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

Teens under 18 will still find a way to have sex even if the law did change. They’re led by their hormones and legality won’t affect that.
Teen pregnancy is the lowest it’s been in decades, but agree sex ed in schools should be better - perhaps more about the emotional aspect of sex and respecting each other, the importance of consent etc, why porn isn’t like real sex, rather than just scaring them into using condoms.

So on one hand you want to reduce the voting age (because then they will vote for your preference) then on the other hand restrict how they vote by banning postal voting (in case they don't vote for who you want).

If you want 16 year olds to vote you have to move with the times and open up voting options not reduce them. Some 16 yo's may not be arsed to actually get up and walk to a voting station - they want to vote with a click.

YABU

Its not exactly stopped teenage pregnancy in the US has it?

I've worked in UK schools (nice Home Counties good /outstanding) where 6th formers complained they got only one lesson in 5 years on sex ed, plus a bit in Biology. They estimated 10% of the girls had been pregnant and half of those had had babies, in some cases because they didn't know about abortion.

Agreed

I agree

LifeBeginsAtGin If that was meant for me, then No, I don't want to reduce the voting age. But if must happen, we should at least be sure these immature schoolies are voting for their own choice, however foolish and immaturely, and that we are not just giving someone else anther vote.

If you want 16 year olds to vote you have to move with the times and open up voting options not reduce them. Some 16 yo's may not be arsed to actually get up and walk to a voting station - they want to vote with a click.

I don't want 16 yo's to vote, but whether it's at 16 or at 18, they need to grasp that there are some things you can't do with a click, you have to get off your backside and do it for real.

Come to think of it, this thread began with the age at which it should be legal to do something which most certainly cannot be done with a click

Older teen want to have sex. And why on earth shouldn't they?

As others have said...education, education, education. If you raise the age of consent, it will achieve literally nothing. You'll just be criminalising a personal choice...a choice most 15/16/17 year olds are perfectly equipped to make.

Andrewifgg some people on here would say the boy should be in the dock even if the girl is older, like in the USA people always see the male as being in the wrong no mater what.

There was on the news in my husbands home state were a 17 year old got pregent by a 13 year old and the number of people that thought he should be arrested for statutory rape because she is too young to consent is insane.

Even here on mumsent a few months ago i remeber a thread were a OP 14 year old got pregent by her 12 year old boyfriend and the numerous people suggested why the police were not involved because he was a dirty rapist because she was under 16 so could not consent to sex never mind that infact going by the law she was guilty of the greater offence of sexual assualt of a child but no he should of been tried for rape since the age of consent is 16 so the males are the criminals if they have sex before then even if the girl is years older,

I think it would make more practical sense to keep it at 16 but make it illegal to have sex with anyone under 18 unless you are of similar age (within 2 years). So only adults (18-20+) having sex with teenagers are criminalised.

There reasoning was the girl was going to be punished by having the child and the boy should be punished by the law so they both have "consequences" just that his would of been by far the worst branded a rapist/sex offender for life yet the older one and thus more capluble "punishment" would of been having to look after there own child....

I am always amazed by just how detached many MNer are from the reality of teenage life. I was raised in a terrible strict family where I wasn’t even allowed to wear make up until I was 18. I went to a convent school where we had zero sex ed until sixth form and that was basically ‘if you have sex before marriage you’ll get AIDs and die so don’t’. I still lost my virginity at 14 and my year alone had two teen pregnancies.

It’s just staggeringly unrealistic to assume that teenagers aren’t going to experiment, aren’t having sexual feelings and aren’t forming relationships. The focus should be on empowering them to say “no” if they aren’t comfortable, to talk to their parents, and to make sure they are safe and protected from pregnancy/STIs.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Dutch attitudes to sex and teenage pregnancy and I'm seeing them on this thread.

Yes, there is a stigma to it. It isn't for the reasons you might think, though - nothing to do with Christian morality, for instance, except for that portion of Holland which is called the Bible Belt. Where, coincidentally, teenage pregnancy rates are higher.

The stigma comes from young people themselves. If you get pregnant as a teenager, you're thought of as a loser - because contraception is readily available and terminations before 12 weeks are not hard to get. And having a baby that young is seen as you blowing your chances at a good education, a good life, a good income. There's no morality shaming, just the pragmatic view that is isn't smart to make life difficult for yourself.

Sex education really is great in the Netherlands - but the culture of openness is the driver of that, and we don't have that in the UK. Which is sad, because it has also fostered the lowest abortion rate in the EU.

What a ridiculous idea. YABU.

I think it should be changed to protect 16 year olds having sex with 50 year olds. If they were raped, they have to prove it was not consented. If the law changed, they'd be prosecuted anyway.

I don't believe it's right that a 50 year old can pick up a school child from school (16) and have sex with them and that's fine in the eyes of the law.

It wouldn't be to stop underage teenagers from having sex. But I think it would protect CHILDREN (16 and 17) from being in a vulnerable situation.

Gwenhwyfar, Sweden has 15 as the age of consent, has a much lower teenage pregnancy rate, and I can categorically tell you that it is not the custom to prevent teenagers from being out and about. Far from it.

The difference is in aspiration. Large number of Swedish teens still believe that whatever their educational attainments or parental background they have a chance of achieving a decent quality of life with a certain amount of fun thrown in. They expect to be able to live in decent accommodation, have access to the countryside and travel the world even on unskilled wages because that's how the country works. They don't want to throw that away by not wearing a condom.

Dd and ds, growing up in a WC/lower MC area and close to one of the poorer parts of our southern English city, both had several classmates who became parents at a very young age. One girl was having her third child by the time dd left Sixth Form. This is not because there was no sex education at school: they had the same sex education as dd and ds, who were both very knowledgeable on the subject. The teachers did their honest best.

It is about aspirations, expectations, parental expectations, what-is-the-point.

I completely agree with you. It's crazy that the law considers it ok for someone who is still a child to be sexually active and a parent.

The stigma comes from young people themselves. If you get pregnant as a teenager, you're thought of as a loser - because contraception is readily available and terminations before 12 weeks are not hard to get. And having a baby that young is seen as you blowing your chances at a good education, a good life, a good income. There's no morality shaming, just the pragmatic view that is isn't smart to make life difficult for yourself.

THIS is precisely what I'm talking about.

And it was the same 40 years ago. My friends at school were all sexually active in the 70s, but the only girl we ever heard of getting pregnant was the daughter of the Baptist minister during a gap year to the US. We all felt those two factors were probably pretty relevant.

While I would obviously like the age of consent to be raised to 25 in my most unreasonable moments (45 when I am at my most unreasonable) .....And the voting age. And insist on a license for those who wish to use email. And other wholly unreasonable views. .... I think 16 is about right.

I agree, maybe some kids whose parents aren't able to talk to them or PHSE might not get through to some, but the majority would go with it.
If you take the opportunity away as well, educate them on the difference between hormones as a teen and the love between a couple of adults, they won't want sex under age.

Agreed I'm 42 now lost my virginity at 14, but I honestly was clueless in how to say no. I was frozen, never got much better until now I'm an adult. I was not having sex at 14 because I was horny it was because I was in a situation I didn't know how to cope with until I was 18. I think it helps to come from a loving supportive home too, my self esteem was so low I didn't value myself enough.

I had sex at 14 because I wanted to. And my self esteem was good then and fantastic now.

" the only girl we ever heard of getting pregnant was the daughter of the Baptist minister during a gap year to the US. We all felt those two factors were probably pretty relevant."

This is not relevant now though is it?

"It is about aspirations, expectations, parental expectations, what-is-the-point."

Cory, yes, I accept that and that's why most teenage births happen in deprived communities where becoming a mother is sometimes the only option girls can see for themselves and can actually be a logical choice.

When I was growing up I thought becoming a single mother would have been a complete disaster - I wanted to go to uni and have a career. I never did have a career and I do sometimes wonder if I'd been any worse off leaving school at 16 as I'd be able to do the kind of job I do now anyway.
It really wouldn't be ideal for the baby though.

"I think it would make more practical sense to keep it at 16 but make it illegal to have sex with anyone under 18 unless you are of similar age (within 2 years). So only adults (18-20+) having sex with teenagers are criminalised."

But this is how it would work in reality anyway. 19 year olds wouldn't be prosecuted.