Leading Health Expert Calls For Age of Consent to be Lowered to 15
Professor John Ashton, President of the Faculty of Public Health, initiated the debate on sexual consent when he recently argued that the current age should be lowered; indeed drawing response from Downing Street.
Amongst his arguments were that a 'line needed to be drawn in the sand' to those who were confused about when they could have sex, and that the move would improve the availability of advice and services to deal with sexual health problems and underage pregnancies. The belief is that, as in other European countries with lower consent ages, a lower age would encourage information around sex to be discussed more frequently and with less taboo, helping them make on more informed decision or even abstaining from sex until a later age.
Some of his comments for which the argument is based can be seen in this Telegraph article and the video below:
Amongst his arguments were that a 'line needed to be drawn in the sand' to those who were confused about when they could have sex, and that the move would improve the availability of advice and services to deal with sexual health problems and underage pregnancies. The belief is that, as in other European countries with lower consent ages, a lower age would encourage information around sex to be discussed more frequently and with less taboo, helping them make on more informed decision or even abstaining from sex until a later age.
Some of his comments for which the argument is based can be seen in this Telegraph article and the video below:
As he called for national debate, his proposal was inevitably met by criticism and rejection, which is discussed under 'Keep it at 16', although it became apparent through monitoring and stimulating discussion myself that many people also shared this opinion for a whole variety of reasons. Many people provided to similar points as Professor Ashton, along with that from personal experiences or with hindsight they would have rather it have been lower than 16.
One method of displaying this opinion is through vox populis I created in an attempt to understand where the public stood on the debate. The following couple of opinions are a sample of views that were collected in support of a lower age. The interviewees were provided by people across the whole age spectrum, although many of the given reasons for their opinion were similar. The question put to the interviewees was: "Do you think the age of sexual consent in the UK should be lowered to 15?"
One method of displaying this opinion is through vox populis I created in an attempt to understand where the public stood on the debate. The following couple of opinions are a sample of views that were collected in support of a lower age. The interviewees were provided by people across the whole age spectrum, although many of the given reasons for their opinion were similar. The question put to the interviewees was: "Do you think the age of sexual consent in the UK should be lowered to 15?"
Furthermore, from a survey generated on Surveymonkey, I was able to gather further public opinion in addition to whether they agreed or disagreed with the change. From those who agreed, I asked for an ellaboration on their answer and many opinions were popular/ similar amongst multiple contributors to the survey. Included below are a selection of anonymous opinions from those answering 'no' as a further vox pop, which are representative of common answers.
"Because people mature at different rates and 16 is just as arbitrary as 15. The law should only be there to protect against exploitation." "Sex is not a bad thing. As long as children are educated and know how to prevent pregnancy, sex is healthy." "Generations are changing, and there appears to be less religious influence (sex before marriage), which is why younger people need to be aware of the consequences of sex and diseases transmittable at a younger age." "If they're having sex at this age regardless, they need to feel comfortable getting relevant support and advice and lowering to 15 would achieve this. Maybe it'd even start to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancies, through awareness." |
"Teenagers will have sex no matter what the age of consent is." "The standard of sex education in this country, whilst better than other nations, is still lacking. To some degrees sex is still seen as a taboo subject, which is utterly ridiculous. By lowering the age to 15 I think the government would be forced to act and give a higher standard of education so people would know how to practice safe sex." "So that the 15 year olds who are having under age sex will at least be protected." "15 year olds have to go through many of the same stresses as 16 year olds, with exams etc. so surely they're ready to take the same level of responsibility." |
The survey I created was also shared on forum website, The Student Room, which has popular threads on sexual health and relationships. The forum targets the student population, from secondary school right through to university, therefore the opinions would represent the population currently around or not far in advance of 16 years old. From the thread generated, conversation between members on this subject was formed, which I left without my input in able to follow the threads discussion.
Some of the discussion, in favour of the change is:
Some of the discussion, in favour of the change is:
"I don't think sex is sacred or needs to be understood. If both people are willing to have sex, developed enough to have sex ( which isn't uncommon at 14) and educated about sex, there is no problem other than people thinking 'eeww gross! That's too young' with no objective reasoning as to why not. |
"No one really cares about it anyway, kids have sex when they want. Unless people are changing the rules of a significantly older person being able to have sex with a 15 year old legally which I doubt." "I 100% agree with this, if someone told me at 15 I wasn't mature enough, I'd be offended |
Another source that serves to bring this debate to light is Mary Beard's Age of Consent discussion on BBC Radio Four's A Point of View, from 6:06. This highlights the difficulty in deciding who classifies as an adult when setting an age of consent and points to decisions across European countries.