https://discord.gg/Hp4QrsMN

Hey everyone! I'm just a fox who loves soda! The picture above is me! When I discovered this sub, I knew instantly that I had struck gold. Youth rights / liberation is something that is on my mind all the time especially within the past year. I'm also a furry and have been a furry since I was 14 and even though I love furries and furry stuff and think that they're cool, cute and awesome, one of my biggest pet peeves about the furry fandom is the rampant ageism/adultism, which is something that has really gotten under my skin. Like I said I've identified as a furry since 14, but what I mean by that is that I've been a furry off and on within the past 4 years (I guess you can say I've gone on several furry "hiatuses" if that makes sense) and this is the most "furry" I've actually been since I was 14. I feel like this year I realize that being a furry is who I am and who I was meant to be so I've come to embrace it and it's made my life so much better. With that being said, it was when I was 17 that I discovered how bad ageism/adultism is in the furry fandom and how there's so many teenagers that want to be furries because it's who they are and they want to be happy of course but with all this BS such as "MDNI" "No Minors" "Minors will be be blocked" as well as that stupid "no one under 18" emoji that I see all over the place. This can make it so frustrating to be a furry as a teenager and it's just so hard to ignore because seeing all of this is like daggers in your heart. I thought the furry fandom was supposed to be one of the most welcoming, inclusive and open-minded fandoms and that is true for a lot of furries, at the same time a lot of furries can be morons when it comes to stuff like this. I hope that there's furries on here that can relate and have had similar experiences because that would make me so happy to know that there are people on here who I have stuff in common with. I'm a very nice guy. You can talk to me about anything. I'm an open book.

Years ago, there was a very popular comment on this sub which is still shared here sometimes, which compared the modern situation between adults and minors to the Antebellum South (leading up to the Civil War) with slaves and masters, arguing the unequal distribution of freedoms and privileges (and ultimately power) between the two groups leads to a permanent block between any meaningful contact between them. This is one of my main inspirations for why first we must equalize them legally which leads to social change we can support and lead.

Pictured above, I conversed with ChatGPT (don’t give me slack) and I ignored some of its talking points about youth because of their irrationality and tried to exclude them from this picture set. I roughly asked whether “Can slaves consent with their masters?” is a loaded question, and then elaborated on what I meant. This led me to some conclusions that actually seem to validate this old metaphor.

Consent in labor is the first area to explore here. Interestingly, earlier in the conservation, it mentioned power imbalances as a factor in legal decisions about consent of minors, specifically teacher-student relationships. The AI’s logic (referencing real legal logic and ethical reasoning that has developed over the years) was that if you cannot consent in your own labor (slavery) you cannot consent to sex with your masters either (incapacity). Basically, if you lack consent in one area of your relationship, it can be extended to lacking consent in every area. Any power imbalance is a universal imbalance. Naturally, since minors lack a consensual say in the work they perform (compulsory education is non-consensual yet legally mandated and tolerated education, plus chores and having to do your parents’ tasks and bidding usually) and by extension lack the freedoms of an adult, a parallel of “Minors cannot consent because they lack freedom and autonomy, and if they had those, they could logically consent” emerges. This validates the metaphor and my interpretation of it as the metaphor claims the lack of true consent between age boundaries legally are because of unequal freedoms/rights and my solution restores those rights.

Teacher and student relationships usually invalidate consent that would otherwise apply (the law here even recognizes the idea that students are not consenting to their labor, and that thus invalidates consent in other areas such as sex with their teachers). And to a lesser degree, sex or romance with your boss is generally discouraged socially and can become exploitative. So, while the slavery comparisons are probably too far for some, all of these logical comparisons seem to line up with the metaphor and my interpretation, legal systems have often kept social fears alive and stop meaningful progress. That also leads to destruction of “true consent.” Unlike society, I don’t align with the idea immaturity is tethered inherently to age and that we should base laws as restrictive as the current ones on that conclusion. So, my idea would help address the validated problem of the metaphor and hopefully lead to change if it was ever implemented. Let’s talk more in the comments!

In 1960-1961, one of the reforms a newly-installed Castro wanted was a literacy campaign, bringing the ability to read to the majority of the population. (Under the previous government, the literacy rate was slightly over 10% in rural areas.) To get everyone up to speed, one of the thrusts of the movement was to train mostly city youth to go into the countryside, living among the rural people and teaching them to read. They were trained to do so - a week-long course - and then sent out.

In 1962, Cuba had a 96% literacy rate, which they've maintained basically ever since. In other words, it worked. As it turns out, if you bother teaching them, and if they're motivated, they're actually vaguely competent...

(I first came across this in My Brigadista Year, a novelization of a diary of one of these teachers. Definitely worth reading.)

TW child abuse

Today I was at the waterpark with my friend and her parents when I saw a father abusing his son and me with cptsd from the same thing just froze and looked at it My friend was like "what happend?" I told her to look at it and then when they went away i started talking about how disgusting this father his Then my friends father said "i dont justify his actions but its easy for you to judge, you dont know what was before that" And i said "i dont think it matters what was before that."

And another friend of us said to me that all parents does it, which i told him that doesnt make it okay.

I got really angry and me and my friend went to the bathroom and she told me her father didnt mean it and he doesnt support abuse and never abused her

But i just cant stop thinking about it and how common child abuse is. I wouldnt hear the "you dont know what happend before that" if this man was beating his dog, right? Why does a child have more rights then a dog??

When people are talking about the concept of youth liberation in our society, they immediately think that age restrictions for all rights would be abolished, and they presuppose that the age of consent is something that is also applied in that scenario. Since we are trying to advocate for the youth rights in our society, I do think that it is very important for us as a community to be very particular about our judgments against ageism because we must understand that all of these different age restrictions have different contexts that are applied to them. The universal statements that are applied when we are talking about the full abolition of age restrictions could put us into very tricky waters against people that vehemently support the institutions, laws, and policies of ageism within our society. As a concept itself, youth liberation is meant to allow young people in our society to have freedom as long as they don't harm others through the concept of hierarchy, and we must also guarantee that there isn't a power structure that is preserved between both children and adults. It can be argued that lowering more significantly or even abolishing the age of consent would lead to further infringement on the rights of the youth as the exploitation can be utilized to create the hierarchy between those individuals. Will the youth really be liberated if they have to deal with a hierarchy that is trying to oppress them from exercising their rights to bodily autonomy? With that, it can also be argued that the age of consent is necessary to be able for these youth to protect their rights to their own bodily autonomy. Overall, as a community, it would certainly make sense for us to rarely deviate on the age restrictions for the age of consent considering the exploitative factors that could potentially come with the expansion of the insidious potentialities.I also think that it is important for us as a community to have great arguments towards our positions as it can further help us to garner more support among the individuals in our society. We understand that it will be arduous process to convince people to get out of their cognitive bias that stems from the ageism indoctrination. We must also try our best to avoid the logical fallacies against those that are trying to debate against us about these topics because we want to put ourselves at a higher intellectual pedestal than the ageist individuals. My whole purpose for starting up this conversation was an experience that just happened to me recently today. While I was playing Roblox on my computer, someone in a Roblox game though that I was advocating for the full abolition of age restrictions within our society because they noticed that my Roblox username was YouthLiberation. I tried to explain the reasons as to why I chose that username, and I also explained to him about my reasoning for the maintenance of current age of consent laws. Once I had explained that position of mines on the age of consent, this person said that he was relatively fine with my answer but he still upholded his opinion about the username "YouthLiberation" being a dogwhistle for MAP(abbreviation). Overall, as a community, we have to be tactical and cautious about the way we express our opinions on the concept of youth liberation. We must ensure that our opponents aren't trying to strawman us and baiitng us into a circle that would seemingly be inescapable. I understand that there has been a lot of talk about topics like this very recently within this community, but I felt that it was necessary for me to inevitably explain my general opinion on this controversial subject within human society. I am also curious about the responses that people would have towards this subject, and I hope that you guys have enjoyed a nice day.

another day on reddit, another instance of adultism spotted

Language and legalities dehumanize the youth who are in the minor classification, but not kids anymore. By referring to a 10-17yo as a "child", the person who does it is demoting tweens and teens to a category they don't belong in. Plus, the legalities are incongruent at best. Example: in my 🇪🇸, you can be criminally responsible at 14 but not vote/drive until 18. Old enough to be treated like a criminal, too widdle to drive even a motorbike or decide your country's leadership. Just wanted to do some catharsis on the weirded out world that turns into hell for those who are not considered adults, but ain't kids anymore.

I cannot stand being told what to do and what time to do it by an MP3 file.

I cannot stand being told what to wear, even though it retails a whole lot more than anything else I own.

I cannot stand not being able to communicate with the outside world because they want me to "play outside"!!!!1!11!!

I cannot stand about teachers yapping on about "duty of care" even though they are pretty much strangers.

And I absolutely will not stand being treated the same.

I am autistic, and the system does not make any sort of reasonable adjustments whatsoever, and yet act so shocked when I underperform in certain departments.

The system needs reform, if not a complete overhaul. This is not the country I grew up to believe in. Us Aussies know better!

Edit: Before you ask, no I will not go to a special ed school, or move schools in general. I know many people who go to different schools throughout Melbourne, I used to go to a different one. The grass is not greener.

Please protest for youth rights in your own communities! Please call/email your legislators asking them to abolish the voting age and give youth legal autonomy!

What would affect the age restrictions, such as drinking, driving, consent, and other things?

No one here (well, most people) endorses unethical relationships for youth. That does not mean however that those uncomfortable discussions are magical exceptions to youth liberation. We're not taking half-measures, we have to go all the way.

Personally I think the education system is THE number 1 issue and the most important before all the others. But the ultimate goal should be total liberation, and maybe liberation from the state at that. Youth Liberation (and the rights of all) cannot flourish under government.