 20+ years: The point is that this is very offensive to the general Thai society. Think "pedophilia".

On other threads, Mark45 has generously described some of his experiences with previous Thai friends and shopkeepers when he started going out in public with his teenage concubine (Mark is in his 60's)

Most Thai men don't do this. While many may have mistresses or kept women, they do not flaunt it in the public eye. Certainly not in front of friends, acquaintances or relatives.

That is the difference. You may see it as hypocrisy but it is the cultural norm.

Thai society will tolerate your inter-generational relationships, but they won't like it.

So don't expect a rose garden when you flagrantly abuse the cultural rules.

Haven't been to Pattaya then!

I've seen more than a few "older" Thai men holding hands with young girls in Central mall, and they definitely weren't their daughters.

Anyway, what about Hugh Heffner marrying a 24 year old? Is that wrong? I don't think so, though I think he's foolish.

How do you know? I hold my daughters hand when we're out shopping.

[StreetCowboy]

For those of you trying to justify older farang male-Thai girl relationships involving an age difference of 20+ years: The point is that this is very offensive to the general Thai society. Think "pedophilia".

You had better look up the actual definition of that word in a dictionary before you toss it off incorrectly ...

Get a grip on himself before he puts his foot in it...?

SC

It's a deep barrel we're scraping tonight... my apologies...

Edit: Catapostrophic grammatical error corrected

Edited December 29, 2010 by StreetCowboy

[TheyCallmeScooter]

This is even more ridiculous than the proposal to levy equal penalties on the men who are "equally responsible" for illegal abortions. facepalm.

If I believed abortion was murder and saw 5 million (or whatever) annual abortions in the UK (compare childhood stranger-danger murders at around 10 a year in the UK) then I would not be able to sleep at night until I had stopped it. I would try to put together the elements for a coup d'etat in the UK to remove such a murderous regime. But you, the anti-abortionist, don't do that. Your position lacks sincerity.

Well said. The moral outcry over the millions of murders seems strangely understated if confined to lobbying and OpEds and voting conservative every election.

A lot of 18 and 19 year old bar girls are going to be pretty unhappy, if this proposal ever comes into law...

Hmm, or your generic 17 yr old with a fake ID just holds onto their ID for two more years.

Just a thought folks from someone who has seen a friend's daughter go through this and the court case eventual guilty plea and four year jail sentence......thankfully now released but having lost a large part of her young life. Very sad.

At least now she has the life experience of a prison sentence to draw upon and build from for the rest of her life. Glass half full etc....

[thaibeachlovers]

For those of you trying to justify older farang male-Thai girl relationships involving an age difference of 20+ years: The point is that this is very offensive to the general Thai society. Think "pedophilia".

On other threads, Mark45 has generously described some of his experiences with previous Thai friends and shopkeepers when he started going out in public with his teenage concubine (Mark is in his 60's)

Most Thai men don't do this. While many may have mistresses or kept women, they do not flaunt it in the public eye. Certainly not in front of friends, acquaintances or relatives.

That is the difference. You may see it as hypocrisy but it is the cultural norm.

Thai society will tolerate your inter-generational relationships, but they won't like it.

So don't expect a rose garden when you flagrantly abuse the cultural rules.

Haven't been to Pattaya then!

I've seen more than a few "older" Thai men holding hands with young girls in Central mall, and they definitely weren't their daughters.

Anyway, what about Hugh Heffner marrying a 24 year old? Is that wrong? I don't think so, though I think he's foolish.

How do you know? I hold my daughters hand when we're out shopping.

It's pretty obvious the difference between a parent holding a child's hand, and lovers holding hands.

When I said young girls, I meant girls in late teens/ early twenties- as in "bar girl" ( it's hard for me to tell young Thai women's ages ), and I doubt many fathers would be holding their daughter's hands at that age! Sorry if that wasn't apparent.

Edited December 31, 2010 by thaibeachlovers

[inthepink]

I am well aware that prostitution is illegal in Thailand. That has no bearing on my post whatsoever, if you read it.

Well, notwithstanding the actual practice, prostitution is illegal in Thailand...

And, if someone is engaging in pay for play, frankly, I'm not sure there's much of an argument to make saying going for a 30 year old is fine, but 18-20 year olds are somehow a different kettle of clams....

Well we don't have to use the conditional tense as I have paid for sex in the past (only in countries where it is legal of course)...

I'm not sure if I would go as far as to say I felt morally superior to old men who paid to have sex with girls young enough to be their daughter / granddaughter but I found such liaisons rather distasteful, as I would in unpaid relationships too. Some people may find that odd, considering I was happy to participate in pay-for-play and they may well have a point!

I guess it is just my upbringing that leads me to feel that sleeping with an 18-20 yr old at my age (were I still single) would be "wrong" in some way, although I certainly wasn't brought up to think that prostitution was acceptable either so I cannot really justify my position on this, it's just how I feel.

[inthepink]

Well, notwithstanding the actual practice, prostitution is illegal in Thailand...

And, if someone is engaging in pay for play, frankly, I'm not sure there's much of an argument to make saying going for a 30 year old is fine, but 18-20 year olds are somehow a different kettle of clams....

Well we don't have to use the conditional tense as I have paid for sex in the past (only in countries where it is legal of course)...

I'm not sure if I would go as far as to say I felt morally superior to old men who paid to have sex with girls young enough to be their daughter / granddaughter but I found such liaisons rather distasteful, as I would in unpaid relationships too. Some people may find that odd, considering I was happy to participate in pay-for-play and they may well have a point!

I guess it is just my upbringing that leads me to feel that sleeping with an 18-20 yr old at my age (were I still single) would be "wrong" in some way, although I certainly wasn't brought up to think that prostitution was acceptable either so I cannot really justify my position on this, it's just how I feel.

But the joy is, that if you're trying v hard not to let friends in the West know what the relationship is about, an older woman is far better !

An old man telling his friends in the West that he's met a 20 year old woman that 'loves him too much' - is not going to go down well with friends from home..... Far better to find a woman a bit older .

That's why the older women still hang out in bars - they know there's a small market there.

I wouldn't know about that, I've never been stupid enough to have a relationship with a prostitute.

[IanForbes]

I still think they should raise the age of consentual sex to the age of 40 for women and over 80 for men. That would solve all those unwanted pregnancies.

[canuckamuck]

What is the age of consent for faux females?

[Thongkorn]

Just revealed in the UK, mum and dad at 14 years old. Baby conceived when they were 13.

There parents want kicking because they are as much to blame for letting feral children grow up with out any responsibility for there actions. I say make the parents take care of the baby and there idiot children. Society never had any thing to do with it so why should we now.

[TimTang]

...Muslims get 7 virgins when they die...

Actually the number is 72 virgins and they have to die killing infidels, like suicide bombers or flying planes into building.

Muslim won't be too happy about this new law because the age of marriage is 6 and the age of conception is 9, as exemplified by their virtuous prophet Mohammed and his last child wife Aisha.

[Englander]

If they raise it to 20, that'll mean all these wealthy Thais including politicians who vote for such ridiculous legislation, who have delightful 18yo Mia Nois will have to abstain from sex for a while or risk being banged up .... or like everything in Thailand is it just a rule for the proles, whilst politicians carry on being nonces.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Englander

[Englander]

Just revealed in the UK, mum and dad at 14 years old. Baby conceived when they were 13.

There parents want kicking because they are as much to blame for letting feral children grow up with out any responsibility for there actions. I say make the parents take care of the baby and there idiot children. Society never had any thing to do with it so why should we now.

Lots of young teenagers age 13 and 14 are at it, i was at that age and i can almost guarantee i am more refined and wealthier then yourself ... i agree that the taxpayer shouldnt foot the bill for it though and its none of the govts. business.

[StreetCowboy]

Just revealed in the UK, mum and dad at 14 years old. Baby conceived when they were 13.

There parents want kicking because they are as much to blame for letting feral children grow up with out any responsibility for there actions. I say make the parents take care of the baby and there idiot children. Society never had any thing to do with it so why should we now.

Lots of young teenagers age 13 and 14 are at it, i was at that age and i can almost guarantee i am more refined and wealthier then yourself ... i agree that the taxpayer shouldnt foot the bill for it though and its none of the govts. business.

Probably the government opinion is that it is easier to deal with delinquent babies than with delinquent adults. If only a small fraction of such babies can be rehabilitated into society, it will be money well-spent.

Perhaps culling and neutering would be a preferred option, but I can imagine a lot of people (myself included) might be opposed to that on moral grounds, while others (myself included) might oppose it on the grounds of likely abuse, while still others might oppose it on the grounds of the damage that it would do to the morality of our society (myself included).

So we just have to accept it as a cost of our poor education and lack of moral fibre; though having coincidentally recently been reading some 18th and 19th centry literature on the topic, perhaps we are better off than we used to be...

As the post above highlighted, changing the age of consent to something higher will have no impact, since the age of consent is not something that young people take much notice of, in any case. Nor perverts.

SC

[a99az]

For those of you trying to justify older farang male-Thai girl relationships involving an age difference of 20+ years: The point is that this is very offensive to the general Thai society. Think "pedophilia".

On other threads, Mark45 has generously described some of his experiences with previous Thai friends and shopkeepers when he started going out in public with his teenage concubine (Mark is in his 60's)

Most Thai men don't do this. While many may have mistresses or kept women, they do not flaunt it in the public eye. Certainly not in front of friends, acquaintances or relatives.

That is the difference. You may see it as hypocrisy but it is the cultural norm.

Thai society will tolerate your inter-generational relationships, but they won't like it.

So don't expect a rose garden when you flagrantly abuse the cultural rules.

I think that you need to get a life.

[buasaard]

...Muslims get 7 virgins when they die...

Actually the number is 72 virgins and they have to die killing infidels, like suicide bombers or flying planes into building.

Muslim won't be too happy about this new law because the age of marriage is 6 and the age of conception is 9, as exemplified by their virtuous prophet Mohammed and his last child wife Aisha.

Maybe should be better to check before saying something like that.

http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm

Algeria : 16

Egypt : 18

Morocco : 15

Iraq : 18

Malaysia : 16

UAE : 18

Turkey : 18

Tunisia : 20

and so on...

Vatican State : 12

Spain : 13

Italy : 14

UK : 16

Germany : 14

France : 15

It seems actually that the age consent is higher in muslim countries....The 3 countries where age of consent is lowest (12) are all christian countries : Angola, Mexico and Vatican....

[dominique355]

The title of this OP is a bit confusing.

I thought you always need the woman's consent for sex, irrespective of her age.

Or is rape going to be legalized?

[Jingthing]

The title of this OP is a bit confusing.

I thought you always need the woman's consent for sex, irrespective of her age.

Or is rape going to be legalized?

In many countries including Thailand, the word rape is used in a legalistic way which includes violating age of consent laws. In other words, even if there is consent, it is still rape if under the age of consent, legally speaking. For those over the age of consent, rape laws still exist if consent is not granted. (Duh.)

Edited January 17, 2011 by Jingthing

[TimTang]

...Muslims get 7 virgins when they die...

Actually the number is 72 virgins and they have to die killing infidels, like suicide bombers or flying planes into building.

Muslim won't be too happy about this new law because the age of marriage is 6 and the age of conception is 9, as exemplified by their virtuous prophet Mohammed and his last child wife Aisha.

Maybe should be better to check before saying something like that.

http://www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm

Algeria : 16

Egypt : 18

Morocco : 15

Iraq : 18

Malaysia : 16

UAE : 18

Turkey : 18

Tunisia : 20

and so on...

Vatican State : 12

Spain : 13

Italy : 14

UK : 16

Germany : 14

France : 15

It seems actually that the age consent is higher in muslim countries....The 3 countries where age of consent is lowest (12) are all christian countries : Angola, Mexico and Vatican....

You actually believe that? I'm afraid you have swallowed the Taqiyya cool-aid.

Islam is a religion, political Ideology, and legal system all wrapped in one. Sharia law will always supersede any laws created by governments, which are considered inferior and man-made.

Just type "Islam child brides" in google then tell me what facts I should check first.

[TAWP]

I wouldn't know about that, I've never been stupid enough to have a relationship with a prostitute.

How little you know...

[inthepink]

I wouldn't know about that, I've never been stupid enough to have a relationship with a prostitute.

How little you know...

Would you care to expand on that comment?

(Unless you are one of those sad sacks who believes that all women are prositutes on some level in which case please don't bother to respond)

[TAWP]

I wouldn't know about that, I've never been stupid enough to have a relationship with a prostitute.

How little you know...

Would you care to expand on that comment?

(Unless you are one of those sad sacks who believes that all women are prositutes on some level in which case please don't bother to respond)

No, not everyone. But many (more than many seem to get) has non-snow-white backgrounds. Or perhaps guys here just to lie to themselves...or others that read their posts when they try to brag how pure and good their gf/wife is.

And by 'good' I mean the 'western' moral value-system, not my own. I personally judge people on very different values.