Template:Debate Guide:Arguments about children and minors

People under the age of majority can be sexual...

• Against: Cognitive ability = consent - Some argue that "sex" has special properties that make it impossible for minors to give informed consent.
• Against: Childhood innocence - "Childhood innocence" is a highly problematic concept.
• Evolutionary logic - Trauma from voluntary age-gap relations makes no sense in evolutionary terms.
• Cyclical paternalism - Protecting minors brings about the need to protect them more.

• Liberty-empowerment - Empowering young people will benefit them.

Anti age-gap arguments are really anti-youth arguments...

• Against: The kids do not want it - Legal minors (who are supposedly too stupid to consent) are suddenly required to show enthusiasm for law reforms that antis dispute, but not ones that take their rights away.
• Against: Teen brain - Ideas of a distinct, or inferior "teen brain" are value-laden, outdated western pseudoscience.
• Against: Corresponding age attraction - Questions the assumption of a unique "childhood" or "between minors" sexual orientation.

Sexually repressing minors does not benefit them...

• Against: Online dangers - The internet is generally not a dangerous place for minors.
• Reverse sexualization - Popular acknowledgement of sexuality in nude photography is revealing.
• Turn of events - How the reporting and prosecution of sex can change the perspective of a youth.
• The ideal victim - Pursuing a singular, stereotyped view of the abuser and their victim actually encourages abuse.

From the encyclopedia...

• Youth are sexually oppressed through the legal system
• So-called "child pornography" and its effects on minors.