To consent or not

[Space cat]

So a certain Professor Ashton (whom I'd never heard of until two days ago) has suggested we lower the age of consent to fifteen. And so the topic was all over The Wright Stuff on Monday - with almost everybody being against.

Well I did a quick bit of digging around and discovered that in most of Europe it's either fourteen or fifteen, being generally lower the further south you go - a fact that might surprise many of my generation. Spain is lowest at thirteen. Anybody like to comment?

 

[AronSearle]

13 for any couples both under 16.

15 for any couples both under 18.

16+ anything goes.

 

[joe-90]

I'd rather leave it as it is, but with a sliding scale of 'illegalness' the closer to 16 the girl gets.

If Spain is 13 - does that mean holidaymakers can have sex with kids?

 

[conny]

Personally I think it should be raised to 21

Parents and schools are trying to make our children grow up far too quickly without letting them enjoy their childhood. We now have 7 and 8 year olds wearing skimpy attire and wearing make up when they go to a school/play club disco! Where is their innocence? Why aren't they encouraged to do more sport/outdoor activities instead of trying to keep up with the latest 'pop' stars?
Kids of 8 or 9 know more about sex than I did when I was 16! You only have to turn on the TV or open a newspaper and its being thrust down their throats, even to the point of showing homosexuality on the likes of Coronation St and East Enders at about 7.30. I know a number of gay people who I regard as friends and even they are appalled that this is being screened so early.

Lowering the age will just encourage more paedophiles to strike at even younger children. No child can make a well balanced decision about sex until they are mature enough to know, and understand,all the pit-falls such as pregnancy, diseases and repercussions.

I would like to know how the people advocating lowering the age of consent would react if their 13 year old daughter came home and said she was pregnant or their son complained of having a rash on his manhood.

Let them be kids for as long as possible. Life is hard enough as an adult without being forced into it before you are ready.

 

[joe-90]

You only have to turn on the TV or open a newspaper and its being thrust down their throats,

I reckon I've seen that film. I wonder what happened to Bambi Woods?

 

[JBR]

I haven't voted because I think it's rather academic. Young people will bang each other at whatever age they feel like, regardless of what the law says.

 

[Nige F]

Personally I think it should be raised to 21


I would like to know how the people advocating lowering the age of consent would react if their son complained of having a rash on his manhood.

.

On his boyhood @ that age

 

[AronSearle]

I haven't voted because I think it's rather academic. Young people will bang each other at whatever age they feel like, regardless of what the law says.

Stupid.

This isn't about stopping them having sex.

This is about criminalising it for people of a certain age, and putting them on the sex offenders register, got to keep those CRB admin people in jobs!

 

[JBR]

I haven't voted because I think it's rather academic. Young people will bang each other at whatever age they feel like, regardless of what the law says.

Stupid.

This isn't about stopping them having sex.

This is about criminalising it for people of a certain age, and putting them on the sex offenders register, got to keep those CRB admin people in jobs!

Don't call me stupid. You're stupid. You're as stupid as a stupid person whose middle name is Stupid, stupid.

 

[jockscott]

Aaron is as stupid as a stupid person who studied stupidity, at a school for the educationally sub normal. (and barely scraped through the entrance exam) On second thoughts, he's naturally stupid.

 

[JBR]

 

[sooey]

You only have to turn on the TV or open a newspaper and its being thrust down their throats,

I reckon I've seen that film.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

 

[joe-90]

Don't we all love Bambi Woods?

 

[pred]

I've not got a problem with children of a similar age being sexualy active but draw the line with them being abused by older men..

 

[AndrewDavie]

When I was a teen, the rule (not law) was half your age plus 7 years.
So 14s together is fine.
18s with 16 is fine.

It avoids all the changing boundary conditions when kid turns 18, but gf/bf is under that.

Though personally I'd rather just license it. Make sex-ed an exam. Then you know that the person has the knowledge enough to be responsible for their actions.
You wouldn't give a gun or a car that can destroy lives to someone incompetent, so why should we let incompetent people create lives?
Solves the 'she said she was 16!' problem. Just card each other.
Also may avoid being pressured in the moment to have unwanted sex 'sorry, I can't, I've not passed the test yet'.