Planning on getting married at 14? No can do, says Kansas

[Lilaena De'Ville]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12644597/?GT1=8199

The state of Kansas has not set the minimum age required to be legally married at the ripe old age of 15.

Previously, they had no such restrictions.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

My mind boggles at the thought.


a 15-year-old could marry only if a district court judge decided it was in that person’s best interest.

a 37-year-old woman married a 15-year-old boy, a friend of her teenage son.

?! :huh

What are their restrictions on alcohol/sex/etc? The article seems to suggest that people can get married before they're legally allowed to have sex?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Technically. Yes. Although I suppose only to another person of a similar age? I have no idea, it sounds kooky to me.

[Vega Van-Derveld]

The article reads as if that 37-year-old woman could marry the 15-year-old boy legally, but then if she tried to sleep with him she would get charged with rape o_O Them be some crazy laws, Kansas.

I feel like there should be a Wizard of Oz joke in here somewhere.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Guess that would make the 3rd anniversary very special. :)

[Pierce Tondry]

This is retarded. Really retarded. I mean, do they want kids getting married before they're even out of high school? Why not set the incentives to be uneducated even higher?

asfjdk;ad;asdf. If someone can explain the logic behind this to me in such a way that I can accept it, I will be very surprised, but until then I'm not touching it for fear it might break my brain.

[Ryan Pode]

Most of Kansas is rural, backwater places. It's tough already for farmers out there, so they get married young and get tax breaks. Duh.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Well, having a restriction is better than having no restriction, Pierce. :mneh

<a href=http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_laws.htm>Marriage Age by State</a>

[Pierce Tondry]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
Well, having a restriction is better than having no restriction, Pierce. :mneh

I'd just as soon have people in general be smart enough that no restriction is needed. I mean, at 15 I was having trouble telling girls I liked them; screw anything more complicated like financial planning for one's future.

People hurt my brain.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Oh common sense, where have you gone :(

[Lilaena De'Ville]

We shan't talk about how things USED to be done, way back when. :)

Mohammed married a 9 yr old girl as his... I can't remember if she was his 4 or 5th wife.

[Pierce Tondry]

Originally posted by Lilaena De'Ville
We shan't talk about how things USED to be done, way back when. :)

Mohammed married a 9 yr old girl as his... I can't remember if she was his 4 or 5th wife.

Oh those crazy Arabs and their crazy polygamy.

Anyways, here's to hoping that the law is overkill and not really needed.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

They're not just letting 15 yr olds walk up and get married, they have to have both parental and legal approval from the courts.

And, I'm not saying I think 15yr olds should be getting married. Just staing the facts. :p

After all, like Jack Handy, I think we should make the world safe for our children. But not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex.

[Byl Laprovik]

Eh, I'm of the mind that the general age of consent for all things, sex, voting, vice usage, driving, dropping out of school, should be pegged at 16 years of age.

Then again I'm a huge civil liberties fanboy and hate all forms of government imposition in that realm.

[Pierce Tondry]

That's interesting actually. Do you simultaneously believe that we do a good job of instructing our youth in terms of values and responsibilities?

[Byl Laprovik]

Who is this "we"?

[Pierce Tondry]

The adult population in general which includes educators of both the formal and informal type. This isn't a trick question, I'm genuinely interested in your perspective.

[Sanis Prent]

We as society are pretty poor on average at this, irregardless of age. Thats why it's a poor choice to leave that sort of thing to society, when its a parental responsibility.