[Shaun]

I don't think that lowering/raising the consent age for sex would be taken into consideration by the majority of teenagers. I think most people had sex not thinking "Ooh, I'm breaking the law".

However, I think it's important to have an age of consent for two important reasons. One, it gives young people the impression that sex is an important thing, and although some choose to 'be rebellious' and have sex before the age, it needs to be there as a reminder to everyone that people shouldn't have casual sex under 16.

Secondly, paedophilia, for obvious reasons.

But going deeper into that, I'm not sure what to think. Because, say, a 17 year old has sex with a 15 year old...is 2 years necessarily a big difference? Because it would be in terms of legality. And let's face it, there's some more mature 15-yos than there are 18yos.

But on the whole, I think the majority of 18yos are more mature and able to make a decision on sex than 15yos.