The age of consent is the age at which a person, legally competent to consent to sexual acts and is thus the minimum age of a person with whom another person is legally permitted to engage in sexual activity. In simpler terms, if you or someone you have sex with is under the age of consent, you are breaking the law. The reason we have an age of consent among states is to protect an underage person from sexual advances. The law is designed to protect us; therefore, these rules have to be intact. The set age of consent ranges from ages 14 to 18. Laws vary on multiple circumstances. From the type of sexual act, genders of the participants, sexuality, etc. Again, this all depends on the country and state you live in. After reading the assigned articles and watching the Lisa Ling documentary, one thesis I was able to come across was when does teenage sexuality cross the line and become a crime?
In the film “This is Life with Lisa Ling”, Lisa interviewed two teens and went behind the legal and social consequences of convicting adolescents and young adults of sex offenses. Throughout the film, these teens were indeed guilty. They even admitted to being guilty, but the punishment didn’t fit the crime. One boy from the film name Zack, a senior in high school was possibly facing life in prison and a lifetime registry on the sex offenders list. He was charged with 2nd agree assault of a child. The mother had warned Zack about becoming sexually active when he turns 18 and how aware he must be with the girls ages in which his chooses to interact with. Little did she know, the age you're considered an adult in her state is 17 or even younger, depending on the offense. Her 17-year-old baby boy, is considered an adult. Regardless of if it was consensual or even willfully, the law is the law.
On the other end, 16-year-old Blake had sent an explicit photo to a girl he knew and before he knew it, a Deputy was there to arrest him. He had been convicted of distributing photos of child pornography. He was sentenced to ten years on a juvenile sex offender registry. In the future, he may have to share his status on job and housing applications. Now what’s the likelihood of him getting those things, being registered as a sex offender? Not likely to happen. Blake’s parents assumed that he did it because he could’ve possibly had a crush on the girl and didn’t know how to go about that situation. Adolescence is a very confusing time. Hormones are ranging which unfortunately gives way to flirting, dating and sex. Because of this, teens similar to Blake, can’t control themselves in these types of situations. What makes it even worse is that teenage sexuality has gone digital. Sexting has been on a scale many people have never seen before. The rising epidemic of sexting and all that comes with it, has pushed many States to treat it as a crime. I’m not saying everyone sends or receives explicit photos, but we’ve all done it before. Unfortunately for Blake, he was caught doing so. Blake was put on numerous amounts of restrictions. He couldn’t go to the mall or movie theaters where children congregate. He couldn’t even leave the city without his parole officers permission. His parents have to monitor him 24 hours a day unless he’s at school in the presence of teachers. Would Blake had done what he did if he knew about the consequences? I highly doubt it. I wouldn’t even consider Blake a teenager anymore. Having to be monitored nonstop by your parents? He’s like a toddler all over again!
In the article “From the Age of Consent Laws to the Silver Ring Thing”, reformation started out as females reaching out to their fallen sisters (prostitutes and other promiscuous women), saving them from predatory males. They challenged the double standard in which men were not at fault and that women were the ones who were suggestive. With the increase in industrialization, females had a harder time keeping track of younger women due to the movement of cities. With this new found freedom, these women started to express their sexuality more and the focus on protection of men shifted to the focus of controlling the young woman’s sexuality. The social purity activists had turned to the state in demand that the states increased their age of consent in an attempt to protect the sexual vulnerability of young women. They were outraged to learn that the average age of consent was 10 years old. They believed that it was dangerous for the unconstrained male sexuality to have access to female virtue. They launched a successful campaign to increase the age of consent all across the United States. They were pretty successful at doing so. Most states raised the age of consent to 16 or 17 years of age. By doing this, it criminalized male sexual contact with young women. By doing so, they hoped it would protect more underage teens from being coerced into prostitution. Because they turned to the state, there was little doubt that reformers were genuinely concerned about the exploitation of young women.
According to the article “From Jailbird to Jailbait”, age of consent operates in complex and contradictory ways. This can often generate a distributive effect. As a minor, you can get married with parental as well as a judge’s approval. It doesn’t make sense to be allowed to marry but restricted from sexual activity. Teens or young adults make up a majority of those prosecuted for age of consent violations. People fail to realize what are influencing these teenager behaviors and attitudes. From religion to family, culture and especially mass media, almost everything plays a role in the way teens behave. My friend who’s African had to marry at a young age. She had no choice, that’s just the tradition in which she grew up around. She had her first child at 15. How can she go against what’s considered “normal” in her culture? In a trial in Wisconsin, Kevin Gillson who’s 18, was prosecuted after his fiancée who’s 15, became pregnant. Not only was Gillson convicted, but his name was entered in a national registry of sex offenders. In his two years of probation, he couldn’t even contact his fiancée. Instead of 1 life being lost, there’s 3. Gillson will no longer be a good enough father for his child. His innocent child will be without a father and the mother will be without, as she calls it, the love of her life. Does the punishment fit the “crime”? The article asserts that the blueprint of normal teenage sexuality that emerges from age of consent laws, in combination with a myriad of other forms of legal regulation of teenage sex, bears a striking similarity to the sexual morality expressed by many teenagers.
The author mentions a situation where a boy, who was under the age of consent was going to be charged instead of the girl because the prosecutor considered him to be “in the more powerful position in the relationship.” So should there be a difference in the age of consent among states because an 18 year olds brain is more developed or smarter or even more mature than a 15 year olds brain? Age shouldn’t matter. I was no different at 15 than I was at 18. Only thing changed was my grade in high school. Hormones come naturally around 15 or 16. At 15 I knew everything about sex, and it was literally everywhere and everyone did it. At 18, nothing changed, it was just less hidden. The age of consent should be more permissive. In the Netherlands, sexual intercourse between ages 12-16 is legal. Although it’s legal, the individual can employ a “statutory consent age of sixteen” if they feel as though they have been coerced or exploited. It’s great to let the kids decide. Half the time parents flip out and don’t even do what the kid wants, mainly because that’s what they see them as; a kid. If you can consent to having sex, you can decide how to go about a situation if it turns sour. We need more sexual education programs in the schools and for parents to be aware of the law. We learn almost everything from our parents, so why not educate your child on the effects of having sex at an early age. That conversation can impact your child’s life and even keep them out of trouble.
The song I chose, closely relates to this topic. It’s called “Age of Consent” by New Order. This song could’ve been interpreted many ways, but here’s what I got out of listening to it a few times. The singer starts off by saying “Won't you please let me go, these words lie inside they hurt me so, And I'm not the kind that likes to tell you, Just what I want to do, I’m not the kind that needs to tell you, Just what you, want me to. By the lyrics and the title, I feel as though the singers’ lover is much younger than him and he has a really big crush but doesn’t want to express his feelings because he knows it isn’t going to get that far. He then mentions a text that he received from his lover, but the lover isn’t understanding the consequences of being involved with someone much older than them. In the next verse he says, “And I'm not the kind that likes to tell you, Just what you want me to, You’re not the kind that needs to tell me, About the birds and the bees”, he’s basically saying that he’s not one of those guys that will tell someone anything, just to be with them or even make them happy. When he mentions the birds and the bees, he’s reminding his lover that they’re not the same age, and he might possibly want to have sex or do something sexual but the age of consent and its limitations are preventing them from doing so. He ends the song by repeating the words “I’ve lost you, I’ve lost you”. I believe he’s tortured by the feelings he has for his lover, but realizes he can’t do anything about them at this moment. He’s aware of the law and has to abide by it.