• Laws of Nature Are Not the Laws of Man.
• Cultures that even legally train kids for sex
• Consenting adults
• Grey Areas
• Sexist Rules and Laws

 
By Dr Masimba Mavaza
The Laws of Nature Are Not the Laws of Man.
A child, biologically, is someone who has not entered puberty. Once at puberty, they are no longer a child and now have sexual desires and feelings, for which they possess the ability to act upon. And they do. The amount of kids having sex at a young age has increased in recent years. At present it’s estimated that 50% had had sex before leaving high school all the way back to the 1970s, so as of today, the figure has shot up. So, whether we think they should or shouldn’t, the kids are having sex.
 
Cultures that even legally train kids for sex
Don’t forget that all arguments made about the propriety of it are from the perspective of our own culture, and thus, form our basis for the present perception. There are other cultures in existence today with radically different standards. Take the Malawian chinamwale for example, who not only encourage and facilitate sexual activities among adolescents, at 13-14, they actually train them in sexual techniques for pleasing their partners (boys and girls receive this training).
Teenagers are sexual beings, and funnily enough, they are almost never asked about this issue. It’s always older people debating what’s best for them, and they rarely have an opportunity to weigh in with their own beliefs about who they should be allowed to engage in intercourse with. Being attracted to someone who is, for instance, 15 years and has developed sexual appetites, is not the same thing as a pathological obsession with pre-sexual humans. We trust teenagers to make a lot of mature decisions, and they tend to make the ones we don’t trust them to a lot of the time anyway. It must not be a very difficult decision to know whether you want to have sex with someone or not. It is instinctive and easy. Yes, I find that person attractive, no I want nothing to do with that one. If we trust a teenager to drive a car, I think we can trust them to operate their own bodies without a court order.
 
Consenting adults
The new law says the age of consent is now 16. But no, laws concerning the age of consent should not be changed to be more permissive, because minors tend to not think logically. When people are under the age of 18, I don’t believe they think logically enough. I really think changing this law would be terrible. Of course, my heart does go out to those who are lied to as well. It would be terrible to think you’re having sex with a consenting adult, and then find out you aren’t. However, I do not believe that this law should be changed. It was put forth for a reason.
The age bar should define which sex they are. Yes, I do believe that there should be an age of consent around the mid-late teenage. But it seems that teenagers are scared by this constant “age, age, age, know the laws know the laws!” chatter. They should have sex when they are ready whether it be 16 or 25. But also, if they are around 14-16, it should be with someone within 2 or 3 years of their age. I only support Age Of Consent laws to try to stop paedophiles. But other people/things such as parents, friends, schools, law enforcement, government (etc) should lay off trying to dictate their lives on what they can and can’t do.
 
Sexist Laws
There is no way I can say this without appearing sexist but I support women doing the same men in society. There should be different ages of consent laws for males and females (I KNOW IT SOUNDS SEXIST).
There is no way I can say this without being sexist. There should be different ages of consent laws for males and females (I KNOW IT SOUNDS SEXIST). I don’t see how there is a problem if say a 15/16-year old male had consensual and exciting sex with say a 30-year old female. Whereas I would see it as taking advantage and unfair for say a 30-year old male to have sex with a 15-year old female. I would consider that a borderline paedophile!… As sexist as I hope it doesn’t sound, I think the sexual consent age should be so teens can have sex but be protected from older males. The age of consent should be 16 with a few restrictions: (females must be 16+ if a male is 18+).
The day you turn 18 does not automatically make you any way smarter or more mature than the day before. I believe that the age if consent should be looked at in line with the judgement as we see in this day and age when many of our children have to deal with “adult” problems before the law accepts them as adults.
By the age of 16, they are basically developed and know their bodies. They know that sex can result in pregnancy or cause them to contract a disease, and they know how to take precautions to avoid this. Why should they be denied marriage before 18 but be allowed the day they turn 18 when their views and thoughts have not at all magically changed on that day? If they are legally able to drive, then they have the right to do with their bodies as they please.
Today teenagers are making the decision to become sexually active at a younger age than ever before. I believe that the age of consent should be updated for a few reasons. The biggest reason that I feel that the age of consent should be raised is to protect the girl-child.
Now they are left exposed by this verdict. Each situation should be looked at and judged individually. I feel that angry parents will now push for the conviction of their daughters’ partners when ‘the young man’ may have done nothing morally wrong.
I feel that parents should talk to their children and help them decide when the time is right for them to make important choices on their own, and when they do, we have no right to hold someone else responsible for that choice.
 
Grey Areas
There are several grey areas and Age of Consent laws should be more permissive as kids grow up faster than they used to. Children and teenagers grow up much faster nowadays than previous generations did. Even though they are not legally allowed to have sexual intercourse, they drink until the age of 16. Many start having sex and alcohol much earlier than that. In cases of serious crimes, teenagers can be tried as adults. 16-18 year olds can serve and die for their country, but not be trusted with alcohol. If adult responsibilities are expected of them, they should have adult rights too. Many college campuses would be able to curtail and help underclassmen alcoholics, if the drinking age were lowered and binging was not so covert.
If a 15-year old is going to be held responsible for a crime as an adult then they should be held responsible for their body as well. 15-year old boys and girls know what they are doing when they decide to have sex. They need to be educated to handle the responsibility of sex but having a law saying they are too young to know what they are saying yes to, only creates problems for them and their partners.
A teen’s hormones come around the age of 16 and it is natural for everyone.
Age is relative I’ve known 23-year olds who were far less mature than some 16-year olds. It should be up to the two people if they are both consenting-adult minded.
We need to stop putting people in prison because they had a consenting, mature sexual experience. They’re not hurting anyone. It’s time to evolve as a society.
Rape is one thing but consensual sex is completely different.
The law is there to protect children who are being sexually exploited and abused. Young people under the age of 18 are still minors and as such need to be protected from sexual exploitation and abuse. The law is not there for people to squabble over ‘grey’ areas, it is there to protect children who are being sexually exploited and abused. Without this law, those children who are being abused and exploited lose that protection entirely, just for the sake of randy teenagers who can’t keep their pants up!
The judgement as it is, it encourages abuse and grooming under the pretext that it would “stop the persecution of old men” But unlike the opinion of the judged this would be a bad thing; In reality they are encouraging paedophiles and perverts to abuse and groom children as young as sixteen knowing that they will not marry them. The disgusting suggestion makes me sick to think that an influential bench wants to see these “old men” be let off with their perversion …
Dr Masimba Mavaza, PhD