Spain Considering Raising Age Of Sexual Consent To Sixteen.

[andres]

A 13years old Spanish girl was murdered by her 38yrs old lover. The age of consent for sex in Spain is at present 13yrs.The Health minister in Spain would like the age of consent raised to 16yrs.in order to stop the ' legal sexual abuse of children'.
One of our UK barristers thinks the legal age of consent should be lowered to 13.
In light of the recent Jeremy Forrest case do you agree with the barrister or should we keep the age as it is at 16.

[maggiebee]

OK, what seemed right for me may not be right for others. By the way, Mr M didn't do the chasing! And.....I was 16 before my parents knew!

[ummmm]

15 year old girls are not children.

[pixie373]

Mine is. Although she thinks she isn't

[rockyracoon]

I agree Ummm, but I don't consider them to be adults either.

[flump1]

@ Ummmmm that is your opinion , however they are in the eyes of the law.

[RATTER15]

Im sorry Maggie, I didn't mean to be offensive but it isn't right.

[Prudie]

And 16 in the UK is just that, a figure in the eyes of the law. It's totally idealistic for parents to think their daughters start having sex triggered by the law. When I was at school a fair proportion of 15 year olds were having sex as I'm sure they are nowadays.

[ummmm]

What does the law state?

[anotheoldgit]

vetuste_ennemi

/// "Whatever age is decided on it should be the same in all EU countries."
Decided and enforced by whom, AOG? ///

I would have thought that obvious.

[Slapshot]

My daughter is 20 shes still a child most of the time. Biggest problem with this is we make an arbitrary call to protect kids but they all mature at such a different rate a 15yo may be far more mature than a 20yo. In terms of the law 16 is reasonable to me but when the law comes into it, courts should be assessing the maturity of the individuals involved.

[Brinjal]

I think much older men that involve themselves with young girls young teenagers that is have relationship issues. At 13 I would have had nothing in common with a 30 yr old nor any interest. At 24 I married a 36 yr old.

[pixie373]

How would they do that, slapshot?

[EcclesCake]

I'm with Slapshot, sexual maturity and emotional maturity are very different things.

[anotheoldgit]

pixie373

/// what concerns me is more the age-gap. Two 15 year olds, to me, is not as bad as someone of 15 and someone of 30. Different maturities ///

What's your position on twenty something year old women marring 70 plus year old men?

[hc4361]

Slapshot, good idea but not practical. Imagine the uproar if the courts decided a 14 year old was mature enough for sex and prosecuted a man for having sex with a 15 year old because the courts deemed her immature.
A potential partner would not only have to consider her age but also get some sort of clarification that she was mature enough.

[pixie373]

Aog, adults can do what they like

[THECORBYLOON]

Anotheoldgit woul you be happy if the EU-wide age of consent were thirteen rather than sixteen as it is in Britain?

[Slapshot]

I know it isn't practical hence the word should.

[hc4361]

Ages of consent vary throughout Europe - Germany 14; France 15; Iceland 15; Ireland 17; Italy 14 but 13 if the eldest is no more than 16; Malta 18; Poland 15; Portugal 14...

And then some countries have different ages for homosexual acts. It would be impossible to make all EU countries agree to the same age.

[2sp_]

I remember being a 13 year old girl. I had a 15 year old boyfriend and my parents were going spare because of the massive age difference then - but that's the point. At 13, even 2 years can be a massive gap. He was pressuring me to have sex, but I was strong willed even then so told him it wasn't happening. I dumped him and he moved on to a girl his own age who would sleep with him.

IMO, 16 is the right age for sexual consent. 13 is just far too young, not an adult, but not a child either. We don't go from being a child to an adult overnight, there is a period of transition and we should still protect our youth from themselves and others during it.