This is an odd direction to take it. The entire thread of conversation has been premised around the unspoken law of &#x27;you are an adult when you feel like an adult&#x27;, and we debate under what conditions that feeling will truly settle in.<p>Since its self determined, someone can be quadriplegic, and feel like an adult; then they&#x27;d explain to <i>us</i> why they do.<p>It&#x27;s not up to us to determine if they are.<p>Someone could be in the same situation and feel infantilized by the fact they can&#x27;t feed themselves, despite being successful in every other aspect of their life. We could try to tell them they&#x27;re still an adult, but in the end... we can&#x27;t force the sensation of adulthood on them. No one can.<p>The person you are responding to was speaking about themselves, in their own feeling as a woman. Perhaps some women would feel utterly different, but that&#x27;s no reason to take offense. I personally think the original posting of &#x27;being an adult means you are the only person responsible for you&#x27; is western-culturally dependent.<p>In my culture, people will hound you about your behaviors till the end of time so long as you share a last name or a bloodline with them because as far as they are concerned family is responsible for everyone, <i>always</i>. Thus independence has nothing to do with adulthood. Adulthood, is rather the capacity to give more to the family than you take away from it.