Age of consent
Tuesday, 13 May, 2003
Attorney General Bob Debus wants to introduce legislation into the Lower House of State Parliament to lower the age of consent for homosexual males from 18 to 16 so that it is more consistent with the current age of consent for heterosexuals and therefore less “discriminatory”. Have a look at Anglican Media's report on the matter. Al Stewart's comments in particular leaped out at me:
“It strikes me as a massive case of hypocrisy that we would consider crucifying the Governor-General for his lack of care in not protecting children from sexual exploitation and, at the same time, consider reducing the age of consent for homosexual sex to 16.
The Social Issues Executive for the Anglican Diocese is arguing that the age of consent should be raised to 18 across the board. They are also urging concerned citizens to write to their local member for parliament.
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
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Disqus comments
Other comments
I have to say that I agree - the age of consent for all should be lifted to 18 years of age. I understand why - historically - the age of consent has been lower than 18. For much of the twentieth century - particularly in the early to mid twentieth century - the percentage of adolescents finishing high school and unertaking teriary studies was much lower than now. Many - including both of my parents - were in the workforce by the age of 16. In fact, my parents had left home by 16, and were quite autonomous members of society. In these circumstances it was justifiable - I think - that the age of consent was 16. Now, however, a much higher percentage of adolescents complete Yr 12 and go on to tertiary studies, not leaving home and entering the workforce till their mid twenties. Although we may think adolescents ‘mature’ more quickly these days, in terms of reliance on parents and contribution to society, adolescents are less mature and less autonomous than they were 30-40 years ago. Under these circumstances, it is right to advocate lifting the age of consent to 18.
In regards to the age of consent for homosexual intercourse, there is an additional safety aspect to it…I didn’t think it was discriminatory, just precaution (though the chances of getting AIDS or other forms of disease from such acts doesn’t decrease with age or anything). Hmm.
I saw a poster at uni last night that was in favour of reducing the age of consent; along the lines of “It’s wrong that a 17 year-old man shouldn’t be able to…” . I didn’t think that “17yo man” was a sentiment that rang particularly true.
It’s a difficult one, though. The age of consent doesn’t appear to be an issue for the many magazines that are targeted at much younger kids.
Is there anything to gain by having the legislation changed anyway? Would either change have a positive impact for the gospel, or even a positive impact on society?
I think whatever it is it should be the same for both. If we want to advocate that people should wait till a certain age to have sex, is the best way to do this to threaten criminal consequences? Would it help anyone to have otherwise consensual sex between an 18 year old and a 17 year old classified as statutory rape? I don’t think that this is the best solution to this question.