Child sexual consent hits the same issues as child acting or any other thing that parents can allow
(Warning: Judging moral claims with System-1 is unreliable.) Thinking that as a kid I could have been allowed to have sex, have had people annoying me with undesired propositions (even after they knew my age), and have had people trying to manipulate me into sex, makes me at most kind of uneasy. Thinking that my parents could have had any kind of say over it gave me a panic attack.
Wow, when I read “should not be treated differently from those issues”, I assumed the intention was likely to be “child acting, indoctrination, etc., should be considered abuse and not tolerated by society”, a position I would tentatively support (tentatively due to lack of expertise).
Incidentally, I found many of the other claims to be at least plausible and discussion-worthy, if not probably true (and certainly not things that people should be afraid to say).
How I remember feeling about sex as a kid (“A thing that some strange adults do for some reason, like partying all night long or cheering for football players. Irrelevant until further notice. What’s for dinner?”)
How I remember feeling about people who propositioned me online because I had a female username and they didn’t know my age (mildly annoyed at the waste of time, mildly icked at those whose propositions were particularly direct, mildly exasperated at the number of people who looked for cybersex in unrelated chatrooms)
How I remember feeling and now feel about attempts to manipulate me into saying sexual things (confused and slightly icked by those I can’t detect, amused and condescending and mildly exasperated by those I can)
How I feel about my parents controlling what I do (bad)
Child acting:
“You could have been a child actor”: Yeah, sure. I didn’t want to, but the idea is kinda neat. Actors are cool.
“You could have been pressured by directors into acting when you were a kid”: Not cool! Pressure is bad! Pressuring people into jobs is evil and bad and greedy! I would have felt very bad, so I’m glad that didn’t happen.
“You could have wanted to be a child actor, and your parents could have prevented you”: It’s bad and sad to clip the wings off angels. It looks like a mistake decent but overprotective people would make, not evil people who wanted me to suffer, though.
“Your parents could have forced you to act as a child”: What horrible evil people. Why are kids not protected against that?
Religious indoctrination: I don’t seem to have a strong emotional reaction. Child preachers and the like are sad. Parents who are forbidden to give religious education to their children are also sad.
I don’t necessarily endorse any of these reactions.
(Warning: Judging moral claims with System-1 is unreliable.) Thinking that as a kid I could have been allowed to have sex, have had people annoying me with undesired propositions (even after they knew my age), and have had people trying to manipulate me into sex, makes me at most kind of uneasy. Thinking that my parents could have had any kind of say over it gave me a panic attack.
Wow, when I read “should not be treated differently from those issues”, I assumed the intention was likely to be “child acting, indoctrination, etc., should be considered abuse and not tolerated by society”, a position I would tentatively support (tentatively due to lack of expertise).
Incidentally, I found many of the other claims to be at least plausible and discussion-worthy, if not probably true (and certainly not things that people should be afraid to say).
Is that partially from cultural assumptions about children having sex?
What reaction to you get to child acting, religious indoctrination, and such?
Nah, don’t think so. Identifiable sources:
How I remember feeling about sex as a kid (“A thing that some strange adults do for some reason, like partying all night long or cheering for football players. Irrelevant until further notice. What’s for dinner?”)
How I remember feeling about people who propositioned me online because I had a female username and they didn’t know my age (mildly annoyed at the waste of time, mildly icked at those whose propositions were particularly direct, mildly exasperated at the number of people who looked for cybersex in unrelated chatrooms)
How I remember feeling and now feel about attempts to manipulate me into saying sexual things (confused and slightly icked by those I can’t detect, amused and condescending and mildly exasperated by those I can)
How I feel about my parents controlling what I do (bad)
Child acting:
“You could have been a child actor”: Yeah, sure. I didn’t want to, but the idea is kinda neat. Actors are cool.
“You could have been pressured by directors into acting when you were a kid”: Not cool! Pressure is bad! Pressuring people into jobs is evil and bad and greedy! I would have felt very bad, so I’m glad that didn’t happen.
“You could have wanted to be a child actor, and your parents could have prevented you”: It’s bad and sad to clip the wings off angels. It looks like a mistake decent but overprotective people would make, not evil people who wanted me to suffer, though.
“Your parents could have forced you to act as a child”: What horrible evil people. Why are kids not protected against that?
Religious indoctrination: I don’t seem to have a strong emotional reaction. Child preachers and the like are sad. Parents who are forbidden to give religious education to their children are also sad.
I don’t necessarily endorse any of these reactions.