Personally, I don't really see the need in there being a consent law. Well maybe to keep the chimos at bay, but like if you're ready to have sex. Shit, just do it. Just make sure you are ready and make sure it's with the right person. Unfortunately I made that mistake the hard way...

Legal age won't stop underage kids from doing it.

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Adding ages of consent for teens is murky at best when it is natural that from about 13 onwards both sexes are interested and physically ready for sex with peers, below 13 and the children wouldn't be ready, full stop. Note the peers qualification, so a difference of 6-8 years maximum would be permissible.

Education is the only thing that may change the true sexual maturity of those taking part. This is not helped by the general immaturity of the Western world in regards to sex as a natural action, it is either hidden and demonized or distorted to a huge degree, like with the hardcore porn avaliable on the internet. In some places the age of majority it under 10, in some US states you can be charged as an adult for some crimes when you are below 12, yet you can't have sex until 18. How does that work?

In tribal areas of Africa or elsewhere the average 14 or 15 year old is far more knowledgeable about life and sexuality, particularly if they grew up in a tight village community and saw their older siblings marry, make love or speak about that to them. That community meant that young people would be able to know, grow and have sexual experiences with their peers at all stages of life. If it were traditional then child nudity and nudity in general would just be the norm and not a hidden, possible object of desire.

In times past, children on the whole were more mentally mature at an earlier age so they would start having sex when it became possible for their bodies to do so. The recent development of parents who seek to control almost every aspect of their child's life will ultimately limit their decision making ability when posed with sexual situations and create lower self worth that may be prayed upon.

Much of the current age of consent law strikes me as being geared more towards scoring easy points for the law and order section of governments by bringing in a few people they can label as pedophiles (even though if the person is above puberty they technically aren't paedophiles). It's the kind of bureaucracy they love.

This seems to be a recent trend and the out and out demonizing of "pedophiles" will lead to some degree of victim blame, once you create such a societal hate of something the victim will feel guilt for letting the wrong happen - I'm not talking non-consensual rape here, but that where there has been "consent", even if the law doesn't recognise it - even if they were knowledgeable about what the sexual act involved and above puberty.

That said, any relationship can be exploitative no matter what age the participants are and, like all relationships, deciding blame, guilt or exploitation is very subjective - if you've ever seen a family court case - and I am not sure whether the state should be involved once the people are both in or past puberty. Having the age at up to 21 (in Madagascar) just creates a group of sexually active persons with whom all sex is technically illegal and may be prosecuted at the whim of the prosecutor.

That said I feel no more ready for sex now at age 18 than at age 13, the only experience that changed my knowledge was actually having sex once or twice; you could do that at any age above puberty and learn exactly the same amount about what you did or didn't enjoy doing it.

Yes, the age of consent should be lowered to puberty. Most teens have sex before 18, laws criminalizing sex are stupid and harmful. The legal age varies from state to state and from country to country. This doesn't make any sense, it only goes to show how arbitrary and irrational society can be. I know some will, say a close in age requirement should exist. I honestly don't think that is necessary because most all teens are attracted to someone close in age. They only need to know sex is ALWAYS their choose to make.

Why 18, why 16, how are these ages chosen? Well, far too often it's under pressure by religious groups that have been pushing up the age for decades. That is unless you get married, than they are okay with sex. Well, where does it stop, they are pushing for 18 to be the age now everywhere, what's next? 20, then 22, then only sex with marriage? Think about it, don't just dismiss what I said. After all, they have been pushing up the age gradually for decades.

Sexuality is innate, naturall and completely normal. Yes, teen sexuality is normal too, despite how some adults may feel. Stop criminalizing something that everyone wants and has a biological need for. I know disease and pregnancy are important concerns. So free access to healthcare professionals and condoms are a must... But, leave "your" moral judgments and bias out of this. Just as you and I had a right to choose for yourselves, so do teens.

It is pointless to have a law limiting a certain age group seeing as they are so willing to break that law.

I like the idea of having it be at 16, but only letting those 16 year olds have sex with someone within the range of two years older. Anything higher and the older person is most likely taking advantage of someone who does not know any better.

Er, I'm against old guys like me hooking up with teens. Being an old guy myself, I know these guys are up to no good.

But my concern is the situation brought up on the otherside about a 16 year old having sex with a 15 year old, then having to live their entire life with the "sex offender" stigma, every job interview, every neighborhood they move into, they often have to tell people they're a "sex offender."

That's just dumb.

I think that under 18, there should be about a 3 or 4 year window instead of a solid cut-off of 16. I think that makes more sense.

I'm a little confused, because I thought the age of consent was 18, not 16.

But if it's 16, I actually think that's too young. I think there should be some kind of rule, like if you're old enough to buy alcohol, you can't have sex with anyone under 18.

You may run into a problem here, if say a senior in high school starts dating a freshman, and they stay together, one may still be 17 when the other turns 21. It may not be fair to make them break up, or to call one a pedophile or whatever, so more thought would have to go into it.

So that idea isn't perfect either. Something like it though would make more sense I think.

I agree that the age of consent should be 16 but there should also be a national system and a limit if your under 16 of two years