What should the Age of Consent be in the UK?

Question

Should 16 Year-Olds be fair game? Or should the Age of Consent be raised to 17 (as in Ireland) or 18 (as in USA)?

Answer 1

I do think it should be 18, there are so many immature 16 year olds out there.

Answer 2

Personally I think the age for smoking, drinking, consent etc should be 21. I think that a person should legally be called an adult at 21. But because that is not an option here I'm saying 18.
What difference does it make between 16 and 17? Ok, there are no 17 year old still in school but 17 teens are not ready for sex. I am 17 and I know a lot of sensible and mature 17 year olds but it is not simply a question of being sensible and not wreckless and careless, a person has to have an adult state of mind and the only way that comes is with experience and hence knowledge. And at 21 in the uk, young people have been out of school for a fair number of years and had more experience as an independent person, living a life more independent from their parents. At 16, 17 and 18 teenagers at either still at school, college or have just began uni. They don't have sufficient experience or wisdom.
So I say 21 but with the options here 18.

Answer 3

If there was no age of consent it would't be such a big thing to kids and they wouldn't be as desperate to go out and do it. It doesn't matter what th eage is you can't stop people from having sex.
Also you can have sex at 16 but not drink til you are 18. This means you can be legally responsible for another life at 16 but not your own until your 18. Silly when you think about it isn't it?

Answer 4

Not sure what age but i think it should be the same consent age for everything because the law is silly
You can get married at sixteen but cant vote ,drink or see a 18 cert film
it dont make any sense if we had one age consent it would be much easier

Answer 5

18

Answer 6

I think the age of consent should be raised but no matter what age it was raised to we will still have teenagers having sex without having a clue about or not caring about contraception. Some dont seem to understand the consequences of their actions until its too late or just do it to fit in which is a pity. I think if they had more respect for themselves and had better sex education (and listened to it!) it might make a difference.

Answer 7

Having an age of consent isnt exactly a preventative. You can also have different levels of maturity when you're at 16. At 18, you tend to even out a little more, and can think for yourself.

If you're going to have an Age Of Consent make it a universal age like 18. For instance, you can smoke at 16, die for your country at 17 yet you cant vote for its leader until 18 nor can you drink in it.

ETA: you can have sex at 16, but you cant watch pornography until you're 18... O.o

Answer 8

Or should there be a double limit ? For instance, 40 year old guys can't bonk anyone under 25 ?

Seriously, there's a big difference between a 16 yr old with a 19 yr old compared to a 16 yr old with a 40 yr old.

Answer 9

Not very often that I would agree with anything American but they do have this one right. There is too much of a risk factor if a girl of 16 becomes pregnant, it either lies with the parents to support her or the state or both and that cannot be right as it places an extra burden on all concerned.
Now there will be howls of indignation from the politically correct brigade many of whom have never done a days work in their life.

Answer 10

I think 16 is fair enough - Raising the Age of Consent will just put more stress on them and a strain on our National Health Service. Youngsters have enough to cope with as it is.

Answer 11

The age of consent should be 21,, also same age for drinking smoking and obtaining a driving licence