Talk:Ages of consent in South America

message: It seems that the Avert.org website – used as a source for the age of consent of 16 – has committed a mistake with regard to the Paraguayan age of consent, probably due to a misinterpretation of the text of the law. It is interesting to note that the website doesn’t mention any Paraguayan law nor it provides a link to the legal source.
I believe there is no better source than the text of the law itself. Article 137 of the Paraguayan Penal Code says:
“Artículo 137.- Estupro 1º El hombre que persuadiera a una mujer de catorce a dieciséis años a realizar el coito extramarital, será castigado con pena de multa. 2º Cuando el autor sea menor de dieciocho años se podrá prescindir de la pena.”
which reads:
“Article 137 – Estupro – 1º The man who persuades a woman from 14 to 16 to perform extramarital coitus (sexual intercourse) will be punished with fine. 2º When the defendant is under 18 the penalty may be disconsidered”.
The Avert.org information treated the exception as a rule. The text of the law (see above) says clearly that the fine prescribed by this article applies only to men who engage in sexual intercourse with 14-16 married adolescents. There are no restrictions for sex with single females in this age range (i.e. a single cannot perform extramarital coitus with another single). The article probably was created to protect marriage at this early age. 
Another interesting information is that, according to the Paraguayan Civil Code (see Article 39, clause “b”), the marriageable age in Paraguay is 14 for women and 16 for men, which seems to confirm the text of  Penal Code’s Article 137.  This section of the Civil Code says that “The legal incapacity of minors will cease: ...(b) for gentlemen of 16 and for women of 14 years completed, through marriage, with the limitations established in this Code”.
Therefore, I’m replacing the existing text (based on the Avert.org source) with the previous one (based on an age of consent of 14) adapted for this exception of married adolescents, reintroducing the clause that deals with the age of consent of 16 for homosexual acts (Article 138 of Penal Code), and adding a remark at the end about the Avert.org discrepant information.Paulo Andrade 01:23, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: You might want to come back in a day or two and have a look to see if it needs a copy edit for clarity. It might just be me, but I found it hard to understand what you have written. Avert.org are good in the sense that if you send then an email with a correction and sources, they will generally correct their entry. However there's no way we can cite them as a source on any of our pages, they are not a primary or secondary source. Initially they were just a copy of ageofconsent.com, but have since taken submissions from readers who email them. Not a reliable source at all. Where I see them as an only reference I've been adding a {fact} tag or similar. --Monotonehell 06:26, 26 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There seems to be some cultural misunderstandings here (i.e. lost in translation): a) under 14? You'll go to jail! b) over 14 but under 16? You'll be fined! Traditionally, the word estupro in Paraguay (not in Brazil, where it means plain rape) refers to the cultural practice of the infamous "test of love", the male saying: "If you really love me, you'd have sex with me". There is where the Paraguayan expression "sex with a promise of marriage" comes from, and "extramarital coitus" might had come from and into this law. It is meant to protect virginity (it only applies to women), still an important asset in this society. Note that if the male is under 18 there are no consequences, as a boy at this age cannot reasonable promise marriage to anyone, but an adult can. Aldo L (talk) 15:48, 15 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Age of consent in Paraguay: Avert.org website vs. legal source

message: It makes no sense to divide Latin America in 2 (and in so doing completely ignore Central America which ahs been included nowhere. I have changed the name and moved Mexioc here. North and Soyuth America are geographical entities, Latin America is a cultural entity, thus appropriate, SqueakBox 19:01, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I disagree, using cultural divisions is a lot less accurate than arbitrary geological divisions. Cultural divisions have a lot more political heat behind them and are open to interpretation and heated discussion. Central America is part of South North America in the Seven Continent Model.--Monotonehell 21:26, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. Passing judgement on what are the boundaries of a 'cultural entity' has the potential to be very problematic. I don't see any need for abandoning the standard 7 continent model for a subjective cultural model. Also, Ages of consent in North America now suffers from an inaccurate name, because it excludes Mexico, at the very least. I advocate reverting the name of this article back to Ages of consent in South America, and moving the content about Mexico and Central America into Ages of consent in North America. -kotra 21:18, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Name

message: How come there's no entry for Venezuela? Dick Kimball (talk) 19:07, 28 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Venezuela

message: Now, in Peru the age of consent is 18, not 14.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.41.2.98 (talk) 21:20, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Peru 

message: Half of the countries on the map have the wrong color, especially in Africa. Someone needs to go carefully through Ages of consent in Africa, Ages of consent in Asia, Ages of consent in Europe, Ages of consent in North America and Ages of consent in South America and correct the map. Or better, create a new map, the colors on this map are problematic, as they are barely distinguishable (eg 13, 14 are nearly the same on the map). The map cannot stay any longer in such a state.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.25.174.71 (talk) 10:34, 9 December 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: List of countries by age of consent Guarapiranga (talk) 07:55, 22 October 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Map

message: I removed most of the material (the section was tagged).
*no sources were given
*extremely bad translation/English - nearly impossible to understand in some cases
*most of the laws cited were not about the age of consent anyway; it appears someone went through all sex laws of Colombia and dumped them here 2A02:2F0A:507F:FFFF:0:0:BC19:A331 (talk) 02:12, 28 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Colombia 

message: The image in this article showing age of consents across South America still shows Trinidad and Tobago's age of consent as 16.  However, as the Ages of consent in North America article notes, the age of consent as of 2015 is now 18.  Could somebody please correct the SVG file for South America to show Trinidad and Tobago's age of consent as 18? Sega31098 (talk) 21:04, 17 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Age of consent in Trinidad and Tobago is 18, not 16