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Honolulu Lite

by Charles Memminger

Friday, February 2, 2001


No excuses: 14
is way too young

As the father of a young daughter, I find Hawaii's current law regarding the age for consensual sex -- 14 -- troublesome.

Actually, "troublesome" isn't the word I'm looking for. A few words that come closer to how I view our current law are "insane, psychotic, demented, deranged, mad and crazy (see: lunatic)."

Now, I admit, as a father, I am not neutral on this issue. Personally, I think the proper age of consent for sex for females should be, oh, about 36. Some people would call me over-protective, not to mention "unrealistic, drugged and naive (see: hopeless)."

I dump on local politicians all the time because, well, it's easy. But the Hawaii legislators once again are taking up the issue of the minimum age of consensual sex and all I can say is, "God bless them."

I don't want to accuse any state of being sort of backward but, come on, when you think of places that allow adults to legally have sex with 14-year-old girls you think of places in the "Banjo Belt." You know, those states where a symbol of sophistication is having TWO pickup trucks on blocks in front of your double-wide trailer and where guys have three names, like Billy Joe Putney. There, first cousins are considered marrying material and frankly, closer relations are not out of the question.

But how did Hawaii, which has relatively few banjo-players and no trailer parks to speak of, become the only state that sets the legal limit for consensual sex at 14?

These kids are not considered legally capable of driving a car and yet we consider them legally capable of making a decision that could result in the girls becoming mothers at age 14.Not to mention the chance that they could come down with all manner of horrible sexually transmitted diseases and their lives could be ruined before they are really out of the gates.

I don't want to get preachy, but, dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to ask: Has Hawaii has completely lost its mind?

I like Gov. Ben Cayetano. We both have dogs that are named Boomer. We both got married on the same day, which I think is May 5. We both have bad haircuts. But the governor is way off base questioning the raising of the legal age of sexual consent because it's hard these days to tell if a girl is 14, 15 or 16. Ben, buddy, the way people dress today, it's hard for a man to tell if a woman is a college student or a Waikiki streetwalker. Or even a guy. But that's fashion. That shouldn't have anything to do with protecting our children.

It's like this: Men know that the legal alcohol level for drinking and driving is 0.8. If they've had several beers, it's up to them to decide whether they should get in the car or not. There's no legal defense for them to say, gee, I thought I was only at 0.4 or 0.6.

So to say that raising the legal age of sexual consent from 14 to 16 would be too confusing to men is ridiculous. If you have any question in your mind whether you should drive or not after drinking, you shouldn't do it. If you have any question in your mind whether the young woman you are thinking about doing the nasty with is under 16, then don't do it. Period.

We must raise the age of consent to at least 16. Or else make the Hawaii state song the theme song from the movie "Deliverance."



Charles Memminger, winner of
National Society of Newspaper Columnists
awards in 1994 and 1992, writes "Honolulu Lite"
Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Write to him at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802
or send E-mail to cmemminger@starbulletin.com.



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