The age of consent. Should it be lowered to 14 or raised to 18
 

I think it should be lowered to 14 but then laws should be in place so an 18yr old cant be having sex with a 14 yr old.

People will have sex whenever they want.

I'd probably lower it to 14 as I know that my friends were having sex at 14/15 and they definitely felt old enough and ready for it.

No - they are too young. It would give randy 14 - 17 year-old boys an excuse to pressurise/force gullible young girls. Besides it won't happen - we are not that liberal.

Also from my experience, girls at that age enjoy having sex and sleeping around just as much as boys do.

On balance I'd leave it at 16.
You couldn't also really have a legal age of consent at 14 then have laws prohibiting choice.
It wouldn't be a legal age of consent then.

It certainly should not be raised to 18, not at all.

A compromise could be make it 15.
I really believe if 15 year olds wish to,they will be doing so anyway.

Exactly each gender is likely no different as to that at all.
Well said.

It works in germany where the age of consent is 14 as they have a law that a 21 yr old cant have sex with a 14 yr old..they also have one of the lowest teenage pregnancy records in western europe.. britain has the highest.

From my experience lots of young girls feel pressurised by boys, therefore effectively forced, before they are ready. it's bad enough for 16 year olds, we certainly shouldn't be putting that pressure on 14 year-old girls. They are being forced to 'grow up' too soon.

Well that's a conditional age of consent not a full legal age of consent.

Maybe it works there but that doesn't ensure it would here.

Better education on the issue maybe would help.
However you either have a legal age of consent or not, if you are limited to who you can consent to then that is not free choice at all.


Someone 16 can consent to someone in their 20s and beyond.
To me there's no point in saying someone can consent at 14 but not to anyone 18 or over.

That still leaves grown men to manipulate and take advantage of children. So you think it's ok for a 20 year-old man to have sex with a 14 year-old child! It's verging on paedophillia. We need to protect young girls not make them more vulnerable to selfish young men with one thing on their minds.

I was seeing it more from a 14 yr old boy with a 20 yr old girl.

But no, i dont see that as ok so i would like it to have the 21 yr old limit they have in germany reduced to 16 here.

15 or 16 as they're the most healthy and realistic ages to expect people to hold off having sex for.

I think most people around my age probably like girls at age 17 onwards so wouldn't be attempting to go for a 14 year old.

14 is far too young imo

I knew the day that we agree on something would come eventually! Look at us being all PC together! Although we need to protect young people of both genders.
The average age men lose their V is a lot younger than the age women do, suggesting there are more older women out for younger men than vice versa.

The legal age should not be lowered, and I dont see a reason for it to be any higher either really.

Having the legal age at 16 - still - encourages those approaching this age to have sex, because they are nearly there anyway. I believe this logic will still exist if the legal age was lowered to 14 and thats verging on prepubescent.

I think it's only by getting a little older that you realise what a baby you are at 14.

Yep, my son just turned 13, he's still in primary school, still has a childs voice and is no where near getting ready to shave yet.....that's one year away from 14

100%

Leave it as it is, the idea of adults sleeping with 14 year olds legally is repulsive.

Yes we may agree on the first bit, not sure about the second. I just can't imagine girls/women 16+ being interested in boys of 14. They usually want a bit of 'sophistication' and it's unlikely any 14 year-old would fit the bill.

Yes its a sickening thought, but it happens.


Young people of both genders need protection from people like this, and a law change to a lower legal age of consent is not the way to do that.

Yeah I would agree with Brillo on that Withano, I would have thought it's far more common for men to be with younger woman/girls than vice versa.

Im not too sure if someone not grown up enough mentally at the age of 14 would suddenly become mature enough to be having sex at 16. It does seem to work in Germany though.

I lost my virginity at 14 to a 16 yr old girl.

There are huge developmental changes that typically goes on between 14 and 16...

Having sex at the age of 14 is disturbing and disgusting