News coverage of underage gay sex

ronbyrne2005

Reading this article in sunday tribune it seems rather sensationalist. 15 Year old advertises on gay sex site to meet older male shock. I expect better from the likes of the sunday tribune. In many countries the age of consent for gay sex regardless of the age of older partner is 14 or 15. No one is adressing the issue in a reasoned manner. Many many underage gay guys have sex with older men and have no regrets when they look back on it in future. Can a 15 year old not be mature enough to seek out sex? Why are 14/15 year olds in Austria or Scandinavia (for example) consider mature enough to seek out sex with older men? I'm not gay BTW but hate sensationalist reporting.

http://www.tribune.ie/article.tvt?_scope=Tribune/News/Home%20News&id=62467&SUBCAT=Tribune/News

seamus

I do think there's a certain "flavour of the month" thing that the papers are now pushing about the whole underage gay sex thing. They seem to be competing to see who can shock the best.

That said, it's something for which there needs to be legislated for. I would suspect that the main reason why you find the age of consent lower for gay sex is that the risk of pregnancy doesn't exist.

Personally I don't think that allowing it at 14/15 is OK. 14/15 is right about the time that young people are discovering their own sexuality. Experimentation is normal and healthy at this age - but with people who are equally experimenting. Older, sexually mature men "aiding" in this experimentation has too much of a predatory feel to it. If the teenager decides that in fact, he/she's not gay, then where does that leave them?

Comparing our laws to other countries' laws, isn't really apt. You must legislate for the culture. In Spain, for example, it's legal for a man to have sex with a girl as young as 13, provided that the girl is his wife. Would you be happy to apply that law here?

mike65

As usual I picked up the Turbine and thought exactly the same, had the wording been only slightly more base and simple it could have come straight from a tabloid.

Mike.

ronbyrne2005

seamus wrote:

I do think there's a certain "flavour of the month" thing that the papers are now pushing about the whole underage gay sex thing. They seem to be competing to see who can shock the best.

That said, it's something for which there needs to be legislated for. I would suspect that the main reason why you find the age of consent lower for gay sex is that the risk of pregnancy doesn't exist.

Personally I don't think that allowing it at 14/15 is OK. 14/15 is right about the time that young people are discovering their own sexuality. Experimentation is normal and healthy at this age - but with people who are equally experimenting. Older, sexually mature men "aiding" in this experimentation has too much of a predatory feel to it. If the teenager decides that in fact, he/she's not gay, then where does that leave them?

Comparing our laws to other countries' laws, isn't really apt. You must legislate for the culture. In Spain, for example, it's legal for a man to have sex with a girl as young as 13, provided that the girl is his wife. Would you be happy to apply that law here?

Im not saying the age of consent is too high for males or females. I'm just disappointed that a supossed broadsheet engages in sensationalism and doesnt even mention the age of consent around the world and discuss whether gay guys under 17 who engage in sex with older guys are actually capable of making an informed descision. I don't think anyone who was experimenting with their sexuality would go to such a site looking for older men or even same age males, someone going to such a site is looking to hook up and is pretty sure of their sexuality and desire for sex.

The tribune are making out as if seeking sex with a willing 15 year old in paedophillia which it clearly aint. It may be expolitative but not abuse and not worthy of front page news. Underage guys and girls have slept with same age and older people since the begining of time. Some 15 year olds are clearly very capable of making an independent informed descision about their sex life but many are not so thats what the laws are for.

DMC

The Sunday Times, on the other hand, have an article saying the Gardai are not treating the case as a "paedophile ring". A lot of the media jumped on that bandwagon.

I can't find it on their quite useless website.

mike65

I e-mailed the Sunday Times about that, no reply. Try googling it.

If you were to take the news all week at face value you'd belive there are dirty macs lining up round the block to have sex with underage boys.

Different perspectives

Gardaí believe that information about the boy was passed on within what they said could be described as a paedophile ring.

“These are sinister characters sharing information with each other. There’s a degree of organisation and they operate in secrecy,” said a source.

“When they know a minor is involved in sexual activity they share that information.”

Detectives said the boy was not coerced into performing sexual acts, but stressed that as he is underage, consent did not arise.

“Force was not used, but that’s not an issue under the law as he is a minor. He does not have the authority to consent in law,” said a garda source.

http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=26602-qqqx=1.asp


http://www.gcn.ie/content/templates/newsupdate.aspx?articleid=1931&zoneid=9

Mike.

DMC

mike65 wrote:

I e-mailed the Sunday Times about that, no reply. Try googling it.

To no avail. I'm type up some of it...

Front page of the Sunday Times today, headline "Gardai: Sex ring story is a myth". The jist of the article is that the boy posed as a 19 year old, had sex with two of the types of characters already mentioned in the press, not with the guard or the civil servent, but some of those who realised he was a minor backed away.

from the article. wrote:

The Garda investigation into the abuse is believed to be the first insofar as the boy, a victim of statuory rape, was a willing participant.
One detective said "there is no paedophile ring, although some of the men involved may have known each other, but this has yet to be established."

So what we have now is the press might well be jumping the gun (á la Liam Lawlor's demise), labelling people before the facts are established, which made a personal tragedy a more public one than is necessary.

If The Sunday Times is correct in what it says, it once again proves that the papers here are getting a whole lot worse.

ronbyrne2005

mike65 wrote:

I e-mailed the Sunday Times about that, no reply. Try googling it.

If you were to take the news all week at face value you'd belive there are dirty macs lining up round the block to have sex with underage boys.

Different perspectives



http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=ireland-qqqm=ireland-qqqa=ireland-qqqid=26602-qqqx=1.asp


http://www.gcn.ie/content/templates/newsupdate.aspx?articleid=1931&zoneid=9

Mike.

Have to laugh at that link to a gay site. The article says "paedophiles pretending to be gay men"! Can paedophiles not be gay then!The 14 year old boy was a teenager anyway and pretended to be older(supposedly) so he was'nt a prepubescent child which is what paedophiles are after.

Judt

Can paedophiles not be gay then!

I think they mean pedophile in general, not gay or straight. Usually one doesn't distinguish between the two - a gay or a straight pedophile is still a pedophile, it's just a term used to distinguish them from normal people.

I think one has to walk the fine line here between media sensationalism, the law (the age of consent in this country, whether you agree with it or not, is the law) and predators out to find loopholes through which to exploit children. A more level-headed reporting would be nice...

brianthebard

ronbyrne2005 wrote:

Have to laugh at that link to a gay site. The article says "paedophiles pretending to be gay men"! Can paedophiles not be gay then!The 14 year old boy was a teenager anyway and pretended to be older(supposedly) so he was'nt a prepubescent child which is what paedophiles are after.

I'm probably over analysing but that statement does seem to suggest the view that paedophiles aren't fully human, that they are pretending to be normal. Or something like that.

jawlie

It's strange that we become sexually "mature" around 12 or 13 years of age, but sexual contact is not legally allowed until 17. It's a hard circle to square.