What Should The Age Of Consent Be?

Question

What should the age of consent to sex be and when should it be legal for people to have sex without someone risking getting a punishment? #AgeOfConsent #Sex #AgeLimit

In Norway the age of consent for sex is 16, while beer, driving lincense, voting etc. are 18. Wine is 20. You can be sent to prison if you breaks the law and are 15 years old.

In some countries the age of consent is 16 like in Norway, while other countries have numbers like 17, 18, 14 and 12. Some even can't consent to sex if they're not married.

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/age-of-consent-by-country/

My opinion:
I think the age of consent by law should be 18, although people should be recommended to wait with sex until they're 20 in the sex education. It's because of maturity differences. Sex have consequences like STDs, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, regrets and mental traumas. A child may be traumatized by bad sex, while an adult may just be disappointed on average - if the sex is consensual.

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

Given that I was 16 and my girlfriend was 15 at the time we lost our virginity to one another, I guess that consistency dictates that I say 15 or 16. Although that is not ideal in terms of some of the long term social implications, it seems like a fair compromise.

Frankly, the data are clear at the social level that early sex can have some bad implications. Unwanted pregnancies. The potential for abuse. The list goes on.

That said, by about 15, males and females are sexually mature and their needs are real. It is too lax to shrug and say it needs to be that age because they will break the law in any case. In fact, the law should set some standard rooted in prudence and social need.

However, criminalizing takes that too far and therefore the age of consent needs to reflect the biological and evolutionary imperatives of sexually mature males and females. Punishing the boy or girl is disproportionate.

Rather, where pregnancy becomes the issue, pressure should be put on the boy and girl to stay together, get an education and raise their child. Support should be put in place that is both psychological and financial.

One of the great ironies of teen pregnancy. The data are clear. Most teen pregnancies don't end well. The relationships collapse. The girl is abandoned. The child's prospects in life are dimmed. However, where the teen parents stay together and raise their baby as loving parents, the data show that they turn out - generally - to be stunningly good parents. Loving, nurturing, protective. Teen parents are not generally good, but the good teen parents are exceptionally good.

So rather than criminalizing, in effect, the conduct ex post facto - which is where it ends up - the age of consent ought be adapted to the biological imperatives of the human male and female, other societal pressures be brought to bear to discourage teen sex, and then support mechanisms be put in place to make teen parents the best parents they can be. It is not ideal, but it is a fair compromise.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Its 16 in the uk and thats a bad place to put it.

The thing to understand about it is that its entirely abitrary and a necessary evil.

One size will never fit all so no matter where you put it it will be in the wrong place, but you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

I put a vote down on 14+ because the simple fact is that there is no shortage of sexually active 14 year olds and I dont think its reasonable to put someone in prison charged with rape for engaging in what is essentially consentual sex, i think that is the most disgusting miscarriage of justice.

But 16 is probably the best balance between the 2 sides of the argument but the reason i lean towards 14 is because when you make it illegal it doesn't stop 14 - 16 year olds from being involved with older people it just ensures that they become involved with the worst kinds of older people.

Older than 16 is starting to get silly and 20+ is just some seriously delusional most likely religiously driven fantasy world.

People who support the older limits are people who dont understand the question, they are people who think they are being asked at what point would they like other people to do X that isn't it at all, its none of your fucking business what someone else chooses to do.
What you are being asked is does this person understand whether or not they want to fuck and I frankly dont think that you have to be that old to know the answer to that and all considerations about whether or not you are going to make good choices etc seems to me to be irrelevant because there are people of all ages making fucking god awful choices as evidenced by the countlessly fucking posts here about relationships, so that just isn't a valid argument, if we enforced that idea everyone would be illegal.

BrittBratt2416 · Accepted Answer

20 and older cause that's that's when you officially an adult in my eyes. Im sorry but if your age still ends in "teen" then you are still a teenager regardless of what society or the laws say. I feel like some of our age of consent laws are pretty much teetering on the statutory rape and sexualizing kids/minors yet you guys want to freak out about the pedos when some our states say it's okay for a 16 year old go off with 20 or 40 year old man are you serious? And because of these shady age of content laws, America and other Americans have a lot of nerve looking at other countries who are marrying off little girls yet you're okay with a 16 year old messing around with old ass men cause the law says it fine... are you serious?

And best believe some of these sickos take advantage of that law so they can creep on your teenager daughters and make it easier to manipulate these girls. America is hypocritical them damn selves and pretty much borderline pedophilic especially in America when we now have teens/little kids playing in some movies that aren't even age appropriate for them to be acting in. But just wait, you get what you asked, cause sooner or later some of these disgusting/perverted are going to push for the age of consent laws to be even lower than 16 cause 16 and up isn't cutting it for a lot perverts.. their gonna want to be 12, 8, 6 and probably 2 years old. But keep pushing for it- you'll regret. And before anyone tries to call me out, yes i did date and older man when i was 18- dumb choice cause i was was to young for him and because of our age differences- we were on two totally different paths. This is why it's best to let kids and teenagers grow up cause half the time they don't know who they are or what they want yet. Leave the innocence of kids alone.

sageevalentinee · Accepted Answer

I think I am fine with how it is now. In England it is 16, and I think it makes sense.

The age 16 is only for pregnancy purposes and for child protection. So we don't have 14 year olds getting pregnant, and so we don't have relationships between 15 year olds and 20 year olds. Because there is something not quite right about that, until a few years later.

I think that people will have sex when they want to. And it's their choice. If it was a wrong choice, they will realise after and will feel punished for it. Changing the age of consent won't make kids think any differently about sex. You'll always have some who do it at 13 and some who do it at 16 and some at 20. It's up to the individual really, and there's not much you can really do about it.

Sex education should be better though, and parents should quit with their useless sex talks and talk about something more meaningful. My parents were never awkward when they talked to me about sex and weren't afraid to give me advice. I decided that I only want to have sex in a relationship. And that's my choice.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

I believe that the age of consent generally should be 18, but it should be 16 if the other partner is not more than 2 years older than the younger partner.

MzAsh · Answer

I think it should be no sooner than 18.

Ogopogo · Answer

Driving an automobile is probably the most profound responsibility an ordinary person will ever experience. More so even that fighting in war or raising a child. Why? Because once you are driving you have many lives, including children's lives, in your hands. Countless other people's loved ones hang in the balance every time you get behind the wheel. One stupid decision or moment of distraction, along with the right combination of bad luck and unfortunate timing, can end a car full of human lives. This happens almost every day.

If you are old enough to drive, you are old enough to make your own decisions and to be treated like an adult.

In truth the age at which we bestow this responsibility is 15, but since 16 is an easier argument to make, and the traditions we attach to an age have power, I would argue that the age of 16 should be established as an across-the-board rite of passage, with the age of 15 functioning as a year of preparation for these responsibilities. During this time one should receive in-depth sex education, including a measured and balanced unit on consent, exploitation, abuse, and psychological wellness. Students who feel uneasy about taking all this on at once, or who feel emotionally too young for these responsibilities, should be permitted to opt out officially from the proceedings until a later age, and a culture of respect for this decision should be worked into the sex ed regime.

SomeGuyCalledTom · Answer

16+ here in the UK, seems fair enough, as most 16 year olds-- while not "fully developed" adults-- are quite capable of determining whether or not they give consent to sexual activity.

I actually feel a bit like age of consent is the wrong metric to focus on. "Quality of consent" is a better metric, because a 40 year old man using subtle emotional manipulation to get a 16 year old girl to "give consent" for sex... is arguably not the same quality of consent as a 16 year old girl who just decides she's ready to lose her virginity with her boyfriend.

But quality of consent, so far as I know, has no legal precedent or objective criteria for assessment. And it could be abused too, as any girl could retroactively regret a hookup, and as a result say she was raped because her consent was "low quality consent". So I don't know how this could ever actually be enshrined in law without being opened to exploitation.

But trying to control teenage sexuality with purely legal parameters is a red herring, because really the onus should be on sex educators, and the broader culture into which teenagers are raised. We all have a responsibility to be critical of the kind of culture we contribute to in our actions. If a 14 year old girl watches her mum whore around with other men when daddy's off at work, then she's likely to internalise a warped view of sex. And as a result, is privy in her young age to be taken advantage of-- goaded into giving sexual consent without full awareness of what she's really signing up for. The age of consent laws won't mean shit to her, because she's already learned to internalise a specific view of sexual behavior and sexual ethics. And her view of consent cannot be extricated from that broader framework of "what sex means to me".

vtoz7053 · Answer

12. reality. as a "child" i worked, i paid bills, took care of my handycaped mother. i have meet "children" who are more responsible than most adults. i have met "adults" who throw tantrums play video games all day and can't pay their bills. its up to the individual. i have no right to tell Anyone else what they can or can not do with their own bodies. as long as they have the education and know what they a doing fully, let them. "STDs" is bull one can get them in a public toilet, going to the job etc, and "pregnancy" CONDOMES. and "lost childhood" bull , 99% of everything on earth n in the universe wants to kill you, do the math and figure out how much time one actually has to enjoy life, minus work, sleep, disshes etc, not much and we are going to hinder others more bye saying when they can have sex? wow. we do not have time, the earth is dying, humans will be all dead if things keep up the way they are, childhood is just an illusion, and at the cost to the whole species. a 15 could develop a cure for all cancers etc.

Daniela1982 · Answer

I think the age should be at least old enough so that the person can have sex responsibly. That way there will not be over a million teen pregnancies each year. Also I think at 18, because kids have more important things to think about than having sex. Maybe more of them will graduate instead of dropping out to have a kid or two. After that happens their prospects for any good career goes out the window with the condoms they didn't use.

purplepoppy · Answer

Unless its a child molester age of consent laws are rarely enforced. Here in uk it's 16 but you rarely hear of a 16 year old being prosecuted for having sex with girl 15. Perhaps a better option is to make large age gap sex illegal so the police can concentrate on paedophiles rather than teens who are just doing what teens have always done

ragequeen · Answer

Who the hell voted for 12+? This forum disgusts me.

laurieluvsit · Answer

18 is a good age with the following exceptions

1) A course in sexually transmitted diseases & how to prevent them is successfully completed

2) A course in birth control methods is successfully completed

3) A course in sexual techniques and orientations is successfully completed

4) A course in how to not be manipulated into doing something that you don't want to do is successfully completed

5) A permit would then be issued after all courses were successfully completed to any age exceeding puberty which would expire on their 18th birthday when they won't need it anymore.

Current US age of consent...

devilman666 · Answer

If we listen to the media then age of consent for boys will be 12. As we all know, men can't be raped because they always want sex.

www.blackburncenter.org/.../Boys-Can-Be-Raped-Too-How-the-Media’s-Coverage-of-Teacher-Student-Sexual-Assault-Scandals-Hurts-Boys

Honestly I guess I'd say 18 is fine, but I wouldn't be against changing it to 21, I'm just unsure which would be better and would like to see some statistics if they are available.

yofuknutz · Answer

Don't we have enough people in jail as it is you can add what's called criminal intents if two people love each other that's not Criminal Intent if they lust after each other that's not Criminal Intent if the older person is a sexual predator there you go and there are ways to diagnosis this type of criminal Behavior besides a lot of kids at this age are looking to do something I know when I was at that age I had a karate sparring partner and she was a tomboy and even with that we were both interested in each other there also needs to be a Romeo and Juliet law mandatory

EpicDweeb · Answer

I don't think there should be an age of consent. Rather there should be some form of liscencing system. In other words, if you pass some form of test, you can qualify for sexual eligibility. The thing about sex is that it's a matter of maturity, not age. While it's rare for anyone under the age of 18 to be that mature, it does happen, and likewise there are plenty of people who remain too immature to be having sex well into their 30s.

Robertcw · Answer

I believe we should value the biology of puburty, and sex as a biological function. Therefore, I believe the age of consent should begin at puburty, or a short buffer of years after puburty, such as 2-3 years, to allow for sex exucation to take place -- because I know some girls know nothing about it at the time of their first period, and may actually be traumatized and freaked out by the bleeding.

Some girls I met on Tinder have told me stories about their first periods. Very heartwarming. None the less, we should respect our biology and our physical design.

andreasderjuengere · Answer

No matter which age is pronounced 'legal' - individual development always will not match here or there. I know of people who are/were very responsible at the age of 14 already. And others were 'helpless cases' still in their early 20's.
Your question aims at sexual activity? : to not 'allow' something will not prevent that it happens.
My concern would be that an individual is not exploited, harmed or abused; or brought into a situation that negatively affects his/her future.
Unfortunately, a mere law will only deal with the 'results', but will not provide 'safety'.
I believe that parents, teachers, and (positive) 'influencers' bear the main load of guiding young people into a... 'good start' of adult life.

Clo917 · Answer

Who the fuck voted for 12? That's sick.

I think 18+. That's when you're an adult, hopefully more mature/responsible and well informed about birth control. A lot of younger teens end up regretting doing things later on too.

GuidoThePizzaMaker · Answer

I was 16 when I lost my virginity
I was totally not ready to handle having sex with a woman. And taking on the emotional responsibilities that comes with it.
We should have waited until we were both 18. But sex seems so amazing as a teen you push for it.

I think 21 is the idea age to have sex.

DeviloftheValleys · Answer

Age of consent laws don't hinder people of the same age from having sex. I read somewhere that almost half of uk teenagers have their debut before 16, which is the aoc. The law is to stop adults taking advantage of children.

In that sense, i think 16 is a good limit. 15 like we have in Sweden is fine, and the countries which have 17 or 18 are also fine. I don't really care that much, as ideally age should not factor in - only mental maturity.

In my perfect world, kids should start school not at a certain age, but a certain maturity. Grades should not be a year long, but rather half a year, and different age limits should be measured by which grade you are in.

Biologirl · Answer

Hard to say. Some people are ready at age 13 and can engage in sexual activities without their minds and bodies being damaged others reach the age 20 and still want to wait.
It would be great if all the people just learned to respect other's boundaries and decisions. Too many of my friends were talked into starting their sexual lives before they themselves made the decision, and it damaged them forever, no matter if they were 12 or 20.

Anonymous · Answer

Whoever chose 12 and 14 are sick in the head. A child with a child's brain cannot fully comprehend what they are getting into when they "consent" to sex, and they are unable to handle the potential consequences of it.

I chose 18+, though many people this age are still extremely immature and irresponsible as well, they are legal adults and are usually fully aware of what they're getting into and what the potential consequences are, and can usually handle those.

Dinklex3 · Answer

Why am I not surprised that majority of the guys said 16?
Lol.
I'd say 18-21.
Just because 18-19 are still children to me.
Thinking of grown men having sex with 16 year old kids and getting pregnant breaks my heart.

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