Branching off from the Jimmy Savile debate ... is the age of consent in the UK (16) too high?

Kids are sexually mature earlier these days, and it makes criminals of 15-year-olds who have sex by mutual consent with their 15-year-old partners.

The UK has one of the highest rates of unwanted teenage pregnancies in the world. Could this be because 14 and 15 year-olds avoid seeking contraception advice because what they are doing is illegal?

It is 13 in Spain, 14 in Germany and Italy, 15 in France ... maybe it's time for Britain to have a rethink?

That's a very good question and one which I have pondered. It should be noted that it is only just over 100 years ago that the age of consent in the UK was raised to 14 (those Victorians huh?) so the notion that 16 is right would be difficult to defend. As to changing it? No idea.

In the olden days it was the norm to get young girls married off and pregnant as soon as they were able. In many ways, that was what nature intended.

Its virtually impossible to do anything about underage sex these days anyway. Yes, if its rape then its rape, but if the young girl (a mid teen) chose to have sex and "loves" her boyfriend then theres not a damn thing you can do about it. The girl has to be prepared to make a police statement, undergo examinations and even then the lad is usually only given a caution cos the police dont want to get involved

Jo xxx

A 15 yr old with a 15 yr old may possibly be acceptable, but dropping the age limit by a year or whatever is also opening the door a shade further for young girls to be freely exploited by dirty old men.

Not if the age of consent is also tied up with an age difference. I believe that here in Spain the age difference must not be more than 18 months for these youngsters but someone else will probably correct me on that.

Rosemary

that sounds about right

I'm sure there's something in the comment about availability of contraception too


a classmate of my daughter (who was not quite 13 at the time ) 'got carried away' with her so-called boyfriend & was petrified the next morning that she might be pregnant

she confided in my dd who persuaded her to talk to their tutora at school, who then called the mother in

I think that because of the open attitude to sex & contraception at that age here, they weren't afraid to talk to the tutora - & the mother took her daughter to get the morning after pill

as jojo says - hormones will often take over & it hardly matters what the law says - but I think if they'd been in the UK with the law there, they might have been less likely to talk to anyone for fear of getting into trouble

with the law that is, rather than the other kind of trouble

Do you mean like they are freely exploited in France(15), Germany(14), and Spain(13)?

I believe that in the USA (possibly different state-by-state) there has to be an age difference of 5 years for it to be considered statutory rape.

An age difference seems sensible to me. There is a world of difference between a 14 and 16 year old having sex and a 14 and 40 year old.

Glad my two sons are old enough to make their own decisions.

I am very wary of being alone in the company of under 16 boys or girls. Used to enjoy coaching kids playing rugby, but now I would feel uncomfortable just watching from the side lines.

An age difference law would certainly make good sense.

I have no idea to what extent young girls are exploited in those three countries but I would say that at around 15 yrs of age is a time when girls can be most rebellious at home,especially in the UK, and possibly make stupid decisions even though they may consider themselves worldly wise and mature in some respects.

whatever the age, it is a very hard law to enforce and usually only comes to light when a pregnancy or STD is involved(celeb cases aside)

What a "hard" age limit does, is make the teenagers be more careful, more discreet and deter predators.

As Jo said, if they are going to do it, there is not one damned thing you can do about.

Bringing in age difference exceptions only "muddies the waters". Gary Glitter would say the age difference should be 60 years and Mary Whitehouse(is she still alive?) would say 2 seconds... So who do you get to decide what a proper age difference should be?

The laws are in place mostly to protect youngsters from people who take advantage of their youth and should stay unchanged

I am surprised that nobody has commented on this thread about the shooting in Albacete. As I would have thought that it was relevant to this age of consent thread.

Hasn't anyone else seen the news?

2 people killed and another injured, one vicitm is a 13 year old girl who was having a "Consented sentimental relationship" with the killer a 39 year old man.

How disgusting, a man who is nearly 40 and a child, and in this case what a terrible tragic ending.


http://www.eitb.com/es/noticias/soci...aviso-policia/

What a terribly sad story. Would it be less sad if the girl had been 14... 15... 16...?

What a strange question, and the answer is no.

I was just reporting an actual event that happened here in Spain, as it seems to have been overlooked by the posters in the Spain section.

OK, but is it actually relevant to this thread which is about the age of consent?

Are you trying to say it should not have been posted in this thread?

I think "consented sentimental relationship" that is being reported in the article, qualifies it as being relevant. And as the age of consent in Spain is 13 and the victim is 13, I see a link to the thread even if you don't.