To think the age of consent needs to be increased to protect children from predators? (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

Well I don't think raising the age of consent will have much effect.

30 years of teaching teens, and I think a lot of people would be shocked and probably saddened at what age many of them are sexually active. Many of them are under 16.

Raising it to 18 won't make a difference.

But would any change deal with creepy old men? A lot of recent well publicised cases have been less about people underage, but more about no consent given at all.

The UK already has one of the highest ages of consent. It’s also important to remember that the law is not just about sex. Consent also refers to having the right to consent to medical procedures.

Any change of legislation must have a reasonable chance of being enforceable which could well lead to other legislative problems.

There’s always a cut off, calling it arbitrary is ridiculous. By the same logic it’s no different being 13 then because it’s only a few years.
Bringing it in line with other legal definitions of adulthood is actually far from arbitrary.

I’ve felt this since I was 16 myself!

Only because of some arbitrary law. In terms of maturity, there’s very little difference between 16, 17 and 18. Not for girls anyway. Maybe a bigger difference for boys.

But a 17 and 18 year old should be able to have sex with each other, and a bit of nuance with a 16 and 18 year old - who may both be at 6th form college (fine) or one at uni/work and the other in Y11 (not so fine), so there’s the difficulty.

The trouble is, although they may not be mentally mature, a 16 year old is physically an adult.

I was going to clubs and bars when I was 16 and getting chatted up by older men. They wouldn’t have had a clue that I was only 16, and there’s no way that I would have told them.

Bloody hell 16 was impossible to police. 18 is crazy. If I'd tried to stop DS having sex until he was 18, one or other of us would be dead.

The close the consent proposal is one I support, and the sooner we have such a law in place the better.

Where did I say that? I was just pointing out that it isn’t always a question of men setting out to groom teenage girls. When I was in my teens, many girls looked much older than they were and were the ones pursuing men several years older, who often had no idea of their real age. Of course that wasnt always the case, but it happened then and Im sure still does now, although probably not to the same extent.

Totally agree. No one aged 16/17 should be having sex with someone 18 or above. Thats a minor and adult. Totally unacceptable.

That comment knocked me for six to be honest. A few posters posted something similar on the 29 year old dating a child thread the other week. It's really worrying.

I think there definitely need to be some changes to protect young people from predatory men. A change to the age of consent (with some sort of 'Romeo and Juliette' clause) would at least send a clear signal that it's not OK for a man in his 30s/40s to sleep with school children and just shrug it off as 'she was 16, what's the problem'. And make it easier for parents to challenge these men, and for the youngsters to hold them to account if/when they realise they were being taken advantage of.

I also think there should be rules around a presumption of lack of consent when there is a very clear imbalance of power in relationships with younger people- eg. where one is a celebrity and also when one is in a position of power in the workplace. With a requirement for workplaces (including in entertainment) to take steps to protect younger employees and to record/investigate complaints. It's not just in entertainment. I have an acquaintance who's 16 year old daughter got a part time job in hospitality, working for a large national company. Her manager (in his 40s) befriended her and encouraged her to stay with him in the hotel after shifts etc. My acquaintance was basically told by police and the company that he'd done nothing wrong as she was 16. This was very recent, not some 90s story where we can all pretend 'it was a different time'.

I agree, the age of consent should match the age of majority, which is 18.

Ok so a fully grown adult male should accept the advances of a 16 year old girl because she’s chasing him and of course he can’t resist?

The age of consent is fine but the law should change to ensure 16-17 year olds can only sleep with people under 18. Currently this is the case in situations with an obvious power imbalance e.g teacher/student but it should be a blanket rule.

💀

Nailed it!

100% agree, and I have said this before. There was a thread on here recently about man of 29 who was dating a 17 year old girl. Truly and utterly grim ...

You get the 'yeah but yeah but - 40+ years ago, it was commonplace for a man in his mid-late 20s or even his 30s to date and marry a 16-17 year old girl lalalalala...'

First of all, no it wasn't 'commonplace,' it just wasn't as frowned upon then. Then again a LOT of things weren't frowned upon then that are now, so that is a ludicrous comparison!

A neighbour of ours (when I was a child) used to get her daughter to light her cigarettes for her. The girl was 9 years old! Also, someone else I knew let her DC drink whisky and sherry at about 10-11 years old. I have loads of other examples....

The apologists for predatory men knock me sick, truly.

I was asking you why you think he didnt think these things. Yes, my personal belief is that those are the thoughts processes he should have had, but I was asking you what you thought might have gone through his head. Sorry if I wasnt clear.
And yes, i've considered that they might be in love. Its completely irrelevant to whether what he did was right or not. Love doesnt make bad behaviour okay, does it.

I bet Harry thought all his birthdays had come at once when he pulled Caroline 😉

You have stated what you think his thoughts should have been, which to be frank are none of your business. Have you considered that they might be in love?

It’s equally creepy and predatory when genders have been reversed, I was simply responding to the previously ‘my 30 year old friend is far from a perv with his teenage girlfriend who’s still at school’ comments.

Or a 32-year old Caroline Flack with a 17-year old Harry Styles either

Because it’s almost as though a year away from statutory rape might just about be legal but it is still creepy as fuck.