That the age of consent should be raised to eighteen

[SEsofty]

Currently the law requires children to be in some form of education until they are eighteen. The law prohibits under eighteens buying alcohol because they are not mature enough to handle it.

And yet at sixteen can legally become a parent. Not developed enough to drink and yet can make the most life changing decision.

The vast majority of sexual encounters don’t result in a pregnancy but it is always a possibility.

In order to be logically internally coherent about when as a society we think that children become adults surely the age of consent should be raised. So Aibu to think that the age of consent should be raised to eighteen

I think it should depend on the age of the other person.

Tbh they also need to sort out schools that teach the minimum sex Ed and lean towards abstinence only sex ed. These are often the ones with the highest rates of pregnancy as the children lack the basic education they need to protect themselves.

The population of the Netherlands is about a quarter of that of the UK, so whilst their teen pregnancy stats might be lower they are certainly not nearly as low as comparisons earlier in the thread suggest.

Actually, I would flip this round and change the law so that compulsory education and the purchasing of alcohol was reduced to the minimum age of 16.

Well having a baby used to mean getting a council house, but now that has gone perhaps that has reduced rates.

Plenty of European countries have a consent age of 14 or 15, yet have a much lower rate of teenage pregnancy than the U.K. Interestingly the U.K has a higher contraceptive usage than most of those countries. To me this shows that teens in the U.K are far more sexually active than other European countries and that is what we should be looking at and working out why and what if anything needs to be done about it.

More complex than that gin

I think 15 is a better age of concent as it decriminalises 15 year olds having sex with similar age teens and is more liked to be abided by by the majority of people. I think the 18 age in positions of trust is a useful addition. There is no point criminalising 15 year olds for an act that is national.

"hormones rage way before 16"

That has nothing to do with the age of consent though does it? Otherwise it would be 11 or 12.

"Plenty of European countries have a consent age of 14 or 15, yet have a much lower rate of teenage pregnancy than the U.K."

I think in many of those countries, teenagers are supervised by their parents, required to be home at certain times, not allowed to loiter etc.
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2009/03/condoms_or_family_meals.html

" sort out schools that teach the minimum sex Ed and lean towards abstinence only sex ed. These are often the ones with the highest rates of pregnancy as the children lack the basic education they need to protect themselves."

Do you have any stats for this for the UK because I really, really doubt it.
I can believe it's true for the US. I don't know if any schools in the UK really teach abstinence, but I know that religious schools are allowed to tailor their sex ed classes. I'd be surprised to learn that the highest teenage pregnancy rates are in faith schools rather than all types of schools in deprived areas.

"I think it should depend on the age of the other person."

I think it does already to the extent that the police won't get involved when the youngsters are of similar age.

UK you can get married at 16. Drive a moped at 16. Drive a car at 18. 17/18 can join army , buy a house. .People of very young ages have access to Internet for good and bad reasons. Who is going to police this ? I assume some parents provide information and schools provide education. No I don't agree with raise 18

"Alcohol is bad for you (sex isn’t) "

Both can be positive or negative.

Having a law that no-one, including the police and prosecutors, take seriously would just undermine the rule of law.

I agree, I think it is a better message to young people. Then you are having sex “early” at 16-17 not 14-15.

14-15 year olds are not prosecuted now. I don’t think anyone should have sex at this age.

I don't understand and don't like the current trend for infantilising teenagers. 16 year olds are not children. I left school and home at 16 having gained enough qualifications for university. I moved into a shared flat and started my degree. The idea that I wouldn't have been allowed to have consensual, mutual, pleasurable sex because it was against the law would have been absurd.
Also remember that (where I am in Scotland, people are allowed to vote, get married and join the armed forces at 16 so criminalising them getting laid seems more than a bit puritanical, pointless and po-faced.

I think they need to lower the voting / adult age from 18 to 16, personally. This might encourage parents and schools to encourage their kids to behave more responsibly.

Holland's legal age is 16 so it shows the raising legal age alone with no other changes won't have any bearing.

I hadn't realised they had raised it, it used to be 12 or 13, but with some caveats so two 14 year olds would be legal but a 25 year old and a 14 year old would not.

Japan has an age of consent of 13 and I think South Korea is also low, but neither have huge teenage pregnancy rates.

No thank you, DuchyDuke, I don’t think schoolies are ready to vote. If they must then no postal votes (which should in any event not be available to everyone but that’s another issue) so that at least we can be sure it is them voting and not a parent.

Duchy - I think voting age is 16 in Scotland for many things and being mooted in Wales for assembly and local elections. If there's a second EU referendum, there'll be lots of pressure for it to be lowered then too.

The possibility for postal votes being dictated by stronger people in the household is an issue not just for 16-18 year olds.

@Andrewofgg - Lots of over 18s in households also have pressure applied to vote a specific way. Growing up all friends were told who to vote for by their parents. Most have kept that initial choice going.

Raising the age of consent is not going to stop underages have sex, not even make them think twice about it. Instead of raising the age, why not do what pp said, give more sex education classes and teach under 16s what it means to have unprotected sex, unwanted pregnancies and stds and stis. The age limit didn't stop me and still wouldn't have if it was 18. Thinking that raising the age of censent will stop underage sex is an unrealistic view. And at the if of 13-14 onwards they are not children anymore, they are young adults who are capable of making their own decisions and choices, help them understand their choices instead of making them feel bad about it.

I agree DuchyDuke which is why I want to restrict postal voting as it sued to be: medics, police officers (as all police leave is cancelled on election day) and similar groups. At least if they have to go to the polling station they can if they choose vote for Party A and tell the family that they voted for Party B.

And don't get me started on the idea of electronic voting. You might as well do away with the secret ballot altogether.