The age of sexual consent in the United Kingdom should be lowered to 14, which would better reflect the national trend of young people engaging in sexual activity earlier than ever, one British lecturer and scholar said according to The Telegraph.
Matthew Waites, who gives sociology lectures at Glasgow University, believes changing the age of consent from 16 to 14 would help lessen society's stigma against young teenagers having sex, therefore encouraging them to seek pertinent information on diseases, sexual abuse and other related topics.
"The law stigmatises much of what many teenagers regard as normal behavior and fosters a climate of denial among parents and some professionals which prevents some teenagers from seeking information and assistance," said Waites, author of "The Age of Consent: Young People, Sexuality and Citizenship," according to The Telegraph.
"The minimum age for sexual activity should be lowered to 14 but supplemented by an 'age span' provision where people aged 14 and 15 would only be able to have sexual activity with a person less than two years older, until 16," the academic said.
Waites' comments come after a UNICEF report found that in the developed world, the U.K. has one of the highest percentages of young teens having sex as well as high rates of teen pregnancy.
Between 15 and 28 percent of children had sex by the age of 15 in all but one of the 17 wealthiest nations in the report, the newspaper reported. For the U.K., 40 percent of children had sex by age 15.
But not everyone expressed enthusiasm over Waites' suggestion, calling it "madness" to say a consent age of 14 makes sense because teenagers' hormones are so out of control, they are not concerned with what the law says.
"To suggest that teenagers are at the mercy of their hormones demonstrates a failure to respect them as rational and responsible people," Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said according to The Telegraph.
