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[–] 13 points 6 months ago (8 children)

It's infantilising to call teenagers "children" though, like "girl" or "teen" works, but "child" makes it sound like they're prepubescent

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  • [+] 11 points 6 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    I guess it's just a terminology debate now, but I feel like infantilising language such as calling teenagers children implicitly contributes to the erasure of teen autonomy and rights, allowing parents who may not have their best interests at heart to override their preferences/consent for life altering decisions

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  • [+] 7 points 6 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    a) young person especially between infancy and puberty

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/child

    A child (pl. children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty,[1][2] or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty.[3]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child

    A person between birth and puberty.

    https://www.thefreedictionary.com/child

    A child is a young person who's typically older than a baby but younger than a teen.

    https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/child

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Just skipping right over that "b" part of the definition I see.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Op said that teenagers are by definition children, not that they are by a definition children.

    Sure, you can use the term more broadly, no sense to deny that. I suppose that my argument is that then most common understanding of the word would be to use 'children' to describe a prepubescent person.

    You are not wrong to point at me tough:

    In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, in this case as a person younger than the local age of majority (there are exceptions such as, for example, the consumption and purchase of alcoholic beverages even after said age of majority[6]), regardless of their physical, mental and sexual development as biological adults.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child

    I personally think it is mudding the waters to use a legal definition without making this clear. 'Trump raped a child' evokes a different idea than 'Trump raped a teenager'. Than again, in this specific case both definitions of child would very likely be true.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Than again, in this specific case both definitions of child would very likely be true.

    And one word covers both accurately, and doesnt make up combinations of words to make it sound like they are an adult like this post calls out.

    This is not a statement about refining language for hyper-specific contexts. This is about "Trumped raped not adults". Thats a child. Its perfectly appropriate here.

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