Should we change our age of consent?

freshpopcorn

At the moment the age of consent in Ireland is seventeen.
Do you think this should be lowered or increased?
I am happy enough as it is maybe reduce it to sixteen.

super_furry

Can't see any reason why.

Gatling

We can't lower it due to the fact a child cannot give consent in the first place ,
I think the age of consent for most part is a waste of time and effort ,how many young people currently under 16 would say we can't have sex because we're both under the age of consent ,
Most kids probably couldn't tell you what consent means in the first place

BoatMad

i Think laws that focus on the age difference, under a certain age, are more relevant then a simple stated age

jaxxx

I'd rather focus on proper sex education for young people for pretty much everything sex related: consent, STIs, pregnancy, protection, etc. You could set the age of consent to 20, it won't stop young people from having sex. The best thing to do is educate them about it. I'm out of secondary school 10 years now, and I can tell you now that not one second of those 6 years I spent there were used for sex education.

freshpopcorn

jaxxx wrote: »

I'd rather focus on proper sex education for young people for pretty much everything sex related: consent, STIs, pregnancy, protection, etc. You could set the age of consent to 20, it won't stop young people from having sex. The best thing to do is educate them about it. I'm out of secondary school 10 years now, and I can tell you now that not one second of those 6 years I spent there were used for sex education.

We actually did a good bit for an all guys school compared to others on here.

Gatling

freshpopcorn wrote: »

We actually did a good bit for an all guys school compared to others on here.

That read all wrong,

It's shocking in this day and age sex education is pretty dismal in schools

jaxxx

freshpopcorn wrote: »

We actually did a good bit for an all guys school compared to others on here.

Went to a unisex school as well. Spent at least an hour every week in the 'religion room' for 6 years learning about fairytales and how everyone is supposed to prance around like a bunny, holding each others hands. And most of us didn't subscribe to that rubbish anymore.

Gatling wrote: »

That read all wrong,

It's shocking in this day and age sex education is pretty dismal in schools

You can blame the Catholic Church for that (and the government for still not taking full control of it all.... and Obama, thanks Obama!)

I've just realised I've probably come across as very anti-church here haven't I?

freshpopcorn

jaxxx wrote: »

Went to a unisex school as well. Spent at least an hour every week in the 'religion room' for 6 years learning about fairytales and how everyone is supposed to prance around like a bunny, holding each others hands. And most of us didn't subscribe to that rubbish anymore.

We did the generally about wearing a condom or the woman might be on the pill.
It got mentioned the odd time.We didn't spend much time doing religion we spent a lot of time doing homework and reading face up magazines.

Stonedpilot

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

Gatling

jaxxx wrote: »

Went to a unisex school as well. Spent at least an hour every week in the 'religion room' for 6 years learning about fairytales and how everyone is supposed to prance around like a bunny, holding each others hands. And most of us didn't subscribe to that rubbish anymore.



You can blame the Catholic Church for that (and the government for still not taking full control of it all.... and Obama, thanks Obama!)

I've just realised I've probably come across as very anti-church here haven't I?

It's true about the church not sure what Obama did ?

jaxxx

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

Not sure if crazy or silly or trolling or ..??

prinzeugen

When there is grass on the pitch, its playable..

Sorry this was for the gardening forum!

jaxxx

Gatling wrote: »

It's true about the church not sure what Obama did ?

Oh, it's a meme from his time as president (obviously), created by someone who blamed him for things going wrong which escalated to a worldwide phenomenon, hence becoming a well known meme.

fritzelly

Age of consent for what?

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/gardai-investigating-allegation-that-girl-9-was-raped-by-11-year-old-boy-835938.html

BoatMad

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

I wasn't aware that rapists consulted legal texts before the act !

Yer Da sells Avon

I think I was around 20 when I discovered that the age of consent in Ireland is 17 and not 16. Not that it made any difference to me - I didn't lose my virginity until I was 22.

Stigura

I think " BoatMad " pretty much said it, for me.

BoatMad wrote: »

i Think laws that focus on the age difference, under a certain age, are more relevant then a simple stated age

Back when the age of consent ever entered my own head, I remember I sort of saw it as a law protecting young girls from older men. So a forty year old couldn't touch a girl below the stated age.

When I was around the age? It all mean't fcuk all, to me, or the girls I got involved with. Couple of years either side of that magic number some law proscribed? It mean't nothing to us youngsters. As long as We were comfortable and happy together? It was natural.

Smoking. Drinking. Fighting. Having sex. Teenagers gonna be Teenagers! Bless 'em

Hotblack Desiato

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

You're off your chump mate.

BoatMad

Stigura wrote: »

I think " BoatMad " pretty much said it, for me.



Back when the age of consent ever entered my own head, I remember I sort of saw it as a law protecting young girls from older men. So a forty year old couldn't touch a girl below the stated age.

When I was around the age? It all mean't fcuk all, to me, or the girls I got involved with. Couple of years either side of that magic number some law proscribed? It mean't nothing to us youngsters. As long as We were comfortable and happy together? It was natural.

Smoking. Drinking. Fighting. Having sex. Teenagers gonna be Teenagers! Bless 'em

consent age laws are not really designed to prevent sexual activity between those under that age, because equally clearly the law tends not to punish minors in the same way as adults

Consent age laws are largely a legalistic framework that stretch back to property rights , inheritance, the position of women etc

hence a discussion of the age of consent in relation to its influence on teenagers is as you say rather ridiculous and the law isnt actually designed to influence that

Hitman3000

Stonedpilot wrote:

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

Apt user name.

Hammer89

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

Technically there'd be a lot of statutory rape then?

Atlantic Dawn

I don't think so, some adults don't even know what consent is.

BoatMad

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I don't think so, some adults don't even know what consent is.

dont change the age of consent , just ban drink , that will fix most issues

Ubbquittious

I find all these age limits a peculiar ould concept. After completing some arbitrary integer value of trips around a big burning blob of hydrogen in the vastness of the universe you're suddenly handed the right to do more things

BoatMad

Ubbquittious wrote: »

I find all these age limits a peculiar ould concept. After completing some arbitrary integer value of trips around a big burning blob of hydrogen in the vastness of the universe you're suddenly handed the right to do more things

The are an artefact of a legal system that requires a line in the sand , age limits are everywhere

Ubbquittious

BoatMad wrote: »

The are an artefact of a legal system that requires a line in the sand , age limits are everywhere

Even the old fashioned tribal concept of an initiation ceremony makes a lot more sense to me.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Even the old fashioned tribal concept of an initiation ceremony makes a lot more sense to me.

That’s still based on what you previously called an arbitrary number of rotations around the sun.

Franz Von Peppercorn

BoatMad wrote: »

consent age laws are not really designed to prevent sexual activity between those under that age, because equally clearly the law tends not to punish minors in the same way as adults

Consent age laws are largely a legalistic framework that stretch back to property rights , inheritance, the position of women etc

hence a discussion of the age of consent in relation to its influence on teenagers is as you say rather ridiculous and the law isnt actually designed to influence that

That’s wrong. Under Irish law under age males can be prosecuted for consensual* sex with underage females. As in two 16 year olds. This isn’t an old law either, it’s new enough.

* not legally consensual since she can’t, but an agreed relationship

Outlaw Pete

Our age of consent laws were changed last year but it didn't get much coverage in the media for some reason.

For example, they raised the age of consent to 18 where one of the two is in a position of authority and if someone can show that they were reasonably mistaken as to someone having reached the age of consent, that's now allowed again (was removed as an option for a number of years but I think there were appeals for law reform on it).

Also, a close in age range exemption was added so that basically if a person has sex with someone that is between 15 and 16, but they are less than 2 years older than them, that can now be used as a defense (which I assume means that they would then therefore not bother prosecuting in that case when, for example, a 16 year old has sex with a 15 year old).

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2017/act/2/enacted/en/html

AllForIt

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Age of consent way too low. Needs to be increased to about 25. That way society learns to respect sex and those they have it with. Would also massively lower rape cases.

Exactly how stoned are you?

Lower it to 14 or 15 but until you're 18, the other person must be the same age give or take a year.

Teenagers are gonna have sex no matter what. The more reasonable the laws, the more likely they'd be to seek help, advice, contraceptives etc.

The current situation where a girl could land her same-aged teenage boyfriend in court for statutory rape because her father found out she asked her mum for advice is a joke.

Stonedpilot

Hammer89 wrote: »

Technically there'd be a lot of statutory rape then?

No you see no one be boning until they got to 25 see.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Yep.

The best thing we can do as adults is make it easier for teenagers to talk about it with people they trust. The law currently inhibits that.

I teach teenagers, and really, my only call to do something good in life is to help them (I started a thread about this before), and I wish it were easier for them to seek advice from people without a fear of legal trouble befalling the person they care about.

I don't want to be that person obviously. I want to help with bullying etc.

decky1

don't think this means anything to the kids nowadays, they think it's a great laugh hav'in a bit of sex ,and telling their friends about it if you seen them outside the teenage disco's and the way they dress now it would bring a tear to a glass eye.

It's been like that since I was 14, and that was 16 years ago.

Unless it's gotten worse, it's just teenagers being idiots, with their looks and sexual exploits being the only thing that differentiates them from the crowd, in their minds anyway.

When they grow up, that all changes. We accomplish other things that give us meaning and pride.

RandomName2

A 16 year old who takes a photo of their bits and sends that to a partner is guilty of producing and spreading child pornography, can permanently go on the sex offenders list and end up in jail. If you think there ins't something odd about that, all I can say is that the Confessional State ain't dead.

Edit: some people are voting that sex should be illegal outside marriage! Nuff said.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

RandomName2 wrote: »

A 16 year old who takes a photo of their bits and sends that to a partner is guilty of producing and spreading child pornography, can permanently go on the sex offenders list and end up in jail. If you think there ins't something odd about that, all I can say is that the Confessional State ain't dead.

Edit: some people are voting that sex should be illegal outside marriage! Nuff said.

Pretty sure they're taking the piss. At least I hope so.

To those saying it should be raised: what would you hope such a move would achieve?

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

RandomName2 wrote: »

A 16 year old who takes a photo of their bits and sends that to a partner is guilty of producing and spreading child pornography, can permanently go on the sex offenders list and end up in jail. If you think there ins't something odd about that, all I can say is that the Confessional State ain't dead.

Edit: some people are voting that sex should be illegal outside marriage! Nuff said.

Pretty sure they're taking the piss. At least I hope so.

To those saying it should be raised: what would you hope such a move would achieve?

Franz Von Peppercorn

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Pretty sure they're taking the piss. At least I hope so.

To those saying it should be raised: what would you hope such a move would achieve?

One guy was serious. The rest probably taking the piss.

Franz Von Peppercorn

RandomName2 wrote: »

A 16 year old who takes a photo of their bits and sends that to a partner is guilty of producing and spreading child pornography, can permanently go on the sex offenders list and end up in jail. If you think there ins't something odd about that, all I can say is that the Confessional State ain't dead.

Edit: some people are voting that sex should be illegal outside marriage! Nuff said.

I dont think the church had much say or influence in the most recent changes in the law.