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Should of the age of consent be lowered to 15?

Tomorrow I'll be in my sixth form debate. The motion is 'this house would lower the age of consent to 15 in the UK' - I'm on the proposition.

Any sort of debate or discussion would be really useful!

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Reply 1
To kick start this debate I'd like to put forward the question why does the UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe when our age of consent is marginally higher than the rest of Europe? Britain’s teen pregnancy rate is: twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands. But the age of consent for all these countries is in fact 15. So where has it all gone right for Germany, France, and the Netherlands? But where has it all gone so horrible wrong for broken Britain, and how does lowering the age of consent change any of this?

Teenage pregnancy is the result of inequality and poverty; in fact UNICEF reported a strong link between inequality, poverty, and teenage births in 2012. Where we are in relation to each over is key to teenage pregnancy rates. Britain is an unequal society, but If Britain were to concentrate on making its citizens' incomes as equal as those of people in Germany and France we would experience a dramatic decrease in teenage pregnancy rate. Britain’s social problems that place us as the second most unequal society in the developed world is due to the clear economic divide, only topped by America. Richard Wilkinson a professor at Nottingham University whom also received an honorary degree from UCL quotes “If Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark.” I think something of a similar nature would apply to Britain as well.

So what would creating a more equal Britain do in relation of the age of consent? Teen parenthood is more of a consequence of intense inequality and poverty and Family life seems to follow real economic opportunities. Where the system looks stacked against them, they are more likely to abandon mainstream norms. Those who do so by becoming teen parents end up fairly poorly In life, but those bad outcomes seem to a result of bleach underlying circumstances rather than poor choices. By investing more money into reducing inequality and poverty we can in fact reduce the number of teenage parents. The French prime minister stated that we Brit’s are to squeamish when it comes down to discussing sex so by reducing the age of consent we can begin to remove the stigma and the taboo nature surrounding the subject talk more openly with our 15 year olds about sex and discuss more freely the choices they have, but also the real life consequences as they won’t be prosecuted by the law for actually engaging in sex.
Reply 2
no.
No.

Your first point does not even make any sense.

If anything, lowering the age of consent would increase the teenage pregnancy rate. Not decrease it.
(edited 10 years ago)
What's the point? They're gonna pass a law staring under 16s can't agree to sexual activity..
Reply 5
Original post by niceguy95
no.


Could you possibly expand a bit more upon your original point?
Reply 6
Original post by This Honest
What's the point? They're gonna pass a law staring under 16s can't agree to sexual activity..


The point is by lowering the age of consent Britain can look forward to an age where we can all talk openly and freely about sex, where we can create an open Britain, a safer Britain, and a more preferable Britain.
Actually, reading your post is like going on a mad car journey.

It feels like you copied and pasted a random article about teenage pregnancy and society in the middle.

It has nothing to do with the issue of consent.
Original post by Rory456
The point is by lowering the age of consent Britain can look forward to an age where we can all talk openly and freely about sex, where we can create an open Britain, a safer Britain, and a more preferable Britain.


How much more do you want to talk about sex? It is everywhere.

It is at school. It is on the news. It is in the papers. It is on this site.

If anything, we live in a hyper-sexualised society.
Reply 9
Original post by DorianGrayism
Actually, reading your post is like going on a mad car journey.

It feels like you copied and pasted a random article about teenage pregnancy and society in the middle.

It has nothing to do with the issue of consent.


I was basically trying to counter the point that lowering the age of consent will have no impact on teenage pregnancy as social inequality and poverty are the two main factors to blame. And by lowering the age of consent 15 year, 15 year olds will be more likely to discuss sex within PSHE lessons at school, and to sexual health nurses as they won't fear prosecution from the law as they would be within the rights to have sex.
Reply 10
No. It's not just about people having sex aged 16 or over, the age of consent is there to protect minors.
Reply 11
Original post by DorianGrayism
How much more do you want to talk about sex? It is everywhere.

It is at school. It is on the news. It is in the papers. It is on this site.

If anything, we live in a hyper-sexualised society.


I want to talk more about sex in a controlled and reliable environment e.g. schools. You are right in that sex has been hyper-sexualised but we need to be able to take the core subject at hand and present the subject at it's bear bones - It shouldn't been seen as a cool thing, and a 'normal' thing to be done.

Children are being confused by the mass information being pored into their throats by the media and this will never change. That is why more should be done to educate 15 year olds fully about sex so they can learn to look past the vast amount of rubbish the media can sometimes tells us.

Today 15 year olds do not want to talk about sex to any teacher in full detail at school as they fear prosecution from the law that they are supposed to be protected by. So by lowering the age of consent we can begin to remove the stigma and allow 15 year olds to feel more relaxed when talking about sex in class and receive the true and full potential that our secondary schools have to offer when it comes to giving advise about sex.
Reply 12
Original post by ninuzu
No. It's not just about people having sex aged 16 or over, the age of consent is there to protect minors.


A cut off point should be introduced on the age of consent. I don't see how the Government would allow Britain to get a state where primary schools children where within the age of consent.
Reply 13
no
Reply 14
Original post by Robbie242
no


Do you have a particular reason in mind for saying no..?
Original post by Rory456
I was basically trying to counter the point that lowering the age of consent will have no impact on teenage pregnancy as social inequality and poverty are the two main factors to blame. And by lowering the age of consent 15 year, 15 year olds will be more likely to discuss sex within PSHE lessons at school, and to sexual health nurses as they won't fear prosecution from the law as they would be within the rights to have sex.


Well, you should say exactly that.

Your first point is a good point but you never clearly state it. However, you spend a lot of time in the 2nd and 3rd para talking about investment and etc reducing pregnancy rates. It begins to sound like you are arguing about increasing investment and not lowering the age of consent.

That may be true but that is not the focus of debate. You should state something like "It has been argued that lowering the age of consent will increase teenage pregnancy but etc"

The second point is logical but I do not think it is an accurate representation of what occurs. I wouldn't go as far as talking about fear of prosecution because I do not think it would occur.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 16
Original post by Rory456
A cut off point should be introduced on the age of consent. I don't see how the Government would allow Britain to get a state where primary schools children where within the age of consent.


And that cut off point should be 16. There's no need for it to be 15; if it were, that would mean that a fifteen year old could willingly have sex with an older person and it's not considered illegal. That's sick if you ask me.
Reply 17
Original post by ninuzu
And that cut off point should be 16. There's no need for it to be 15; if it were, that would mean that a fifteen year old could willingly have sex with an older person and it's not considered illegal. That's sick if you ask me.


To avoid this from happening I propose that the UK should introduce a system where anyone aged 15-17 can have sex legally within that age group, and anyone who is 18 or older can only legally have sex with people who are 18 or older. I understand that this would mean that anyone aged 16 could no loner have sex with anyone older than 17 which they are currently allowed to do under the current laws, so this proposal would legally prevent 15 year olds from having sex with older adults.
Reply 18
Original post by Punishmen
I can't help you on proposition except only maybe that the 15 yos will have enough practice in using contraception by the time they are 18, as their bodies will be less developed to get pregnant or impregnate the earlier they start, which could lead to pre-menopause for females.

On the flipside I predict paedo-culture, child porn and prostitution rings will be sure to flourish with sick people on the look out for fresh meat. If you set a limit human nature will push boundaries beyond what's legal to try their luck.

Underaged sex can destroy family relationships and cause problems in parental control, so in that case we should also lower M18 movie limits.


Liberalising age of consent laws will not encourage paedophilia or make sexual exploitation any easier. That is simply a false nightmare scenario propagated by scaremongers. Many countries have lowered the basic age of consent while strengthening their ‘plus elements’. For example, by making ‘sexual grooming’ an offence (to stop rings of internet paedophiles); by making it an offence to have sex with a young child if you are above a certain age or if the age differential between the partners is above a certain limit (to target adult paedophiles while allowing teens their sexual freedom); and by making it an offence to have sex with someone who is in a relationship of trust of dependency with you (to stop sexual exploitation).
in principle the concept of an "age of consent" is ridiculous; surely the age of consent for an individual is whatever age they happen to be when they happen to be consenting? but in terms of practicality I'd say that 13 years old was the age most people really start to go through puberty and think about sex so that's a good age to put it at - japan has an AOC at 13 and I think that's fair enough - human beings are sexual beings; we start wanting to have sex much younger than politicians are willing to admit. it's innate. any scientist will tell you that. I'm not saying it should be 13 for perverted reasons, I'm saying 13 because it's realistic - an "age of consent" would be consistent with that age because it's likely to be an age where an individual is going to be consenting to sexual behaviour. I was consenting probably by the age of 12, but maybe that was just me, but just because other people aren't "ready" by then, well that's not the fault of those that are and they don't have to have sex if they don't want to. in terms of "exploiting young people", children aren't as stupid as people tend to think - they know about rape, they know about predators, and if they don't then there's something wrong with the way their parents have brought them up

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