It was reported on television recently that politicians are to consider whether to lower the age of consent for sex from 16 to 15 years old. They state that many 15 year olds are already engaging in sex and by lowering the age would benefit young people by opening up and extending health support.
How absolutely ridiculous is this proposal. Firstly, without research, I doubt very much most 15 year olds are having sex. Secondly, this preposterous proposal is levied at females whose emotional health is not mature enough to be considered as able to fully appreciate giving consent. Thirdly, this will give men not necessarily boys an incentive to continue abusing young female minds. Lastly, services already exists for those engaging in sex before the legal age of consent.
By agreeing to lower the current age runs the risk of escalating the abuse that young females face by older perpetrators who will add further pressure to younger girls to give in to sex. We already have legislation to protect the vulnerabilities of young people yet we appear to be happy to act paradoxically to damaging these very people. If we were to allow this lowering of the consent age now, how much further will the age go down to in time. Young females already feel pressured into sex by their male counterparts and run the risk of ostracising themselves if they do not partake in an activity that many of them feel is too soon. I have worked with a number of young females who is engaging in sex and the common theme that emits from their thoughts of one of nullification.
The beautiful and sensuous feelings that should come from sex are missing and this is not purely due to their lack of physical attributes but because their feelings about sex is not congruent with what their body is able to undertake. What is clearly missing is the relate part of a having a relationship and how this acts as an important factor in the engagement of sex. Schools need to do more in preparing young people in sex and not just focus on the physical mechanics. We should ideally, be able to rely on parents to inform their children on this matter but let us not fool ourselves that this is being done. Nor is many mothers able to have a rational and informed discussion with their children due to many reasons such as embarrassment (on both parts) and also not being emotionally stable themselves.
Schools will find themselves with more challenging behavior as they struggle to deal with the emotional fallout of younger females having sex whilst studying. However, I do not necessarily feel that many more girls will engage in sex than is current but the pressure to do so due to acceptance and the act being legal will make things more difficult for the female to say No. Currently, the law helps to protect the young female by giving her the support to not expecting to be pounced upon but if this is changed, they will lose this protection.
Many older females have regrets about the indulging in sex when they were younger. The free spirit and liberation for women is far more practical than it is emotionally attainable. This is usually because the allowing of such an act does not necessarily mean that the individual is ready to be fully cognizant about their choices.
We must leave our young females to mature further as the emotional discord that follows when sex is engaged prematurely is long-lasting. Even some of those young girls already having sex are largely confused and consent to sex is due to peer pressure. We must not allow this proposal to become legal. This is nothing short of child exploitation. Instead we should be educating all more on both the physical and emotional health risks to having sex early in age.
My name is Marcea Hibbert-Roye, qualified Social Worker and Life Coach. My specialism is developing emotional awareness in females.
If you are a parent who is struggling with a pubescent female teenager, Safe Space Access offers tools to support initiating conversations to better understand therefore support your child with growing up.
We cannot afford that someone else will be responsible for informing our young females nor can we rely on luck that she will pass through puberty unscathed. It is all our responsibilities to support and protect our young females as they will become the primary carers to their children and without an adequate level of good emotional health, we all run the risk of living in a society that has a large broken underclass of people.
For further information, visit out website: http://www.safespaceaccess.com
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Filed under: Guest Blog Tagged: Age of consent, Emotion, emotional health, Faculty of Public Health, John Ashton, Law, Sex Education, Sexuality, Youth 
