Apologies if there is already a thread dealing with this - I've looked but couldn't find anything.
I listened to Women's Hour earlier where "Alice" (the woman who was allegedly raped by Russell Brand at the age of 16) was being interviewed.
At the time, she was in a "relationship" with him - she was 16, he was 31. She was talking about the power imbalance, how she didn't have the tools to advocate for herself or really understand what was happening to her.
Now, obviously, forced oral sex is rape and is illegal.
What I'm wondering about is whether a consentual sexual relationship (which "Alice" thought she was in with Brand up until the rape) between a 31 and a 16 year old should be legal.
The ages of 16 and 17 are not seen as being an adult in the eyes of the law, yet the age of consent laws mean that a much older adult can have consentual sex with a 16 or 17 year old child.
Seeing conversations on here about age gap relationships where the youngest person is 16 or 17, there is disapproval and distaste expressed - so it's frowned upon but it's not illegal.
I come from a generation where at the age of 16, I had friends in relationships with adults in their late 20s and no one batted an eyelid, but I think it was (to use a cliche) "different times". Childline was founded when I was in my mid teens and before that, in my personal experience, people didn't really talk about child abuse much - it existed of course, but was swept under the carpet. Over the years I have seen a massive shift in how the nuances and power balances in this type of age gap relationship are discussed.
Now I have a 17 year old DD I see things VERY differently to how I did when I was younger. I think a lot of us do.
The reason I'm wondering about a "staggered" age of consent is that it is normal and healthy for 16 year olds to be having sexual relationships with people within their peer group - but wondering if there is a way to safeguard from predatory older people.