Should the age on consent be abolished?
by Lizkempo
In my mind the answer to this question would be NO! And here are my reasons why:
I don't know if any of you have been watching a recent programme on Channel 4 called 'Adult at 14', this is a series of documentaries in which they have interviewed 14 year olds across the country on this very subject. From this data channel 4 have also created several dramas based around this topic.
Last week I watched one of these dramas and it left me feeling quite disturbed, it was very hard core and very gritty. The story followed a 14 year old girl through her life at secondary school and the pressures she faced from fellow pupils (Mostly Female) to loose her virginity.
Some of the scenes in this drama were most upsetting, although unfortunately very realistic. The first scene shown that caused me much upset was this young innocent girl being forced to partake in oral sex with a male class mate as part of a dare. The children (and I call them this because they are children) were at a party and a group of female bullies are harassing this one girl saying that she is 'Fridged' and 'Tight', they dare her to get down on her knees and perform oral sex on a male class mate while they all stood watching. This poor girl through the fear of being bullied for the rest of her school days part takes in this act.
At school the next day the bullying continues, at lunch time the girls fill her glass of water with salt and taunt her about last nights goings on. She has not won their friendship at all. But it does not stop these girls persist in their torment and brag about the sex they have had with their adolescent boyfriends, they tell her they would not be friends with a virgin.
The mere fact that these children are talking about sex in such a childish, flippant manner only assures in my own mind that they are by far mature and responsible enough to be having sexual intercourse.
The drama goes on to revile the young victim go off with a 21 year old university student to loose her virginity, this boy is under the impression at the time that she is 17 years old. She tells him that it is her first time and he still does not question her age. They have sex together and afterwards he passes her a towel and says "We don't want you to make a mess now do we". This horrified me, the first time is not the nicest of experiences, unless you are very lucky, it is normally awkward and uncomfortable, but at 14 years old to have someone say that to you must be soul destroying.
The girl goes back to school and brags about her experiences to the other girls; they are impressed for a short while, but are more interested in whether she is seeing him again. At the age 14, girls tend to want a boyfriend; although this girl's bragged about having sex what they really wanted was to be in a relationship.
The next scene in the drama proves how young children really are at 14 years old. The girl goes to the older boys house after school in her uniform, he opens the door and is immediately horrified at the fact she is so young, he tells her to get lost. At this point she brakes down and says that she loves him, and thought they would get married.
My heart went out to her, but these are childish ideals, to use the word 'Love' about someone you hardly know and to assume they would get married is a very immature view.
To make matters worse the girl then finds out that the bullies have never had sex or come close to it, they were merely trying to act older than they were trying to sound impressive when really the very idea scared them.
I am 23 years old and when I think back to when I was 14 I remember thinking I was mature that I should be able to do what I wanted. But now that I am older and have experienced life a bit more I don't think I would off been able to cope with it all.
At 14 you are still a child and you should feel pressured in to growing up so quickly, you also should not consent to something that you can not take full responsibility for. For example my cousin got pregnant at 15 years old, she had been having sex but did not take mature responsibility by using protection. Why? Because they were so young and unready that they didn?t think about it. She decided to keep the baby and is now a brilliant mum, but she hasn't been able to live out her dreams of going to collage or university, while all her mates were going clubbing for the first time, or celebrating adulthood at 18, she was old beyond her years a single mum with a child to look after!
In my opinion even 16 is too young, 18 I would say is a reasonable age. I know that it the age of consent will ever be hired, but certainly do not think it should be lowered.
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