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Diversity And Controversy In Sexuality Paper: Age Of Consent

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Diversity and Controversy in Sexuality Paper: Age of Consent Jen Graham Towson University Introduction The age of consent for adolescents and teens has produced much debate throughout the years. While sex can be seen as a natural part of life, there are laws that stipulate at what age someone can legally engage in sexual activities. Miller, Cox, and Saewyc (2010) state that Canada has laws in place that requires an adolescent to be at least 16 years of age in order to consent (p. 106). In the Unites States, certain places place only age limits for consent, while other places implement both age restrictions and age gap restrictions (Oudekerk, Guarnera, and Reppucci, 2014, p. 1239). Some people argue that age of consent laws need to either …show more content…

According to Magnin and Ruback (2013), having an age of consent at 14 or 16 increases the ability to charge an adult with statutory rape with a minor. Some states require that a person is a minor and has a larger age span of 2-4 years between partners in order to charge the older person. In some states, there is no age span legislation. This means that two adolescents of the same age are able to claim statutory rape and one person is treated as the victim. However, Blonna and Carter (2013) state that “traditionally, most states’ original legal wording of definitions of statutory rape defined perpetrators as males and victims as females” (p. 569). Having statutory rape laws in place, along with age of consent laws, further protects younger people from being subjected to unwanted sexual contact by a …show more content…

In this day and age, there are many different types of relationships that occur between adolescents. They do not all consist of heterosexual, boy and girl, affairs. There are many other groups, like LGBT groups, that participate in a different array of sexual activities. Separating non-exploitative (kissing, regular heterosexual intercourse, etc.) and exploitative (anal sex) sex should not be allowed. If age of consent is to be the same over all areas of sexual activities, then there should be a standard age and/or age span for every type, regardless of what it

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