OK, let's say that 17 is fine. What about just a year younger? Maybe only 6 months? As a society(well, mostly), it was decided to draw it at 18. Where do YOU draw the line?
I don't draw it at age, I draw it at coercion. If someone is pressuring someone else into uploading nakes pics that's bad, age would just be an aggravating factor in the badness when deciding how much to punish.
While the idea of a six year old uploading naked pics makes me extremely uncomfortable I think that's a parenting issue (something has probably gone very wrong and that's what needs fixing, not the symptom of posting online), not something to be governed at the payment processor level.
Well really, I think it's the responsibility of the parents. In an ideal world, a parent can decide when their child is mentally ready to engage in an industry like that, and can also decide where the line is safe (teases? partial nudity? full softcore? hardcore? intense BDSM?)
The reality of course though is that not every child has a responsible parent, and many children have parents who would happily exploit their children to make a couple thousand extra dollars (which really sucks, but it's also just how the world is). So as a general legal policy, putting the burden on parents may lead to substantially more harm of children.
In my theoretical system, I would implement a testing process that determines if a person is mentally competent to make legal, financial, contractual and overall life decisions. The courts in the U.S. already do this under specific circumstances and can give a child limited recognition as an adult and that is determined entirely by a judge. I would just take it a step further and have a certification that would be noted on a state ID card rather than depending on specific legal circumstances. Generalizing a persons capabilities to make such decisions by biological age is problematic. Some people are not ready to make life altering decisions at their states/regions age of majority whereas some people are prepared to make such decisions sooner than others. This would not be perfect, but probably more scientific of a process than basing a decision on biological age. Who creates the test? Likely a panel of clinical psychologists, biologists, lawyers. Who administers the test? Schools for free, some job sites paid by employer, lawyers for a fee.
So what happens if a person never passes the test at any point in their life?
Good question. Perhaps a more in-depth analysis of the person would be required to understand why they are not passing the test.
What happens when X or Y minority group claims the test is biased against them?
This is an existing pattern and I would defer to the legal system to mirror the existing processes. This pattern is replete throughout all intersections of society and government.
Also your claim is that an intelligent person who could perform well on an examination wouldn't also make risky sexual decisions when they are young?
I never said intelligent. I said "if a person is mentally competent to make legal, financial, contractual and overall life decisions". These things are not directly tied to intelligence alone and intelligence can be interpreted to mean many different things. The test would be written and reviewed yearly by clinical psychologists, biologists and lawyers. The current process for this that already exists depends entirely on a judge which is just a more experienced lawyer and a single persons judgement call that may be biased by their personal beliefs. I believe my suggestion would be a vast improvement over the existing system and would make it easier for kids put into precarious situations to move forward in life rather than sitting in emergency foster care at the mercy of strangers if they don't actually require it.
I personally know of a few people including a close friend that went through this process. She was declared an adult at age 14 and was appointed guardianship over her brother as the legal guardian with full custody. She handled this perfectly but all of this was the decision of a single judge. This is of course not the same as legally being at the age of majority/consent. In my method, there would be certifications for different aspects of responsibility much like endorsements for a car or aircraft license. These would be endorsements on their state ID.
