Your say on "age of consent"

[kirikiri94]

The "age of consent" is a very important issue that is always on the agenda. This is the age at which a person can freely have sex without his partner being accused of sexual abuse. In the world, this age varies between 12 and 21 years. In the United States, it varies from one State to another. It may also be different for girls and boys, for heterosexual and homosexual relationships. What is your opinion on this subject? And answer the poll if you please.

Wer'e talking about consensual sex: NO THREAT OR VIOLENCE.

[Harley Quinn]

In the UK, we have to be 16 or older to have any form of sex. Sure, we have a high rate of teenage pregnancy and all that stuff, but for me personally I don't think the age should change.

[kirikiri94]

In the UK, we have to be 16 or older to have any form of sex. Sure, we have a high rate of teenage pregnancy and all that stuff, but for me personally I don't think the age should change.

In France the ageof consent is 15. I find it to high. Should be 13 or 14 like in some other European countries

[Harley Quinn]

I think it all depends on sexual maturity and to be honest, under 16 you're not mature enough for sex. In my opinion, anyway.

[kirikiri94]

I think it all depends on sexual maturity and to be honest, under 16 you're not mature enough for sex. In my opinion, anyway.

Ur probably right if wer'e talking about anal or vaginal sex. But why young lads coul'nt paticipate in mutual masturbation, as most of them do?

[NeuroTiger]

Teenage years make you go wild many a time and often results in poor decision making.
Below 16, most are relatively still 'immature' and 'unprepared for sex',
18 years old is,in my opinion, a fair age for sex since the person, at such an age should be able to be on his own and takes appropriate decisions unlike at lower ages.
17 years old is a transition age and I'll prefer to allow the person to discover himself very well before sex.
Girls are known to be more mature than boys by 16-17 years old. Hence perhaps for girls, 17 years old may be the appropriate age for consent sex.

[kirikiri94]

What kind of sex are yourtaking about? Do you really wanna make it a felony when 2 teens masturbate together?

[Ihaveagun]

In Norway it's 16. I guess that's fair. Not that anyone cares about it. :P

[honeybear]

it is hard to put an age on it...there are some kids who are 14-15 who are mature and responsible enough to make the right decisions...and some adults who shouldn't be having sex in any form...just depends really

[kirikiri94]

In Norway it's 16. I guess that's fair. Not that anyone cares about it. :P

Do you mean that you would not engage urself in any kind of sex until you are 16?

[Ihaveagun]

Do you mean that you would not engage urself in any kind of sex until you are 16?

Oh, but I have already. But legally, you have to be 16 in my country.

[Hullo I'm Sara]

I'd say to have some sort of sexual maturity test, to make sure they have enough sense to use a condom and all that, and if one or both hadn't become of age to take the test (which would be like, 14), havent taken the test yet, or didnt pass, it would be illegal. And there would be different types or formats to cater to anybody who had a mental or physical condition, so that it was all fair.

[dvd333]

I'd say to have some sort of sexual maturity test, to make sure they have enough sense to use a condom and all that, and if one or both hadn't become of age to take the test (which would be like, 14), havent taken the test yet, or didnt pass, it would be illegal. And there would be different types or formats to cater to anybody who had a mental or physical condition, so that it was all fair.

Good idea!

[darthearth]

I honestly feel I could have engaged in oral (giver) when I was 11 with an older cousin in his 20s, I really wanted to at the time (he came out of the shower with just a towel on and he was extremely hot, muscles and tan). It wouldn't have adversely affected me at all. I hate to think he could have went to prison for it, it would have been me pushing it. So I settle on 12 as age of consent.

[Altiier]

It more depends on the emotional maturity of the person rather than the physical maturity... You need to be able to handle it mentally, and be able to take it seriously, a good test of this is to stare into the persons eyes and say "penis" or "vagina" repeatedly... if they laugh they probably can't handle it. Hope that helps :D

[FroBro16]

To be honest I think 18 is still a good age because that's when a lot of big decisions have to be made in your life like what you're going to do after high school and moving out on your own and paying your own bills and stuff like that. If they can make these decisions then they should be good to go on consensual sex. But I guess age doesn't really matter since a lot of teens do it before then anyways. Kinda like drinking before it's really legal

[freakyindiangurl]

This is a very hard question to answer because strangely I have no problem with say a boy who is 12-13 and has started puberty and can produce sperm to have sex. But for a girl even though she has started to menstruate also around 12-13 should not have sex and wait 2-3 years. For me it's more because their is a lot more responsibility for a girl if she gets pregnant and lets be honest guys are the worse when it comes to using protection and so will a 13 year old girl. so I would go with 12-13 for a boy and 15-16 for a girl and I also like the idea of them needing to take a test on sex just so they are smarter about it.

[TheFSM]

I think 16 is responsible age.

[TheJoseph]

I put 18 because people are more responsible than 12 or 13

[CharlieHorse]

16 for some people.

[FrostWraith]

18 seems logical, or possibly 16. Anyone younger than that is definitely not mature enough to handle it.

[Amber Bi]

this is a really hard question with lots of stuff to take into consideration...
in the US the age varies from state to state. In the state I live in the age of consent is 16....BUT, at 16 you are still a minor so the other person can NOT be charged with statutory rape but they CAN be charged with stuff like sexual misconduct with a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, lewd and lascivious behavior with a person under the age of 18 etc.
back on topic, it's hard to put a number/age on when someone will be ready to have sex.
Lets face it, we are all ready willing and able to have sex at like 12 or something , but who is really emotionally ready at even 16? guys prolly are cause they are guys but girls are way more emotional and we cry for days if our bf breaks up with us. I'm just sayin that having sex is not only physical but also hugely emotional and who knows when an individual will be ready to handle all those emotions ?

[Dark Blue]

I think 16 is a good age of consent.

[Austins]

I say 17, you are usually in your senior year and will be 18 soon. Whoever votes 12 or 13 are ridiculous -__-

[Gannary]

So you're saying that you would need to take a test to get a permit to legally have sex? I'm not sure that's the right way to go. I would say lower it to 16, but add some stuff to sex ed classes in school about proper use of condoms, more in depth stuff about STD's and STI's, and when and where you can get tested for em'. (pretty much, a sex ed class that will teach you way more than what you can read in an uninformative sex ed book) Granted that would cost a lot of extra money to hire all those teachers, or better train the existing ones, but still better than showing a video from the sixties. My two cents.

[Rina]

I believe it should stay 18, especially if you're planning to date someone older than 18 and you're younger than that age.

[Jasperf]

What kind of sex are yourtaking about? Do you really wanna make it a felony when 2 teens masturbate together?

Sex is sex, not masterbating O_o

[kirikiri94]

Surprisingly, most of posters to this thread favor an age of consent between 16 and 18. It's contradictory to the result of the attached poll with 13.2 year old

[GigglyAbby]

The idea of a sexual readiness test is a good idea but sadly if you do that -- who regulates it and who's eligible to take it? It would be great if there was a uniform Age of Consent throughout this world but sadly there are bigger fish to fry. I think if you make the Age of Consent under 16 or 17 -- you're legalizing sexual acts between a 12 year old and people in their 50's and that's completely wrong. Unless the police are going to arrest doctors and parents who are aware of and support young teens of having sex -- I'd say universally make it 16 or 17 in North America with the provision of it being a crime to be intimate with someone under that age if you're more than 1.5 or 2 years older than them.

I want to say the age of consent should be around the average age that a person can reproduce, but considering that some teens are too stupid to practice safe sex, I'll just stick with 18.

Well -- that would sadly create too many problems as it could encourage more underage porn and it could strike pedophilia off the books unless they make it illegal based on age difference.

[Steven1]

I think 16 or above would be the right age. Few people below that age are actually mature enough to make a decision like it, and be properly informed and protected. Therefore to safeguard against horrible experiences or regret it should be at an age where people can at least make an informed decision, and have their own responsibilities for actions thereafter, which in my opinion is around the age of 16.

[HahaWaitWhat]

I want to say the age of consent should be around the average age that a person can reproduce, but considering that some teens are too stupid to practice safe sex, I'll just stick with 18.

[caliguy]

this is a real tough question because it really boils down to emotional maturity and its not like you can force people to take a test to see if they are ready or not to handle the action and/or the consequences. Even if you could give a test are the people supposed to carry some breeding license card or sexual ability card? But then on the other hand everyone knows that many people have sex before they become a legal adult so why would the feds or state make it law that you need to be a full legal adult? I would say maybe 15 or 16...not like people wait that long even but I think its a good age for consent

[cerise]

I think Mom Nature knows best when you are ready for sex. Who gave anyone the right to set an age limit? Parents should start teaching their children about the pros and cons of sex at a very early age.

[Joseph69]

The age that people become mature enough to have sex has been going down, so when that law was created it was probably around age 17/18 that someone was mature enough to have sex and anyone under that age wasn't mature enough.

Now, people are becoming mature at 12-13, sometimes younger than that, so I think it should be re-evaluated by governments based on that. You see plenty of 14 year olds that are physically mature, and plenty that are also mentally mature (so they are able to make a good decision on whether or not to have sex, and whether or not to use protection).

Based on that, I think the age of consent should be lowered, but 13/14 should probably be the minimum it gets lowered to.

[Milky Joe]

I don't think it's that important. It doesn't really change anything, it's not like if you raised it people would start having sex later or if you lowered it everyone would start having sex younger.

The fact it varies between 13(?) and 18 across Western Europe shows it's pretty arbitrary. For example in the UK it's 16 which is higher than the likes of France, Spain, Italy, and Germany yet we have one of the lowest average ages for first time sex and highest rates of underage pregnancy.

What really matters is education and creating a culture where kids don't have sex at a young age because they don't want to, not just going "it's against the law" and thinking that has solved anything, and if that if they do then they use contraception.

And also that the age of consent laws are used to prosecute older people manipulating or exploiting kids and not for interfering in people's lives and criminalising those in happy consensual relationships just because one or both of them is underage.