# Can a minor look older than 18? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923 "2010-05-10T16:20:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/21 "2010-05-10T17:36:08Z")
I couldn’t honestly vote, because I have no personal examples in recent enough memory to give better than a WAG. However, if I had to vote based on anecdotal evidence I remember hearing, I could either go for 14 or 13, because I hear that _commonly_, or I could go for 12 (or possibly younger), because I have heard that often enough to realize it almost certainly must be at least occaisionally (though very rarely) true. Given that I vaguely recall reading a case of a girl of 9 getting pregnant, it seems intuitively true that it can’t be too many years older than that for at least a tiny but significant number to look 18, given that it is _less_ than 5 years between when most girls first become capable of pregnancy, and they hit 18. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/22 "2010-05-10T17:36:29Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I said 21 in that thread, not 18. > > I can’t believe that anyone is saying that 11 and 12 year olds can look 18. What a crock. The OP said that you said 21. Anyway, I reckon these people are going with very extreme examples. I suppose there is some 11 year old on the planet somewhere who looks 18, but for the most part, I don’t care if you put grown up clothes and make up on a 6th grader, there ain’t no way in hell I’m mistaking the thing for a college freshman. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/23 "2010-05-10T17:37:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I can’t believe that anyone is saying that 11 and 12 year olds can look 18. What a crock. “I can’t believe \*anyone \*has \*ever \*had \*any \*experience or data that in any way contradicts my own. What complete bullshit.” Why don’t you go hang out with **Starving Artist**? I bet you guys get along great these days. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/24 "2010-05-10T17:46:03Z")
I voted 14 (and it looks like I am in the majority) because I was a bartender back in Uni and I was once almost taken in by a guy with a fake ID who looked 18 but was 14. He had more facial hair than I did (or do), and acted old enough. Of course, this was back in the sane days when you could purchase alcoholic beverages at the age of 18. My grandchildren looked a lot older than they were when they were in their mid-teens, but honestly there isn’t a special sign that appears when you make it to 18. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/25 "2010-05-10T17:46:43Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I read it. I doubt the waitress thought you were 21. So, instead, you think the waitress thought giving a minor jello shots was A OKAY? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/26 "2010-05-10T17:47:48Z")
Back when I rotated through peds endocrine, I met a number of patients with precocious puberty (signs of puberty before age 8 in girls and 9 in boys) , and they ended up looking 18 or older by the time they were 11 or so. Very confusing for all involved. Some have finished their growth by the time they’re 10, which usually doesn’t happen until age 18 or later. And frankly with more and more females hitting menarchy at age 10 and 11, there are a significant number of them who look older than your ‘typical’ 18 year old by the time they’re 14 or 15. So, no **Dio** , it’s not a crock. Your experience is not universal. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/27 "2010-05-10T17:48:03Z")
I went to the local Police to get an ID card. The two cops on duty did not even ask for my Birth Cert. I gave them my info with the wrong birth year. No problems using it for ten years. I was 14 when I got it. The cops never blinked when it said I was five years older than I was. Was there just stupid cops in my town or did I look five years older than I was? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Urban_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/28 "2010-05-10T17:53:50Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Not sure what the absolute youngest would be, but I always find it interesting when people say things like “X was 12 but looked 18 and was gorgeous…” Aren’t there any normal or ugly people who look old, or do people just not notice them? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s partly due to the overlap between developmental cues, such as waist to hip ratio and bust size, and sexual attraction. I’m sure memory bias is some part of it however, and as others have said, it’s not always the case. ---
**Author:** ![Heckity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Heckity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heckity)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/29 "2010-05-10T18:10:23Z")
Interesting thread, as I was just thinking yesterday of a portrait my mother had done of me one summer. I was wearing a particular top that I’d worn the week before and it was in wearing that top I began to understand that I wasn’t a kid anymore. It wasn’t at all revealing but it did highlight my features and colouring and without exception made grown men not only pay attention to me, but actually converse with me as an adult and a “female of interest”. I was twelve at the time and only in retrospect can I assure you they were not pedophile types and their conversations were definitely appropriate for an 18 - 21 year-old woman. It felt decidedly icky at the time - but after that summer it was never the same . . . ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/30 "2010-05-10T18:11:36Z")
Well yeah, guys start looking at you the moment you sprout tits. Doesn’t mean they’re mistaking you for an 18 year old. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/31 "2010-05-10T18:14:40Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > So, instead, you think the waitress thought giving a minor jello shots was A OKAY? Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/32 "2010-05-10T18:16:46Z")
> [@Booker57](#): > > I went to the local Police to get an ID card. The two cops on duty did not even ask for my Birth Cert. I gave them my info with the wrong birth year. No problems using it for ten years. I was 14 when I got it. The cops never blinked when it said I was five years older than I was. Was there just stupid cops in my town or did I look five years older than I was? Lazy cops. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/33 "2010-05-10T18:27:28Z")
I teach in a very large school, with students up to age 18 (19 if they have to come back and retake their A levels). There’s no way of knowing all the kids in that school - there are just too many. The ones I don’t know, by and large, it’s impossible for me to tell what year most of them are in. Even in their uniforms, they look mostly older than they are. I voted 13, since I have a boy in my year nine class (aged 13) who is about six foot, broad-shouldered, and sports a rather dashing moustache. He’s not alone. The girls look even older, especially when they’re wearing make up. I also think race/ethnicity can make a difference. The white kids I teach tend to look a lot, lot younger. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/34 "2010-05-10T18:27:55Z")
So is Dio’s position is that anyone who has actually experienced such a situation is delusional? :dubious: Well, so be it, then my own particular delusional episodes involve running into a small number of people – notice, I recognize these are outliers – who are chronologically early adolescents in the low teens (even as low as 12 in one case), who can _physically **look** indistinguishable from **some** _ young adults in their late teens or early 20s … _ **and vice versa** _, as long as you limit yourself to what they \*\*look \*\*like. HOWEVER begin listening to the conversation and observing the actions, and it’s tougher to maintain the fiction. \*\*\*That \*\*\*is why it’s up to you after you pass your own adolescence and become allegedly a responsible adult, to make sure you know who you’re hitting on, not just say “oooh, look, hottie!” and hook up first and ask questions later. \*\*Booker57’s \*\*case OTOH was really lazy cops, even if you do look grown up they’re supposed to do some due dilligence. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/35 "2010-05-10T18:32:58Z")
Well the question here is _can_ they. I suppose it is possible that they can. But _do_ they? Almost always, no. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/36 "2010-05-10T18:33:33Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Of course not. Then what do you think? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/37 "2010-05-10T18:34:51Z")
I think about 11, maybe a few younger than that. There are some HUGE kids, both weight and height, in 6th grade (11 years old or so.) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/38 "2010-05-10T18:36:16Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > Then what do you think? That she gave jello shots to a girl she knew was probably a minor. She probably didn’t think she was as young as 11, but she probably didn’t think she was 21. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/39 "2010-05-10T18:38:09Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > At 14 my husband could grow a full beard, and used to frequently buy beer without getting carded (early 90s). This. I did this a number of times. My wife was 23 when I met her family. Her kid sister was equally beautiful, and I assumed she was just getting into college. Turns out there was more of an age gap than I knew: she was 14 or 15 My first real serious college girlfriend was indistinguishable on stage from the rest of her acapella ensemble (nothing like a chick singing bass, right? Right? Guys?) and I didn’t find out until her birthday that she was on some kind of accelerated Doogie Howser thing and was just turning 16–I’d assumed she was the typical 18-19yr old frosh. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923/40 "2010-05-10T18:39:29Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > HOWEVER begin listening to the conversation and observing the actions, and it’s tougher to maintain the fiction. > > . But how do you tell those youngsters that look older but sound their age from oldsters that look their age but sound young? Or are we to not fuck people of age that sound stupid as well? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-minor-look-older-than-18/538923.md?page=3)