Should the age of consent be raised to 18

[mids2019]

I have never really thought deeply about consent laws in England until my daughter's reached their teenage years and to my (maybe old) mind 16 seems too young for consent. I know the age is probably chosen woman at arbitrarily to balance protection against the reality of teenagers and young people engaging in sexual contact but to my mind it seems strange that a 35 year old male would be quite rightly criminalized for having sex with a 15 year old but that protection suddenly stops at 16.

At 16 in the way of the law you are a child so what protections are offered for 16-18 year old girls in this regard. There are laws about sexual exploitation but are they sufficnet? To my mind the 16 figure is planting an idea of maturity in some young people that some simply don't have. I know children get plenty of sex education but it you still have the age of 16 for legal consent then does this give a kind of legitimacy for older men to hit on under 18 year olds?

decrimilisation

It’s not realistic to expect 16, 17yrs olds not to want relationships or sex. The decision around what age the law should allow, to me needs to be an an objective basis around capacity to make decision. The decision shouldn’t be about what other people feel comfortable with and setting terms of when it is or not ok, removing agency from teens old enough to make decisions for themselves.

in terms of rolling consent, for example someone said 12 months gap at 16- so it’s ok for a 16 yr old to have sex with any 17yr old but not a with and 18yr/19yr old they fall in love with.

And I’m going to say, I think that it’s thinking of sex without concern for love that makes younger girls vulnerable to being exploited.

Sadly there is child sexual exploitation out there and I think we as a society have become a lot more aware of this in recent years and the law needs to catch up. Arguments for young girls having agency does leave an unsettling feeling with me.....It is an argument that leads to exploitation in my humble opinion.

No I don’t think it should be raised at all, it’s part of teenage exploration etc. Maybe they aren’t mature etc but it’s going to happen law or no law. I don’t think raising the age will have any benefits apart from more teenagers breaking the law.

I do however think there should be something in place that criminalises the gap in age so teens aren’t exploited by older people. Such as many are saying it’s illegal to have sex with someone under the age of 18/21 etc if you are over that age

Well we used to have social and moral norms largely from religion that people would generally try to follow, ie that sex was for marriage or at least for serious committed partners. Then the rule book got ripped up and along came the concept of having sex with anyone so long as you consent… and by doing so taught young girls not that love doesn’t matter and that sex doesn’t matter, it’s expendable, recreational. Along with a whole host of negative influences, in the media. And I think it’s lead to young girls being more easily exploited.
its not the law that needs changing it’s the social framework that needs changing.

I agree that what we need to do is teach young people to value themselves more. I come from a country that is generally liberal about sex, teaches sex education starting very early and does it very comprehensively. At school, we were not taught 'save it until you're married' - but we did talk about valuing ourselves, seeing sex as something that was part of a commitment to another person. The result is an age of consent similar to that in the UK, but a considerably higher average age of first intercourse, and a lower teenage pregnancy rate. None of this is difficult to do. The government's plan to teach young people about healthy masculinity is a good start.

Raise it too high and people aren't going to obey it. Realistically raising the age to 18 is just going to turn a large number of 16-17 year olds into criminals.

I think sex will not and shouldn't be criminalized for young people with young people but isn't it worth sending a signal that as a society we do view these people as children and therefore to e then some protection from predators and coercion in kaw? I also feel if pregnancy results the burden of child reading cost will lie in the state so we all have a stake in this.

Yes, but on the other hand, in Victorian times and later, it was common for 16 yo girls to marry men in their 30s and 40s as part of the social norms, so it's not all good.

I don't think it should be raised . Many children are through puberty at 12 or 13 and can't ignore their own sexual feelings for another 5 years.
I do think young people should be encouraged to say no to sex unless they are certain that they want an intimate connection with the other person, and to talk about what is going on with their peers and trusted older family. They should not be encouraged to think themselves as having no agency until they reach 18. It's not a sudden jump but a process.

I’m quite shocked at the comments on here. I went to an all girls grammar school ( now one of the top in the country) and amongst my friends first time sex was usually around 15. We grew up to go to university and have professional careers, mainly happy marriages. No one could have stopped us, we would always have found a way and I have happy memories of my teenage sex life. There is a constant move to restrict young people these days when parents seem oblivious to the fact that at 18 they will be leaving to go to uni anyway and need to have learned from experience how the world works. There is very little we can protect our children from, and we harm them immensely by trying to.

I started having sex at 15, with my boyfriend who was 17. I then had a relationship with a man 11 years older than me. It was all consensual and fine, only finished when I went off travelling. I then met my to-be husband for 23 years. I’m now back with the guy I was with decades ago. I’m 54 now and he is 65.
I have a daughter and would have trusted her to make the right decisions at 16. She’s 27 now and been with her partner 4 years. My son (21) has been with his girlfriend a couple of years - currently if travelling in Asia. He knows all about consent.
I would have been having sex at 15 regard less of the law as would all of my friends.

I seem to remember a few years ago that 16y4m was the typical age for losing your virginity ..... and I think that is fine for those who want with fellow teenagers....

So like a previous poster I agree with the more european idea of something along these lines....

So if there were to be a change, I’d prefer it to be kept at 16 but made illegal to have sex with someone under 18 if you are 21 or older.

I'd raise the age limit to 18 in line with being a legal adult and have provisions for same age partners but make it illegal for an adult to have sex with anyone under the age of 18.

This would give girls in particular greater protection especially from older men.
There are too many men in their thirties targeting naive teenage girls.

Aren't 16 year olds getting the vote?

Hopefully not, most teenagers are clueless about politics and easily swayed by manipulative organisations.