Should age of Consent Laws be lowered?

The age of consent means the age at which the assent of a person to have sexual inter-course is treated as a valid consent by the law. Persons who engaged in sexual inter-course with women or young men below this age are treated as being guilty of criminal offence. In such a case even if the young person was willing to engaged in sexual activity and completely understood the nature of such activity, the consent given by such person is not valid in the eyes of the law. In many countries it is even treated as statutory rape and very severe punishment life imprisonment is awarded to a person guilty of such an offence. The ages for consent differ greatly as in several countries people are required to be older to give consent to home-sexual sex as compared the age for giving consent to hetero sexual sex. These are some of the factors that make the issue of age of consent a vary controversial one. Age of consent laws are generally very complex as several variations are involved.

1. The persons in favour of lowering the age for consent laws state that the freedom of sexual expression is a fundamental matter of choice to the individual and it is more particularly important in case of young people who are passing through adolescence and entering young adulthood. The age for consent laws places unnatural restrictions on this freedom. Sex is an a natural act which should be celebrated through loving relationships and should not be criminalized. Although exploitation, coercion and violence in sexual relationships should be punished but not the consensual activity. Such restrictions are also against the freedom of expression as well as the human rights of privacy.

2. Consent laws are also criticized for being discriminatory as in several countries there is a different age of consent for young females and young males. Such discrimination also perpetuates the stereotypes and myths as well as the prejudices against homo sexual sex. The age of consent law should be equal across the genders if we are to have them at all.

3. The idea of restricting young people from having sex is a relic from the history with anachronistic justifications which have very little relevance in these modern times. The age of consent laws originated during the purity campaign of Britain in 1800 when sex was believed to be a male privilege. The age of consent was fixed at 16 years in Britain in 1885 and has remained so since then.

4. The age of consent laws drive underground the persons who have the highest need of receiving contraceptives and advise on safe sex. Young people need access to health and educational services as the lack of these things put them a higher risk of unwanted pregnancy or contracting STD.

Points in favour of :
1. The protagonists of age of consent laws believe that there is enough justification for these laws. It is in interest of the entire society to protect the naturally weaker members from harm. This is also the main purpose of law. Therefore it is legitimate for the law to try to protect the children from sexual harm by criminalizing sexual activities with them. The age of consent sex laws are not the only laws that depend on age. In several countries for example it is an offence to sell tobacco products to children or to employ children below a particular age even if the child consents to it. We need to understand that the consent given by a child is often different from the consent given by an adult.

2. Young children belong to the vulnerable group of society and it is particularly true in case of sex. Therefore a limitations need to be placed on their sexual activities as below a certain age, children may not have the emotional, physiological and biological development to cope with sexual activities and its consequences which include child birth, teen pregnancy , unsupported parenthood and parental and social disapproval among others. Although every person matures at a different age but selecting an average age for consensual sex should not be termed as wrong or arbitrary as there is no harm making the early developers wait for one or two years.

3. The lowering of the age consent can legalize and bring forward many problems that are being port with underground. It also gives an opportunity to the pedophiles to expand their networks and target even a young the children. The problem of pedophilia is rapidly increasing and is further aggravated by related avenues like child pornography.