Discrimination between countries on the legal age of consent

Relaxation of legal restrictions on under-age sex
Legalization of adolescent sex
Active prejudice towards juvenile sexual relations

Nature

In Western society there is enormous peer pressure, reinforced by films, TV, magazines and advertising, on 13- or 14-year-olds or younger to become sexually active. Children, in the vulnerable age between physical maturity and emotional immaturity, are increasingly confused and disoriented. The concern is that if the law also endorses a downward trend in sexual activity, a culture will be produced where children have no innocence.

Incidence

In 1990, the Dutch Parliament approved legislation which reduced the age of consenting adolescents to legally have sex with one another to 12 years old. This is the lowest of all European countries. Twelve European countries have an age of consent which is 14 or lower for both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.

Claim

There is inevitable potential for abuse in reducing the age of consent. An unscrupulous mother could allow her 12 year-old daughter to become a prostitute, for example.

Counter-claim

It is not the intention to encourage sex among minors; simply to bring the law in line with social reality. Youngsters today mature physically and mentally at a much earlier age. Voluntary sexual relations between consenting children are very hard to prosecute. Six percent of Dutch children aged between 12 and 13 are already having sex, regardless of the law.

The age of consent to homosexual sex should be reduced to realistic levels. Homosexual orientation is well known by the age of 12 or 13, and certainly by 16. The average age of first homosexual experience is around 15.7 years (UK). To criminalise homosexual encounters at ages above this is discriminatory.