To wonder why the age of consent is different in different countries?

[ahhhhhpushit]

What do people think about this?

I've always wondered why some countries have it so different to others - with ranges from 12 to 21 (essentially the whole of puberty).

See here:

www.avert.org/age-of-consent.htm

Some interesting ones -

Bulgaria 14
Egypt 18
Nigeria 13
Spain 13

Interesting that quite a few countries have different ages for girls and boys (with girls usually 2-3 years younger).

What factors do you think come into play? Do you think there is a right age. Have we got it wrong?

My opinion is that is should be 18. A friend from another contry made me laugh once by saying it is funny how in the UK you can be old enough to have a child with your MP but not old enough to vote for them.

Thought provoking!

Hazie Would you agree with lowering the things I mentioned above to 16?

If you are mature enough for sex you are mature enough for those things too?

I know sucks, suprising isnt it! Spain!

Hmm, voting I would lower to the age of 16, alcohol probably not because of the binge drinking culture in this country, if we had a healthier attitude to alcohol I would support lowering the limit. Smoking I definitely wouldn't lower to 16, in fact if I had my way it would be banned altogether but my view is perhaps a tad extreme.

different people have different values

just because its different, doesnt mean its wrong

Neither human biology or psychology are constant the world over, how could they possibly be?

Age of consent is usually based on historical norms rather than any up to date measure.

unreasonableannie but that is exactly what I cannot get my head around!

If I posed it to you like this - do you think it is wrong to sleep with a 13 year old? Surely SURELY you have to answer no!! But you have just said it isn't!

Sorry unreasonable Reaslied I didnt give you a chance to answer the Q. I second guessed your answer. Sorry.

Menus traction= menstruation oops, flipping iPhone!

i would like to add that i know women who were married under 16, one at 13, one at 14/15, and they are both now in their 40s and perfectly happy, have totaly normal lives and grandkids they are able to spend a lot of time with.

they also had choices about being married. one of them has told me how she rejected people before marrying her husband.

the point is that at the age of 13, most women have sexual desire. however in the west we dont have the sense of responsibility or matureness to deal with a sexual relationship, and we are also at risk of harm from sexual relationships, we might think we are all cool and desirable and grown up when we are 14 and have a 23 tyear old boyfriend, but really we are being exploited.

In societies where sex outside of marriage is not accepted, women realise that part of having a sexual relationship is being in a committed relationship, and the chance of conception, and expect these things when entering a sexual relationship, and ensure through marriage that they have rights.

obviously there are many men who abuse within a marriage etc, but this happens in all cultures.

Voting age should be lowered to 16 IMO and army join up increased to 21.

Obviously above I meant you would have to answer yes to the Q is it wrong to sleep with a 13 year old!!!

i think 16 year old should be able to vote.

at 17 i was working fulltime, paid tax, ni and all the rest...but couldn't vote.

I think it is quite good that the age of alcohol consumption (given as a nation we are not all great at controlling intake) is higher than the age of sexual consent. I do think cultural issues influence consent age more than anything and menstruation probably did play an important part (eg still in many countries you can be promised in marriage from a young age but only married when menstruation has commenced).

16 I think is quite a good age for consent (I would certainly not want it lower, maybe higher as it ensuring both parties are more emotionally mature and that females are confident with demanding/purchasing protection and that males are confident with purchasing barrier contraception). I do think voting age should be lowered (I think it is weird that we are now in a position for instance when 16-17 year olds maybe signing up to a tens of thousands of pounds of debt for tuition fees but not be in a position to vote for the people who brought in these fees).

Def up army joining age.

Another common law you should be aware of - especially if you plan on meeting lots of women and men on holiday, or want to have a holiday romance - is the sexual legal age of consent, which is only thirteen. However, seduction through deception is illegal if the victim is under the age of sixteen. If you meet someone, and want to get together, make sure they are old enough. If you're unsure in any way, err on the side of caution. Sometimes, young girls or boys can look older than you think, so it's important to be careful, conscious, and, above all, responsible. Also, you should know that it is illegal for someone to pay for sex with a person under the age of eighteen. These laws apply for heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.

unreasonableannie, I do hope you haven't taken the username as a comment on my post. If so, may I make it clear that I did not say and absolutely did not mean to imply that different is necessarily worse. Nor, for that matter, better. Just different. For all sorts of reasons.

If my comment about "should speak English" got your goat, that wasn't actually meant to be serious!

To add more stats: age of consent 15 in Sweden and Denmark, 16 in Norway and Finland.

In Sweden at least there is a close in age exception, so a 15yo who sleeps with his 14yo girlfriend (or vice versa) would probably not be considered as having broken the law.

I think alcohol should be viewed in a different light because of the purely physical difference in the effects of alcohol on a young body (just like you can't prescribe certain drugs to under-16's); it's not just about behaving sensibly; alcohol actually causes more harm to a developing body.

It's 12 in the vatican state!!!!!!

Cream I saw that but wasnt sure if it actually meant the vatican

If so, then, well, what does that tell you...

I was astonished at the disparity. The idea that a 12 YO can consent to sexual relations in the Vatican City was astonishing, yet, in Italy which surrounds the VC it is 14.
When I was pregnant with DD, I was considered ancient. The other customers at the hospital started around 13. It was very sad, but culturally acceptable.

Beaten to it by Creamola.

Yes it means the vatican.

Agree with you

Also many of the countries with 13 age limits are (or traditionally were heavily catholic).

I've never looked to see if that was just co-incidence or not though?

More than a bit worrying isnt it....

It's all for economic reasons. The age of consent really is about what age a girl can be married. In poorer countries, it's younger usually.

I dont think it should be raised to 18 as that seems very old. I was engaged and living together at that age and DH was 19 when we married. We were also both in forces at 17 and 18, lots of my friends who joined up with me were only 16,17,18