Given the dystopic lack of any sense of morality for such a large segment of people today, I don't think enough of the population has what it takes to, for example, not shoplift or take the money from a wallet found on the street anymore, much less trying to be virtuous or chivalrous toward any human object of their desires. In an age when even legal relationships are so often heavily polluted with me-first selfishness and lack of interpersonal social skills to even make things work when both want them to, it seems almost silly to even try to arrive at an age of consent anymore. One of my daydreams over the years has been one where if the society falters and fails, and everyone is merely out for themselves, then both I and a young girl would be lucky to find one another, as I know in my heart that I could keep her safe from the many nasty things that would come her way.

I'm not sure your comparison to cutoffs for medical school is so tight, since a GPA is far less arbitrary than birthday years, but I can appreciate trying to explain positions and beliefs. I don't think I follow because nobody is giving kids tests in maturity, social skills, understanding of danger, consequences, or the world in any way in relation to arriving at age of consent. If you know there are standards in coming to these decisions, I'd be fascinated to learn more. How you do during your four years of undergrad study is probably far more telling, though definitely not a perfectly accurate representation.

While I said above, I know perfectly well there are incredibly nasty people in the world who think nothing of others except in terms of what they can gain from them, I also think there's a matter to be examined as to what sort of adults are truly drawn to different age ranges of children. In my experience, there are some who are very gentle people, types who, save for the sexual attraction obstacle, would be great people for things like daycare or nanny type work. They not only are drawn to them, but they also understand them at their own level, and this can be a nurturing and protective thing in some cases.

Just as you must wonder how anyone would ever wonder why they would ever want mutually desired relations below the age of consent legalized, it's no secret that in years past I couldn't understand how anyone could find deeply satisfying human to human interaction and solace with a child younger than six or seven, or let's say kindergarten. I'm not able to wrap my mind around that, because I don't relate to it any more than I relate to many other preferences.

I'm someone who for better or worse has always been tuned in to current political climates. I have a tough time shutting myself off from all the negative stuff we're bombarded with, and to be honest, things have had me concerned for a while to the point that it feels we've all become some little footnote now, after years of hyping us as the ultimate monsters. I look at how the greater society is today, and if you want my honest opinion, I don't think there's an age of consent anymore that really protects anyone, because so many are either focused on themselves, lacking the tools to make their own moral decisions, or just clueless and following wherever their urges lead them.

So I have two replies on AOC. One is, in a better world that seemed to exist not all that many decades ago, I think there was a way to get to something better and more beneficial to all than an arbitrary age. Now, I'd be wanting to not just lock my daughters away from guys, but from all the influences of popular entertainment in all its various forms, the public school system, and probably quite a few other influences, not the least of which would be the social skills-killing addiction to texting.

All that said, we'd probably agree that the amount of research on child attracted adults and relationships that have existed between both is barely a skeleton of understanding, and there needs to be more. I would add that those doing the research would have no favored interest in the findings other than getting to the truth. In the end, that's what any of us with a heart are searching for.