Why is the age of consent so low in many european countries?

[Anonymous]

The age of consent in Austria is 14 years. So that means that any adult can have sex with a 14 years old teenager. I can't understand this. Like wtf.

[nightdrot]

In some cases it is an historical leftover from when lifespans were short. Therefore, in order to increase the population, sex at an early age was fairly normal. It being a case of law conforming to human evolutionary norms.

The irony now is that the age of consent tends to be low because the population of Europe is aging. In general, fertility rates soar when populations are predominantly rural and the economy is relatively poor and primitive. Children are needed to work the fields and take care of their parents as they get older and can no longer work. The more children, the more work that gets done and later the more evenly the burden of caring for elderly parents is distributed.

Then, as an economy industrializes, modernizes and gets wealthier, birthrates tend to drop. As an economy industrializes, there is no need to have children who can help out on the farm, so to speak. The cost of raising children goes up proportionately as the need to educate them to work and live in a more complex and technologically sophisticated economy increases. Moreover, such economies tend to produce welfare states that take care of the needs of the elderly, meaning that children no longer need care for their aging parents.

Europe, as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution is therefore seeing this pattern the earliest. (Italy, in demographic terms, has the second oldest population on Earth. Only Japan - for an unusual variety of local reasons peculiar to itself - has an older population.) This being especially burdensome as Europe has the most extensive welfare states.

As an aside, the modern welfare state depends on a rising birth rate to provide new little taxpayers. The more children in the pipeline, to put it rather inelegantly, the more future workers. This in turn causes higher productivity, which in turn, over the long run, leads to higher economic growth. That, in turn, leads to more tax revenues which pay the benefits of the unemployed and - more importantly - the elderly. The latter of whom disproportionately draw on health benefits, pensions and other very expensive resources.

Put it all together and Europe needs to do what it can to encourage procreation. Indeed, as another example, China too has learned this lesson. It imposed mandatory abortions and is now - literally - facing a shortage of 30 year olds. So it reversed course, only to discover that state imposed abortions are easier to implement that state imposed procreation.

So, in some cases, the various states of Europe are leaving in place older consent laws that were on the books since the pre-industrial era but were never removed. In other cases, see Romania for example, the age has been lowered anew in the hope - and it is frankly little more than a hope since demographics are notoriously hard to move by legal incentives - of encouraging more procreation. This again, given Europe's aging population, having to be started at earlier ages.

[Asker]

As i said i dont have problems with 14 years olds having sex as long as they doing it with someone their age.

[nightdrot]

Well, de facto, that was what you got in pre-modern times. In the current era - as the population ages - it has to be regulated differently and the law has not always caught up with the demographics. Generally, in the West, it has not been a problem - or where it is it has been criminalized. In other parts of the world, it has been something more of an issue and largely been kept in the shadows.

[Kurαȷ]

"So that means that any adult can have sex with a 14 years old teenager."

No, that's not at all what it means.
European ages of consent do not reference the age at which an ADULT can have sex with a minor, they reference the lowest possible age that a MINOR can consent to sex in SOME circumstances.

In this particular case, it refers to minors of ages between 14 and 16.
A person older than 16 can go to jail for having sex with a 14 year old in Austria, if charges are pressed and proved in court.

The US has Romeo and Juliet exceptions, Europe makes the "Romeo and Juliet" ages their official age of consent, with exceptions applying to adults.

That's how it works.

[Asker]

Are you sure? So far I know a 14 years old girl/boy can have sex with an adult in austria while in germany a 14 years person only can have sex with someone who is max 16. Maybe you are mixing up the countries.

[Kurαȷ]

That's not correct, both Austria and Germany have age of consent of 14, with the same exceptions. Adults can have sex with 14 year olds in *both* Germany and Austria, as long as they can defend in court that the 14 year old was mature and there was no wrongdoing on the adult's part (corruption of a minor, position of authority etc). People probably get confused by the fact that once the minor is 16, the adult is free of any wrongdoing, and doesn't need to defend their actions in any circumstance. But, realistically speaking, adults will get charged with corruption of a minor in the vast majority of cases, if the minor is under 16.

[Asker]

In germany 14 years old can have sex with someone who is 16 but not older but in austria a 14 years old can have sex with adults as soon as she/he "mature" enough as you said. I make a little research

[Breanna_nonbinary]

Because they recognize that sexuality starts at an early age. Because of the conservative Christian nature we have here in America we restrict people from doing things that feel good. Or we oppress feelings that are natural.
One other problem with America is parent’s ability to talk openly about sex. They can’t. By not doing so it makes teens irresponsible about the choices they make about sex. In other countries parents talk to their kids about sex and inform them about the consequences of doing so. So at 14 a girl has more knowledge and therefore can make better decisions about sex. When teens aren’t educated like American teens they make bad decisions about sex. That’s why the teen pregnancy rate in America is so high compared to other developed nations.

[Asker]

As i said i have nothing against exploring its sexuality at a young age as soon as they do that with someone in their age

[Breanna_nonbinary]

I speak to a lot of women. I always ask the older ones, “if you could go back and learn about sex from an older person who cared about you and loved you or a guy your own age who was just as ignorant as them at sex and only cared about getting his rocks off, would they?” And they all say they’d rather have someone older because their first experience was so bad. So I’m not saying it’s wrong or right I’m saying learning from someone older and more caring can be beneficial.

[Asker]

But there is a higher risk that you can get abused because of you being naive at that young age

[Breanna_nonbinary]

I agree. Parents should talk to their kids about relationships, how to resolve interpersonal problems, and seeing who is out to abuse them. We worry so much about protecting children’s innocence from the horrors of the world and what we’re actually doing is making them ill prepared for how to deal with how the world works. We protect them by teaching them. Preventing them from making mistakes and dealing with consequences only hurts them when they get pushed out into society.

[Rebecka33]

First of just because someones physically mature doesn't meant hey cognitively are or have the right knowledge on diseases and how to take care of a baby. Older people same thing. Over half of men end up leaving girls under 30 so its important to educate the girl and let her know if she's intimate and gets pregnant who's gonna take care of the children when the guy leaves cause t hff e chances are huge that's gonna end up being the case at that age more then later in life with most girl's.

[MrOracle]

Both of my grandmothers were married at 15, and people getting married at that age was quite common in the WWII era and before. More than half of women would be married before their 19th birthday, and girls being married as young as 13 wasn't super uncommon - early rocker Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old first-cousin.

This seems strange to us today, because society has massively changed starting in the 1960s, with far more people going to school for far longer, and delaying marriage and children, for all of history through the 1950s, young marriages were very, very common.
These laws simply reflect these standards. Heck, the AoC was still 14 in Texas until after the Waco standoff, when they were heavily pressured to raise the AoC.

[Asker]

I have no problem with 14 years olds who have sex with someone their age and not with some adults

[MrOracle]

Yes, but what if that "adult" is 18 or 19? That's actually still quite common even today. The point is: a line has to be drawn somewhere, and it needs to reflect reality, which is that girls have sex by choice at 14 and 15 and 16 - that's incredibly common - and they're most often doing it with someone a few years older. The law can't be relied on to take every individual situation into account - it's up to teens to make good decisions for themselves and for their parents to instill good morals and values into them to guide that decision-making. The law is not and should not be used as the guide to "what's right" - rather, it's more of a guide of "what's REALLY wrong." The space in between the law and "what's right" is a grey area that is going to be different for different people, and that's a reflection of human variation.

[Rebecka33]

Right but a women shouldn't depend on a guy to take care of her. So in todays world without a job most women would be homeless. Also the stay at home m. j e moms were mostly cheated on.

[Rebecka33]

Also women should just be sluts then and cheat on there husbands all the time as well and men should except that.

[Rebecka33]

When the 15 year old has a son with older man the 40 year old should be able then to have sex with her son.

[Rebecka33]

In regards to my last question a 40 year old women should be able to have sex whenever she wants with the 15 year olds son.

[MrOracle]

@Rebecka33 Again, I'm not condoning or justifying 40 year olds sleeping with 14 year olds. As I made clear, that's a bad choice even if it's legal. But it's unreasonable to make everything we think is bad illegal, especially because there's a lot of grey area - such as 18 year olds sleeping with 14 year olds. You keep conflating what is or isn't legal with what is or isn't RIGHT - and it's not the same thing. Laws are (and should be) generally the extreme outside boundaries of morality. The rest is PERSONAL morality and personal judgement based on the facts of the situation. You would not want to live in a world were morals were absolutely enshrined in law - that's called a Police State - and you'd likely end up in a gulag.

[Asker]

I dont care. 18-19 years old kids should be told to not touch any underage boy/girl.

[MrOracle]

So, what happens if the guy is 18 and the girl is 17? They can't have sex because they're a year apart, but that year happens to fall along the boundary? That would never be workable. And how about if both were 17, and were legally having sex (both being underage), and then the guy turns 18 - now they have to break up? Again, unworkable. And that's why the laws are what they are.

[Asker]

Just fucking wait then like you wait to vote, drink etc. You are not going to die for not having sex but one year apart is not such a huge deal

[MrOracle]

Again, you are dealing with horny rebellious teenagers. They aren't going to wait - they never have.

[purplepoppy]

Here in Europe we're free from religious extremists forcing their beliefs on us. I'm surprised the states hasn't started stoning women to death for unwed sex

[Flower7]

That's a good question. I'm not sure what the reason is for the big variation in age of consent among different countries. I agree that 14 seems very young to be with an adult. Europe also has a lower drinking age than the US does.

[ushagomez]

I think it is because we are more in tune with a normal natural rhythms of a mature in bodies. We don’t have such a controlling culture. We also respect each persons ability to make their own choices.

[Asker]

As i said i dont have problems with 14 years olds having sex as long as they doing it with someone their age.

[RunawayGirl]

Ummmmm. Wikipedia?

?

[Potatocream]

Thats Australia not Austria 😂

[purplepoppy]

I bet you're American

[Potatocream]

German 😂

[purplepoppy]

I was referring to runawaygirl for thinking Australia and Austria are the same place

[RunawayGirl]

@purplepoppy I don't think they're the same place, I just happen to be mildly dyslexic and fucked up reading it.

[RunawayGirl]

- It's literally only an A, an L, and 8,828 miles away from Australia.

[CamilaP]

It's 14 here for girls. It just works, nobody has a problem with it. Get over it.

[Asker]

Fuck off then. I just ask a question

[Astarlessnightsky]

Here in germany the age of consent is 14 but only if the partner is not older than 16.
If you are 16 you are only able to legaly consent if the partner is not someone in a higher position, like a teacher eg.

I guess in Austria its the same.

[Asker]

I know it and i think german is better when it comes to that

[SphynxUK]

Just because the age says you can, it doesn’t mean you have to. I don’t know many 14 year olds who want to be sexually active, and/or who’s parents wouldn’t allow it.

[Kaneki05]

Yeah and some places have Rape and Incest legal. So not really the worse thing...

[Bellaco]

Uk 16... its like they are saying its okay to be a pedo

[Mildra]

I know right. I mean, why does age of consent even exist? Stupid concept. It's just as stupid as the rule of law itself.

[Dargil]

Maybe they are hoping to avoid demographic suicide.

[Ravan0143]

Some point of view you are correct. But may be that country situation may help... Because have sex at age of 14 is little strange but they would have thought that the age they know everything so they can judge what is right and what is wrong.


If under 18 doing sex with under 18 they there may be complications... May be the the boy don't know how to have safe sex. ... If he is adult he may take care.

[Asker]

That is why sex education is important. And for you it is ok for an adult woman to have sex with an underage boy?

[magiusX26]

off of very old laws and customs. sone dating back to pre riman empire days

[Capstan]

A 14-year old is fully developed, capable of procreating. They are adults. Why do governments try to suppress and stigmatize them?

[mrgspoter]

Because men are pigs or dogs n treat young girl or a child as one it's not cool, animal.

[mrgspoter]

Your no freak there is a reason but I wouldn't say it here I feel like there is some old men who like to fuck children here so I wouldn't say.

[mrgspoter]

Suppress? your really trying to fuck children buy what your saying there is how it looks to me?

[Rebecka33]

Ok so if the 15 year old girl gets pregnant and has a done when he's 14 he should be able to be with a 54 year old woman double standard. How will the 15 year old girl feel when she's 29 and her son is sleeping with someone old enough to be her mom.

[Silversonic]

There are lots of ways a country can set age of consent. Often it can be traced back to the age when a girl becomes eligible for marriage, usually based on onset of menstruation. A few countries still do that today.

Many countries link age of consent to a stage in education. Others link it to the age when you can take on other responsibilities like voting or working. In a few Islamic countries ALL sex outside marriage is illegal and harshly punished. In Laos, it's illegal for a citizen to have sex with a foreigner.

Seems silly to us, but lots of people would think the USA is silly for having three different ages of consent and allowing polygamy.

[Asker]

As i said i dont have problems with 14 years olds having sex as long as they doing it with someone their age.

[Silversonic]

About half of the world has an age of consent of 14 (most of South America, half of Europe, most of South East Asia, China, bits of Africa and Central America etc). You're entitled to your opinion but these countries decide their own laws for themselves. They don't care what you think.

[Asker]

Yes but we can chamge the word with our opinions

[loveslongnails]

I don't know the laws of each country, but I believe there are some caveats that go along with the lower ages. There is also the "close in age" consent law and exceptions. I agree, it's pretty weird to think that a 14 year old could have consensual sex with a 29 year old, even if the parents allowed it.

[AmeerX]

I like the idea of parental consent at such low age. It is weird but even kings used to be like that

[COMMODOREII]

They do not have the same prudish or effed up ideas when it comes to sex like in the USA or other countries.

[AcidT0y]

Yeah it's fucked up. Should be 21 everywhere.