Ok, so I like to use the old philosopy of science joke about the cop who finds a drunk guy on his hands and knees under a street lamp, looking for his car keys. The cop asks where the keys were lost and the drunk says “way down the block.” The cop says “then why are you searching here” and the drunk says “because the light’s better over here.” Waka-waka-waka. I actually love that joke because it applies to so much of what we know about society in general and sexuality in particular.

Earlier I had a cranky post about unseemly sexism in Will Saletan’s article on differential ages of consent in Slate.com. I have kind of a love-hate relationship as a Saletan reader because he finds great information but I’m so often disappointed in his conclusions.

Now I happen also to have posted another cranky missal about how little is known — or at least paid attention to — about sex and gender as we age. In particular I grouse about how often sex and sexuality research has been conducted on college campuses where a) researchers congregate, b) research assistants tend to hang out, c) where it’s assumed the college-aged will be more forthcoming, and, finally, d) where the young people conducting the studies won’t have to think about sex between old wrinkly people in their 80s.

And yet… and yet… a question that’s left unasked might be “what makes anyone think college-age people might be more likely to answer questions about sex than their elders. Well, while the question might be left unasked, we might now glean an answer from Saletan’s not-so-questionable data. (Remember I like his data, I just worry about his analysis.)

So check this out (emphasis mine.)

Consent implies competence, and 12-year-olds don’t really have that. In a forthcoming review of studies, Laurence Steinberg of Temple University observes that at ages 12 to 13, only 11 percent of kids score at an average (50th percentile) adult level on tests of intellectual ability. By ages 14 to 15, the percentage has doubled to 21. By ages 16 to 17, it has doubled again to 42. After that, it levels off.

By that standard, the age of consent should be 16. But competence isn’t just cognitive. It’s emotional, too. Steinberg reports that on tests of psychosocial maturity, kids are much slower to develop. From ages 10 to 21, only one of every four young people scores at an average adult level. By ages 22 to 25, one in three reaches that level. By ages 26 to 30, it’s up to two in three.

Source: Slate.com

Got that? We draw conclusions about gender and sexuality from research conducted under “street lamps” where the light might be better, yes, but also where on averag less than half the research cohort have reached psychosocial maturity! And yet we assume what we learn about ourselves in our street-light-lit aggregate 20s is every bit as true of our 30, 50 or 75 year old selves.

Now here’s the tricky thing. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with people in their teens or 20s. “Emotional maturity” is a biased term so I’m not saying “nothing’s wrong” just to be nice. I mean nothing’s wrong! But! I think making assumptions about what “must” be true about sex and gender in general based on more conveniently collected responses and recollections in our college years might be as incomplete as basing them on grade-school years.

I’m just sayin’