The Conversation: Why the age of sexual consent continues to be a worldwide challenge
So far, the prosecutor has to prove the fact of coercion or physical force to make sexual intercourse to obtain a rape conviction even if the victim is a child. Children are often difficult to express the situation at the contact with the culprit exactly. They may misunderstand the damage they were inflicted.
In most developed countries, there is a legal age of sexual consent. Every sexual conduct with children under age should be deemed as rape or sexual assault.
But, the setting of age is controversial. In the UK, the legal age of sex is 16. But in reality, one-third of teenagers experience sexual conducts before 16. If they are caught by the authority, the boy who enjoyed sex with his girlfriend would be arrested as a raper. It looks nonsense.
On the other hand, the legal age of sex is set at 13 in Japan. Do you believe 13 yo girls can select a sexual partner? Some foreign people misunderstand that Japanese adolescents are extremely open to sexual behaviors. As far as I know, few girls are willing to have sex unless the conditions match. Also, sexual conduct for money with girls under 18 is prohibited by every prefectural legislation. Unfortunately, not a few men are arrested for breaching this regulation, every of which claims that they did not know the girl was under 18.
The situation is gradually changing. Recently, adolescents are far more matured physically compared to the previous era, thanks to the improved nutritional status. On the other hand, the age at which a person is deemed as an independent person is delaying. Some centuries ago, 15 yo was the age to be married. But now, many 20s people have no family members. These factors should be consistent with the legal procedure for constructing a fair and comfortable society.
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