Some say it should be lowered, others say it should be raised.

This is a controversial issue and needs exploring seriously and in depth as it raises both personal, religious and political opinion into what is a phenomena that crosses the public and private domain and affects all of our lives.

Some suggest you should not have relations outside of marriage, this is an important adjunct to the discussion as it raises a further sub question which is should the age of marriage be raised or lowered and should you require parental consent if a minor?

What is your opinion on this debate, where do you stand?

Your own personal experience may shape your views and opinions and will need to be discussed carefully and sensitively on this Vizzed forum with the utmost degree of care and sensitivity.

I am a virgin. So I will make that clear before I proceed.

I think the age of consent should be universal throughout the US/Canada.

And that age I think is 16.

At 16, we are generally physically mature enough to safely consider it.

Of course, we aren't ready for "parenthood" generally at that age.

Sex as a pleasure device shouldn't be outlawed if you are under 18... and even if it's illegal, 16 year olds will still do it. That added danger of being caught only drives some to want to do it more.

Putting limits in front of people will dare people to go beyond the limits. It's just natural.

@legavyme3 you have a good point when you say that the added danger just drives teenagers to have sex more. For instance I'm almost 17 and I'm not a virgin, although I didn't have sex for that reason.  I honestly agree that it shouldn't be illegal for minors. Its really pointless to say that you can't have sex until you're 18. I think that so long as both sets of parents are OK with it your fine, but I do think that you should be at least 16 so that you at least understand it.

The child wont turn out right if you give birth to another 16 yr old

Even though it's wrong, It should not be raised because it's their decision and people should not care what they do. It's a matter of life

If you put it in that context, then you might as well lower the age of consent to 14. If you have people doing it just for the sake of pleasure and for the added "danger", then anyone would just want to have sex at that point.

Age limits on sex is liberal, yes, but they're there to guide people into making a smarter decision. If the law wasn't there in the first place, teenagers might think it's perfectly normal to have sex at a young age when they really aren't ready for it yet.

18 is the age when you graduate school, when you're an adult, when you're ready to take on the world and support yourself on your own. Most teenagers in high school can barely support themselves because they have to rely on their parents a lot.

I know people will still break this law and they will continue to have sex at 17, 16, 15. But I think it'll be a fewer amount than if the law wasn't in place.

I think the age of consent is fine as It is, even if people were to raise it teenagers would still go off and do stuff at their own free will. If they are ready and are safe then It should be fine.

I agree with cat here, Even if you lower or raise the age of consent, teenagers are still going to do it no matter what.

There is no possible way you could get underage kids to stop doing it illegally, just no real way.


Leggy also brings up a fairly good point there. The drive of almost getting caught, some find romantic, I guess.

The age of consent varies from state to state... the youngest I believe is 14 (New Mexico, I think). I think 18 is fine, though 16 really isn't that large of a jump. Even as it stands now, it isn't illegal unless one of the people involved is over the age of consent and one is under.

Physiologically, females are fully matured at age 16 years of age while males are physiologically mature at 18 years of age. The 18 year old average is because society doesn't want to recognize females as being sexually more mature than males. Furthermore, as far as consent, I think that should be based more on maturity. I also think that a possible rule could be: if you can drive a car, you can have sex.

Well the way I see it, younger teens are bound to do it regardless cause they feel like it's a cool thing for them. So to make a long story short, it really doesn't matter how high or low you raise the age of consent.

Keep in mind people that the age of consent is not something that determines what age you can have sex. It is the line of age that legal adults cannot have sex with. This is where the law says a 30 year old guy can't have sex with a 16 year old. I think lowering it is a BAD idea. That just opens the door a little further for older adults to seek out even younger girls to take advantage of. But some users posting here are under the impression that this age of consent says two teenagers can't have sex and whatnot. That is not the case. It keeps young people safer from old pervs.

I personally don't think it needs to be raised, where it is right now protects younger kids, but raising it would probably make kids want to take the risk.

Not certain it would, but I personally think it would be a lot more fun when you are not technically following the rules

I think it's fine at 18. Lowering the age of consent would attract perverts and increase the amount of awkward 'explaininz to do' in your average household while raising the age would make teenagers more anxious and willing to have sex because of the longer period they have to wait to do what is supposedly "the best thing ever" as told by the internet and their friends.

I'm 18, haven't been a virgin in years (I won't say how long though) and I have 3 classmates who have kids. All the kids turned out fine and the girls themselves are actually more mature now, though it may be in part due to everyone's over-protectiveness for each other since our class is the smallest.

If anything I think the age of consent should be a more reasonable age. A 16-17 year old is old enough to make their own decisions.

I for sure don't see any reason to RAISE it.

Shouldn't this be in the debate area?  Anyways, I don't think the age of consent should be raised, since 18 is legally considered adulthood. However, there is NO way I would EVER lower it. Most kids today aren't mature enough to have a child at even 18. It's part of the reason we have so many spoiled little babies running around: their parents are still young and just want to play and have fun instead of actually raising their children.

Age of consent is such a tricky topic. Can you REALLY set a universal age at which a person is mentally mature enough to truly understand what it means to give consent? It's not really a black-and-white issue. Everyone develops and matures at every rate. You can raise the age to play on the safe side, but then basically take away rights from people who are capable of handling the responsibility.

Our bodies physically mature much sooner than we are legally considered adults. You have to keep in mind that there was a time in history where girls began to bear children at around 14 and this was considered normal.

Now of course, a large part of this was because people didn't live past 40 very often in that time... but one might argue that longer lifespans shouldn't suddenly mean people are forced to wait longer to have children.

There are two mentalities towards starting a family:

1. Get it out of the way as soon as you're ready and willing to handle the responsibility. Have your children, raise them, and then once they move out, live/enjoy the rest of your adult life.

2. Enjoy your youth and have fun and then settle down later in life to have a family.

Both are valid approaches and are suited to two different types of people that have different maturities.

The problem is, it's hard to account for different levels of maturity in the law and you can't rely on the immature to REALIZE they're immature and hold off on things like sex. The law's very complicated as it is and making an ideal scenario would further convolute it with exceptions upon exceptions.

One thing that I do think needs to go is the concept of double statutory rape (both parties being tried for rape because they were both underage despite consenting). That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

Being an older member here at Vizzed, the view about marriage is different for everyone. While I believe sex should be saved for marriage, not everyone agree's to that for their own personal reasons. As for if the age should be lowered or raised? I think if it were to be raised, it should only be raised to about 20 years of age. But some places, like the United States for instance, most States have it at age 18. I think that is also an ideal age. Young ones that are younger than 18 aren't mature enough to handle a sexual relationship. You may be physically mature, but mentally you are not.

You have to make sure you're careful if you don't want to become a parent too young. This happens to a lot of younger people. It could be because their parents don't take the time to teach them that they need to be careful. And sometimes it's other reasons. But this is just my opinion. Please don't take offense to it. It's just my view. Everyone's view and or opinions differ from one another. So I honestly don't think there will ever be "one set" age for all parts of the world and or different countries.

No.  You can not tell someone how old they should be to find love.  If they truly believe that they are in love, who are you to tell them otherwise.