Relax, don't do it. Don't relax the age of consent

Though I am not always in accordance with David Cameron, especially as the 2015 election approaches and he launches attacks on The Guardian over the Snowden files (in my view a public service) and the UNITE union over a stunt they did related to Grangemouth refinery (when the management shut down the plant, demanding a no-strike agreement for three years, which they got), while protecting the bosses of the energy companies (green levies - instead of scrapping them, make it illegal for their cost to be passed on to the consumer), at the end of this long-winded sentence, I can say I feel very strongly that the age of consent should not be lowered from 16 years of age to 15.

Professor John Ashton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, said that to combat under-age sex between teenagers and reduce sex between those under 15, we should follow the example of some other 'mature' countries.  He himself exposes the arbitrary nature of his conclusions, by saying he is opposed to lowering it to 14-year olds (why not? Other countries do so.  Ah but that undermines his sense of probity).  It is estimated that a third of boys and a quarter of girls have lost their virginity before they turn 16 (the imbalance in the totals probably indicates both that boys exaggerate their prowess and the girls in that quartile are fairly free with their favours).  But many children also fall prey to the drug nicotine before they can buy it legally, by that argument we should lower tobacco purchases to 15, to remove its 'adult prestige' and not criminalise youngsters.  The idea that 14-year olds will suddenly not have sex because they will wait does not stand up to scrutiny.

Prof Ashton's argument is fallacious.  Just because it works in some countries doesn't follow automatically that it will work here.  24-hour drinking legislation was supposed to eliminate the closing-time binge which was followed by drink-fuelled rage, turning us into more civilised drinkers as on the continent.  It didn't.  Moreover, Prof Ashton is under the wrong impression that those who have sex under-age cannot tell any adults about it, when their are clear guidelines banning such stigmatisation.  Further, he has completely ignored the threat to young people from predatory elders.  We shouldn't whip up hysteria about paedophiles around every corner when most reside within families, as it leads to the burning to death of an innocent man all because of whispered rumours and incompetent policing, but the law is there to protect until teenagers have some understanding of what is expected in a relationship.

Virginity is ultimately a state of mind, as its loss does not precipitate any physical changes.  Indeed, its transformation from a virtuous concept into a derided one is a pernicious 'development' in Anglo-Saxon societies.  It is often boys pushing girls to have sex and this will not change whether the age of consent is 15, 16 or 18 (as the latter is in the USA).  What is needed is better sex education (despite the Department of Education's sniffy refusal to change their protocols), not just at schools which are frequently treated as a dumping ground for parental social problems but at home as well.  A change in the latter would be an example of the 'mature' society, Prof Ashton envisages.