The 'Age of Consent' argument

In a programme planned to be aired tomorrow evening on the BBC Radio 4 programme 'Iconoclasts', John Spencer, who is a Law Professor, proposes to argue in favour of reducing the 'Age of Consent' for children to engage in sexual intercourse to be lowered, basing his argument on the fact that so many children under the age of 16 already do so, and that accordingly it 'makes criminals of half the population.' Presumably he intends his comment to relate to the members of the population who are under 16, rather than literally 'half of the population.'

Vast numbers of children in the UK become pregnant each year, many of the pregnancies ending in the murder of the foetuses by abortion. Records show that over 8000 under 16's became pregnant in England and Wales in 2007, most of the pregnancies ending in termination.

This is just another example of the way in which young people are taught that 'anything goes', rather than being taught responsible behaviour. Suggest that the emphasis should be on saying 'NO!' and you face ridicule by those responsible for the erosion of the moral and ethical fibre of society.

We live already in a land where respect is almost a dirty word; where law and order is geared often in favour of the perpetrators of crime and against the victims; where the opportunity to apportion blame rather than use common sense, and where successive Governments have eroded all sense of family values. If the age of consent is lowered then what should it be? After all, many children as young as 11 or 12 engage in sexual activity, so should this be the age of consent, and if not then why not?

If the age of consent is lowered, for example, to 14, would this mean that if a 30-year old man engaged in sexual activity with a consenting 14-year old it would no longer be regarded as paedophilia?

Let us hope that some common sense rules and wins the day in this debate, and that the age of consent will not be lowered. would suggest that it might be better to raise the age of consent to 18 and promote the use of the word 'NO!' instead.