What should the legal age of having sex be?

Poll

What should the legal age of sex be set at?

username47781

20

With people maturing at different ages what should the legal age of sex be set at?

So what you all reckon.

Reply 1

pumpkin7

13

16 is probably right.

most people at that age are mature enough to 'do it', whilst taking all the nessessary precautions.

saying that, there are a hell of a lot of 16 pregnant girls out there.. so who knows?

16 seems fine.

Carl1982

With people maturing at different ages what should the legal age of sex be set at?

Under 16

16

18

21

An age where the vast majority of that age group can make informed decisions based on more than simply social pressure.

It totally depends on the culture but 16 is already pretty young in the UK, although I don't reckon there's a need for it to be raised. However, it's easy to think you're all mature when you're young. With hinsight, I think most people agree that it's really once you've made the mistakes, been hurt, that you realise that maybe 16 is young. I reckon it's only until you're about 18 or 19, out of the whole high school mentality that you start making informed decisions.

Before experimenting with sex, you should really understand relationships and people first. The number of people I know who were sexual with the first person they ever went out with is pretty scary... There's so much to learn before that. It seems that these people learn about relationships and love after experimenting with sex. Makes it all a bit worthless...

Whether making mistakes and regretting them, should be seen as something inevitable is also another debate.

Reply 4

Chubbs06

16 is fine not too low or high no1 really protests about it so why change it

Reply 5

banksy

1

If the wicket got grass, let's play cricket.

Reply 6

*starry_eyed_*

14

i think it should stay at 16. if it was made higher, noone would take notice, think of the number of people who have underage sex as it is!

Reply 7

Ella_belle

1

IMO, the age of consent laws are like the drinking age laws - those who don't want to follow them can break them without too much fuss, but they are still there to protect the vulnerable. OK, you do get the odd case of parents prosecuting an underage daughter's boyfriend, but on the whole I don't think many underage sexually active teenagers end up in prison. However, in cases of seduction of a girl that is under 16 by an older man, it may be a good idea to have a law that states point blank that she was too young to consent.

Therefore I think the age should be kept at 16.

18

OP

banksy

If the wicket got grass, let's play cricket.

i guess he don't care what the age is

Reply 10

la fille danse

17

16 to have sex with any age (over 16)

Under 16, it should be legal to have sex with someone within 2ish years of your age.

Reply 11

tomtheone

2

18, because, well I dont know about other countries but, in Britain there are generally more immature 16 year olds as years pass. Just think what happens if immaturity and sex are mixed. You get a lot of teenage mothers who are unfit to care for a child.

Reply 12

Talya

16

I think you should have to take a mature-ness exam every year and once you pass, you can then have sex.

With anyone else who has passed said exam, of course.

Reply 13

pumpkin7

13

Talya

I think you should have to take a mature-ness exam every year and once you pass, you can then have sex.

With anyone else who has passed said exam, of course.

haha.. thats silly. :p:

Reply 14

la fille danse

17

tomtheone

You get a lot of teenage mothers who are unfit to care for a child.

You get a lot more teenage mothers unfit to care for a child when you put them in jail for having sex.

Reply 15

rockthecasbah

2

Keep it at 16.
If you change it below, people will complain that it's encouraging teenagers to have sex when they aren't mature enough.
If you change it above, they will then complain that they are just going to rebel and do it anyway, when they aren't mature enough.
So what we can conclude from this? Teenagers have sex. And rebel. Simple.

Reply 16

fatboy06

1

I think it's stupid that legally you can't go out and have a pint with your friends until you're 18, but you can go and make a much graver decision at 16.

Reply 17

thegreatstupendo

2

I think it would not be unreasonable to lower the age, but only to 15, or 14 at the very lowest. If this happens there should be an upper age limit on the older partner (generally male) to prevent abuse of young girls by older men. You could say that it was an offence of a man more than 3 years (to pluck a number from thin air) older than a girl to have sex with her if she was under 16 or 18 or whatever age was felt appropriate.

Reply 18

tomtheone

2

fatboy06

I think it's stupid that legally you can't go out and have a pint with your friends until you're 18, but you can go and make a much graver decision at 16.

::Claps in a very aplausable manner:: That's a good point to make, shame a lot of other people dont see it the same way.

Reply 19

supernova2

11

fatboy06

I think it's stupid that legally you can't go out and have a pint with your friends until you're 18, but you can go and make a much graver decision at 16.

very good point!

I think cigarettes should be raised to 18, they have no decent purpose at all. Why cant they raise the age to 17, whats with the 16, 18, 21 boundries?

edit: crap I got beaten by someone :frown:

What should the legal age of having sex be?

What should the legal age of sex be set at?

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