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On Age of Adulthood (Letter) 19 June 2008 Dear Workers Vanguard, I really enjoyed the WV No. 916 article on the state abduction of the children of Eldorado Mormons, especially the connection between the rights of the Mormons to their private lives and that of gays. However the article leaves itself open to misinterpretation when it raises the demand “for significantly lowering the ‘age of adulthood’.” I believe what you mean to say is that kids should be able to emancipate themselves both practically (through access to union jobs, education, housing, etc.) and legally (through laws that allow teens to separate themselves from their parents). The problem is that the article doesn’t make this clear. “Age of adulthood” does not, for example, mean the age one should be tried in a court of law as an adult, which the ruling class increasingly uses as a club against poor, working-class and minority youth. Nor does it mean the age at which one can consent to sex. As communists we believe in effective consent and not allowing the state to set any arbitrary age at which someone can make choices about their bodies. These are complicated issues. However the principles are clear: 1) The blood-drenched capitalist state will never have any interest in protecting youth or women, and should not interfere in people’s private affairs regardless of age, race, sexual orientation or religion, 2) The economic foundation for the liberation of women and youth needs to be fought for and ultimately can only be won through the overthrow of capitalist society. Comradely,
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