Categories: uncategorized
Date: 31 August 2007 12:08:48
Have just seen this.
If two people who want to have sex with each other have sex with each other, then there should be no punishment for it. I can certainly see that there is a level of maturity before which people might not be likely to consider the consequences of their actions as much as is necessary. I can also see that there is a level of maturity before which it may be much easier to coerce someone into having sex against their better judgement. I can also see that there is no reliable way of the government measuring this on an individual basis, so we need one blanket age of consent. I think that 13 or 14 is a much more realistic age to choose than 16.
I think that expecting anyone to be psychic is ridiculous. She'd said she was eighteen, she looked eighteen, they'd met on a website explicitly for over-eighteens, she probably wasn't a virgin. What are people supposed to do? ID all their prospective shags? You can only go with the information you have. So long as consent is absolute and not coerced in the case of either party, go right ahead.
We don't need stricter laws about who can and can't shag each other, we just need better sex education from an earlier age and a society which allows people to talk more freely and honestly about sex with their parents, their teachers and their peers. We need a media that provides solid and unhyped information about sex to those who need it. We need birth control to be even more readily available, and we need to find a way of lessening the stigma that surrounds buying it or asking for it.