Age of consent manifestations (UK)
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Restrictions on sexual activity involving children in the United Kingdom and its predecessors have existed since medieval times. During the 1970s, there was some political advocacy in favour of significantly reducing the age of consent, supported in part by those openly professing an attraction to minors. Meanwhile, over a similar time period, the unequal age of consent for straight and gay young people was campaigned against by the LGBT rights movement. More recently arguments have occasionally been made in favour of reducing the age of consent, generally to an earlier point in adolescence.


Legal history

In 1275, the first age of consent was set in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, at age 12 (
Statute of Westminster I The Statute of Westminster of 1275 (3 Edw. I), also known as the Statute of Westminster I, codified the existing law in England, into 51 chapters. Only Chapter 5 (which mandates free elections) is still in force in the United Kingdom, whilst par ...
). In 1875, the
Offences Against the Person Act Offences Against the Person Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom, in the Republic of Ireland, in Hong Kong, in New Zealand, in Tasmania, in Jamaica, and in Antigua and Barbuda, relating to of ...
raised the age to 13 in Great Britain and Ireland, and ten years later the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 raised it to 16. In 1917, a bill raising the age of consent in Great Britain and Ireland from 16 to 17 was defeated by only one vote. In 1950, the Parliament of Northern Ireland passed the Children and Young Persons Act, which successfully raised the age of consent to 17. However, in 2008 this enactment was reversed by the British government in the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008, which made the age of consent in Northern Ireland 16, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. The reason given for this Order being made was to bring the age of consent into line with the rest of the United Kingdom. The Criminal Justice Minister,
Paul Goggins Paul Gerard Goggins (16 June 1953 – 7 January 2014) was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wythenshawe and Sale East from 1997 until his death in January 2014. He was also previously a Minister of State ...
, said there was no compelling reason for the age to be different in Northern Ireland. The male
homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
age of consent in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
was set at 21 in the
Sexual Offences Act 1967 The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom (citation 1967 c. 60). It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained th ...
for "consenting adults in private" (following the recommendations of the Wolfenden Report), then lowered to 18 in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and finally lowered to 16 in
England & Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Engli ...
and
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000. Currently, the
age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
for penetrative sex, oral sex and mutual masturbation in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
is 16 years. If any individual has sex with someone under this age, then they may be charged with a criminal offence and may receive a 14-year prison sentence or if they are under 18 a 5-year prison sentence. Similarly, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000 prohibits a person in a position of trust from performing sexual acts with someone who cannot consent, which includes minors and "very vulnerable people". It is primarily used for the protection of those who are above the age of consent but under the age of 18, or who have mental disabilities.


Advocacy


Reduction


1970s

The decriminalisation of sex between men over the age of 21 convinced some paedophiles that they might soon be able to change the law and social attitudes to allow for their desire to have sex with children. The Paedophile Information Exchange was an organisation with around 300 members which used its links inside government and the civil liberties movement to lobby for the decriminalisation of sex with children as young as four years old. Arguments around relaxing age of consent laws relating to adolescents in particular did also have a wider reach. Sociologist Matthew Waites, author of ''The age of Consent – Young People, Sexuality and Citizenship'', observed that:
By the mid-1970s the case for a lower minimum age for all was finding wider support, with questions being posed concerning the merits of lowering the legal age for male/female sexual behaviour – not only within grassroots sexual movements, but also within religious organisations and
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
intellectual circles. ..Significant sections of liberal opinion in the political mainstream, including prominent campaigners for children’s interests and sexual health, support at least some selective decriminalisation of sexual activity between young people under 18.
In August 1971 young members of the
Gay Liberation Front Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the name of several gay liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots. Similar organizations also formed in the UK and Canada. The GLF provided a ...
organised a public rally in London to protest at the age of consent for gay men. In April 1972, the Society of Friends Social Responsibility Council (a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
conference), passed a resolution in favour of lowering the age of consent in Britain from 16 to 14.Waites, Matthew (2005, p.132). In July of that year, Dr. John Robinson, Dean of
Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
, and chair of the UK's Sexual Law Reform Society, defended an age of consent of 14 in a lecture at a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
Conference. In May 1974, the
Campaign for Homosexual Equality The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) is a membership organisation in the United Kingdom with a stated aim from 1969 to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales. Active throughout the 1970s ...
suggested a basic age of consent of 16, but that could be as low as 12 "in cases where a defendant could prove the existence of meaningful consent". The ''Sexual Law Reform Society'' proposed in September of that year lowering the age of consent to 14, with the requirement that below the age of 18 the burden of proof that consent for sexual activities between the parties existed would be the responsibility of the older participant. In March 1976, the
National Council for Civil Liberties Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes hu ...
(NCCL), called for an equal age of consent of 14, or 10, in Britain. The submission to the Criminal Law Revision Committee generated extensive newspaper coverage. While the report recognised the merits of abolishing the age of consent, it proposed retaining a prohibition on sex under the age of 14 "as a compromise with public attitudes",Waites, Matthew (2005, p.135-136). The age of consent – Young people, Sexuality and Citizenship. New York/London: Palgrave MacMillan. . . stating that "although it is both logical and consistent with modern knowledge about child development, to suggest that the age of consent should be abolished, we fear that, given the present state of public attitudes on this topic, it will not be politically possible to abolish the age of consent". They also argued that "childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage" and suggested that more harm was caused when the children retold their experiences in court or to the press. The submission was signed by Harriet Harman, who was a legal officer for the NCCL at the time before becoming an MP in 1982. Harman denies ever supporting the age of consent being lowered to 10, and claimed that right-wing newspapers the
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
and
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had tried to make her "guilty by association" with fringe groups that had previously been connected to the NCCL.


More recent arguments

By the end of 20th century, those in favour of reducing the age of consent faster were pointing to faster physical development and increasing levels of sexual activity among adolescents as reasoning. More generally in academic work, particularly in
sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
, writing on
human sexual behaviour Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) ...
debated prohibitions on sexual activity involving children.Waites, Matthew (2005, op.cit., pp. 132-133, 220) Although he does not favour total abolition,
Francis Bennion Francis Alan Roscoe Bennion (2 January 1923 – 28 January 2015"Deaths", ''The Times'', 17 February 2015, p. 57) was a barrister in the United Kingdom. He was the author of several leading UK legal texts, including in particular ''Bennion on St ...
, a British liberal humanist also influenced by the historical context of the issue, emphasised the fact that children are "sexual beings", concluding that this in itself makes legal prohibitions unfair.
Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated at ...
, British journalist specialised in music and youth culture, suggested that "we have sexual feelings from a very early age", considering that sex is "natural behaviour". She favoured lowering the age of consent to 12 in the UK while labeling the criminalisation of sexual activity under the age of 16 as "laughably unrealistic". In November 2013, a leading public health expert and Faculty of Public Health president, Professor
John Ashton John Ashton may refer to: Entertainment * John Ashton (composer) (1830–1896), Welsh musician * Will Ashton (John William Ashton, 1881–1963), British-Australian artist and art director * John Rowland Ashton (1917–2008), English author * John ...
, called for the age of consent to be lowered to 15. He said that the current legal limit prevented sexually active younger teenagers from getting support with issues of disease and contraception. He said that official figures indicated as many as a third of all 14- and 15-year-olds are having sex in Britain and said that a nationwide debate was needed to discuss the benefits of lowering the present age of consent of 16. The call was rejected by then Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
and then Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
that same year.


Criticism

Evidence from some of the groups who have advocated for lowering the age of consent have included known and convicted paedophiles within some of the organisations, for example the Paedophile Information Exchange.


Research

Research by
Jean Golding Jean Golding , FMedSci, (born Jean Bond 22 September 1939, also known as Jean Fedrick between 1962 and 1977) is a British epidemiologist, and founder of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as "Children of th ...
showed that by the early 2000s in
puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
is occurring earlier than in the 1970s, with an average age of
menarche Menarche ( ; ) is the first menstrual cycle, or first menstrual bleeding, in female humans. From both social and medical perspectives, it is often considered the central event of female puberty, as it signals the possibility of fertility. Gir ...
in girls now at 12 years and 10 months, compared to the average age of 14 for puberty in general that was accepted as evidence by the Policy Advisory Committee of the 1970s. Golding's research has found that "one girl in six hits puberty at the age of eight". According to British research conducted by the Centre for Family and Household Research in the 1990s, "an increasing proportion of young people are sexually active below the age of consent". Additionally, the UK's first
National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) are a series of surveys of people in the Great Britain regarding their sexual behaviour and patterns, and are among the largest scientific studies of sexual behaviours in the world. Th ...
(NATSAL), which collected data up to 1990, found that a high proportion of young people engage in other forms of sexual activity prohibited by the law, including mutual masturbation and oral sex, beginning on average at the age of 14. Waites also observed that "qualitative research reveals a picture of many young people negotiating sexual behaviour in a context of secrecy, constrained by power relationships while lacking confidence, resources and support". He added, "It is argued by some sexual health professionals that the age of consent should be lowered ..to facilitate more effective support from health and education services".


Public opinion

In November 2000, an internet poll of 42,000 girls aged 12 to 16 was conducted. "Nine out of 10 respondents did not believe in waiting until marriage to have sex, while 87 per cent said the age of consent should be lowered from 16. Sex education was criticised as out-dated, uninformative and taught too late, with little structured literature about sexually transmitted diseases, same-sex relationships and how to deal with pregnancy". Those surveyed also said that free condoms should be provided in girls toilets and that the £60 million drive by the government to half teenage conceptions would have been better spent on clinics for young people wanting confidential advice.


See also

*
Adolescent sexuality in the United Kingdom Adolescent sexuality has been a topic observed and studied within the United Kingdom throughout the 20th century and in the 21st century. Associated organisations have been established to study and monitor trends and statistics as well as provi ...
*
Age of consent reform in Canada Age of consent law in Canada refers to cultural and legal discussions in Canada regarding the age of consent, which was raised in May 2008 as part of the ''Tackling Violent Crime Act''. This applies to all forms of sexual activity. In May 2008, t ...
*
Ages of consent in Europe The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. The ages of consent are between 14 and 18. The vast majority of countries set their ages in the range of 14 to 16; only four countries, Cyprus (17), Ireland (17), Turkey (18) and Vatican C ...
*
Constitutional reform in the United Kingdom There have been various proposals for constitutional reform in the United Kingdom. Current system The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy governed via a Westminster system of parliamentary democracy ...
*
French petitions against age of consent laws In 1977 and 1979, several petitions were signed by a number of prominent French intellectuals, doctors, and psychologists calling for reforms to or the abolition of the French age of consent law. A January 1977 petition published in ''Le Monde'' ...
* Statutory rape


Footnotes


External links


Sexual Age Of Consent Will Not Be Lowered To 14, Insists David Cameron
HuffPost. Published 11 January 2013. Last updated 13 March 2013. {{LGBT topics in the United Kingdom Adolescent sexuality in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
Child sexuality Civil rights and liberties in the United Kingdom Human rights in the United Kingdom Law reform in the United Kingdom Sexuality in the United Kingdom Youth rights in the United Kingdom