Sexual Offences Bill poll 3

[lovingboth]

The 'age of consent' will remain at 16 (17 in Northern Ireland for no very good reason), with the existing - and expanded - restriction that someone in a position of care over a 16 or 17 year old cannot be sexual with them. (This was introduced as a sop to the opponents of the equalisation of the gay age of consent.)

An additional clause will make it illegal to pay for sex with any 16 or 17 year old. It is not otherwise illegal to pay for legal sexual activity.

[Poll #119972]

Update: Sandy - any 16 or 17 year old, ie paying for sex with someone who's 16 or 17 will make otherwise legal sex illegal. (It will also be an offence to pay for illegal sex, eg U-16, or with someone U-18 who you have a duty of care for, but that's already illegal..)

Comments

[adjectivegail]

It's just stupid having different ages for consent/responsibility for different things anyway, I just think all of this could be sorted out by have one age, in my book probably 17, after which you are legally an adult and EVERYTHING changes after that, driving, army, sex, prostitution, the lot, equally for both genders, cos that's really the concept at the bottom of this, adulthood.
while you make a good point, i can't agree with everything you say. my cousins, for example, live in Australia and have been driving since they were 15 (well, one of them was pratcising when he was 14, but.), and yet in many other respects i would not classify them as 'grown up'.

on the other hand i definitely agree with this:
. Either you take the position that there is childhod and adulthood and the law treats you differently before and after the magic birthday, or you abandon ages of consent and are a unique case that should be decided on its merits. I cannot buy into this "unhappy medium" where you're kind of an exceptional case because it's sex but not because you're over 18...

tricky, innit...