Gaming News, Cthulhu, Sex Crimes

[tcpip]

Recently read from the beginning to the current issue; The Order of the Stick, one of the funniest pieces of work from gamer culture. Roleplaying reviews this week included RuneQuest (3rd ed) and a very old Traveller module, Chamax and The Horde. Played some Traveller: The New Era on Tuesday and Dungeon! Dragonlords Dreamland scenerio went very well except for a very strange visitor.

Last night attended the arthouse film gathering in Collingwood with the usual suspects (Brendan, 2600AU crew, Paul from Polyester). Gorged ourselves at "The New Raffles" (opposite The Tote) and then watched three H.P. Lovecraft inspired films, including "The Call of Cthulhu", a 2005 film in a 1920s style, the very cheesy From Beyond and Dagon. On a related note, fishermen in New Zealand have caught a half-tonne squid. Ry'leh is nearby you know...I-ai! I-ai! Cthulhu, Ftan'g!

The war against youth marches on; a 13 year old in Italy gets pregnant to her 15 year old boyfriend. Her parents and the courts force her to have an abortion (link in Italian). A couple (one 16 the other 17) exchange sexual images of themselves to each other. They are charged and convicted of child pornography (from erudito. In good ol Denver, a 13 year old girl has been charged as both offender and victim for having sex with her 12 year old boyfriend.

Comments

[angel80.livejournal.com]

'worst case' please

You can be too narrowly rational on some points. Personally I think that no 13 year old should be allowed to destroy her life prospects at such an age - cognitive ability or not. She certainly lacks enough experience to be a halfway decent mother, except in a more tribal society in which child mothers would not be expected to handle the major burden by themselves. Which is why grandparents must be allowed to have a say in the matter.

(I'm talking about the Italian case, not the stupid Florida and Utah criminal codes.)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

You can be too narrowly rational on some points.

;-)

Personally I think that no 13 year old should be allowed to destroy her life prospects at such an age - cognitive ability or not.

Cognitive ability is the basic requirement; obvious the concrete questions of financing, social circumstances and so forth are requisite. Whilst it is true that teenaged parents usually face insurmountable difficulties, I hardly think that justifies compulsory abortion either; which is quite literally sending her insane.

There are other options; such as letting her give birth to the child but it remaining primarily in foster or other care until she has the ability to take up the parenting role.

This is an unusual case of course, usually the issue is access to choose an abortion. However the attitudes motivating the judge and parents in this particular case seem to be those of forty-plus years ago.

[grailchaser.livejournal.com]

That child is not going to "ruin" her life. Having unprotected sex is going to, if not ruin her life, certainly make it more challenging. Hey, she could have wound up with AIDS but instead she only wound up with an unexpected pregnancy. That child is the outcome of its parents ill-informed choice.

Besides which, we can't see all ends. If she raises it, she will still be only 31 when her child leaves home. If she studies at home whilst raising her child, she can then embark on a career without being held back by her child. Should make her eminently more marketable to her prospective employers. :)

As to her lacking experience? Who knows? She's decided to keep the baby - which sounds like she's fully cogniscent of what she's done and she's willing to shoulder the responsiblity that comes with her right to have sex. That sounds like an adult choice.

Given that everyone is allowed to breed irrespective of their morals or ethics or social class or criminal record, her lack of experience doesn't even matter much, eh? Where does anyone get the experience to raise kids? She won't get it by virtue of being five years older. She *might* get it by living in a family with lots of siblings and having to care for her baby brother whilst her mother goes back to her day job. So maybe the lower classes have more experience in such things than the middle or upper classes...:)

The fact is that people should have a licence to breed. It would be relatively simple to implement (but a bugger to enforce). You'd need a one year course at TAFE to qualify. I mean, hey, we need a licence to have a dog, after all. And they take less care than raising a human. But its an issue that I doubt we'll ever see any politicians confronting in this wonderful country.