How Old Is 15 Really?

            Ever since the advent of the infamous “Chappelle’s Show” I’ve been a huge fan of Dave’s material. In one of his standup specials For What It’s Worth, Dave includes a segment talking about the R. Kelly sex scandal- there was a videotape that had allegedly showed R. Kelly engaging in sex and urinating on a 15-year-old girl. Of course this is nothing to be joked about, and though Dave does include this information in his standup, the message and comical essence to it all involves a much bigger picture. Dave isn’t debating the innocence or guiltiness of R. Kelly, but instead delves into the matter of age borders, and moreover the haziness between them. For those of you that want a more detailed synopsis of the segment, watch the video below- it’s both hilarious and also thought provoking.

            As you may have seen, Dave provides individual accounts of four children, or young adults as some may look at it. The first of which you’ve already been told about- the 15-year-old-girl involved in the aforementioned scandal. Then Dave asks us the question that he deems the most crucial point to be raised amongst all of this- “How old is 15 really?” To elaborate on his intent, Dave introduces to us another teenager- 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart. Elizabeth was kidnapped and held captive for 6 months. While all of this is happening, enter subject #3: an unnamed African American 7-year-old girl who was also kidnapped during this time in Philadelphia. Despite their age, another difference between these two unfortunate girls is their amount of time held captive. While her captives held Elizabeth for 6 months, the 7-year-old escaped and made it home in the same day. Here, Dave begins to subtly introduce us to the ambiguity of age borders. When it comes to comparing a young child in elementary school versus a teenager entering high school, society undoubtedly places a border between them. For instance, the most obvious, society expects more out of the teenager and less out of the younger child. If a young child makes a mistake, it is considered venial, whereas the teenager should have known better. Before I go any further, it’s important to note that Dave isn’t poking fun at Elizabeth for getting kidnapped- as he says “that could happened to anybody.” However, what he is pointing out is the irony of the younger girl proving more adaptive and daring than her older counterpart (especially noting that Elizabeth wasn’t restrained, when the younger girl was, and she was also relatively close to her home). He shows us that these stories don’t coincide with the borders society places between two age groups. This comparison is only the beginning of a very blurred border.

            Next, Dave tells us the story of  a 15-year-old African American boy. One day, he was with his neighbor and was practicing wrestling moves he saw on TV. While doing so, the boy accidentally breaks the neighbor’s neck and kills him. Consequentially, the boy was sentenced to life in prison. This is the biggest discrepancy of them all. In Elizabeth Smart’s case, they treated her as an innocent, naïve teenager (even though a girl much younger than her was put in a similar predicament and got away), but for this boy, he was treated as an adult.

            The take home point here is that age borders lack clarity and distinction. How can we see one fifteen year old with youthful innocence, and yet see another with hardened malice? This incongruity gives rise to such an unclear border. Society has falsely attributed these borders by inherently underestimating the capabilities of a 7-year-old and also overestimating the intentions of a 15-year-old. The lacking consistency of these borders creates much confusion as to how to treat people of certain ages, and to what expectations to hold them. If we’re going to have age borders, they need to be clearly defined, and most importantly consistent, or else there is no border at all.

            As an ending note, I hope this did not come off as cruel or insensitive, as that was not my intention by any means. I just found this segment interesting as it brings up a border with some holes in it.