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The Age of Consent – Pro’s and Con’s

The Age of Consent – Pro’s and Con’s

In the UK we are all familiar with the law that states people under the age of 16 cannot consent to having sex. It’s enshrined in law and, for the most part, obeyed. Parents across the UK make decisions daily not to allow their teenager’s partner to stay over unless both are over 16. But why does this law exist? Isn’t a bit arbitrary to stick an age on a legal document and expect people to obey it blindly? Quite possibly, but there are other points to consider too.

What is ‘consent’?

It means that a person is saying ‘yes’ to having sex. That’s it. It means that no-one is coerced into sex, no-one is being forced into it, instead it means that both people are happy with whatever is taking place. It’s not something that’s set in stone for the whole sexual experience either. You can consent to one thing and not another, you can consent to sex and then change your mind halfway through, or any other point. You’re not locked into the concept at all.

Why is there a legal age of consent?

It’s the age that the law has decided that teenagers are mature enough to make their own decisions. It’s designed to prevent children and those in their early teens from being abused by older people. If it’s illegal to have sex under the age of 16, then you can potentially be prosecuted if you don’t obey the law. But the big question is, does it actually work??

What’s the point?

In the UK the age of consent is 16, in other countries it’s both higher and lower. But it doesn’t really matter what the age is, there are still thousands of teenagers who are sexually exploited by adults every year – it’s a problem on a massive scale and having legal constraints in place doesn’t stop coercion from going on, especially by older males to young teenagers. They bribe children to carry out various sexual acts, regardless of the law because they know that prosecution is extremely unlikely. People are mainly going to be convicted if the police know for a fact that underage sex has taken place – if it’s happening on a large scale then people are probably going to get away with it.

Can laws be improved by understanding?

Possibly. By highlighting the law, making more people aware, it’s more likely to be invoked than if people don’t know about it. And awareness means that it’s going to be reported more and therefore expose more sexual predators.

Statutory rape.

That’s the offence that people face by having underage sex. It basically means that it’s considered as rape in law, even if the act itself was consensual. Again, it’s there as a deterrent rather than a punishment.

Teen psychology.

One of the main problems with having an age of consent is that teenagers very often don’t respect it, and why should they? If they are physically and emotionally ready to have sexual intercourse, then what has the law got to do with anything? And it’s easy to see that point of view. Plus, we now know that teenager’s brains don’t actually fully mature until the mid-20s, much older than we knew before. So, it can be argued that it affects their decision making if they potentially don’t have a great understanding. Certainly, teens tend to make decisions in the heat of the moment, i.e. situations that involve new experiences, peer pressure and where there’s no time for reflection. So do they need to be protected from themselves? It’s an interesting psychological argument which centres around why teens are particularly vulnerable to being groomed for sexual behaviour. They make snap decisions – do first, think later – which very often plays into predatory hands.

In the UK there are movements to raise the age of consent from 16 to 18, which shows that the law is doing its job. Scaring someone off from sexual coercion/grooming is the aim of this consent law. But, will teenagers in committed relationships respect it? Probably not, is the answer, and if we are totally honest with ourselves, we can see that the consent laws aren’t really made for that situation. If two 14 year olds are in a relationship and they decide they’re ready for the next step, it can be argued that’s largely their decision.

What if we didn’t have an age of consent at all?

That’s dangerous territory and would mean that any adult could have sex with any teenager/child and have no consequences, no matter how inappropriate the relationship. It would effectively put more children and young teens at risk of exploitation, the exact thing that the law protects against. It makes it more likely that they would have sex when they didn’t really want to because they could be coerced into it without the perpetrator having any fear of prosecution.

Ultimately, all we can do is educate young people about their rights, what consent means and how it’s applied. Knowledge is power and if they’re in a situation that they know isn’t right, then they’re far more likely to make a fuss if they know that the law is on their side.

Education about consent should be on a par with education about contraception – both concepts are there for protection. We know that condoms are a staple of sex, understanding and acceptance needs to be just the same.

Stuart Brown
Doctor of Sexual Health at the NHS Royal London Hospital & Relationship Expert. Columnist at britishcondoms.uk. An advocate of safe sex. Avid Arsenal fan.

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