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Age of Innocence:

Should we abandon the age of consent?

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  • The Debate

    Age of Innocence

    From the Vatican's 12 and Spain's 13, to California's 18 and Tunisia's 20, the legal age of consent ranges widely. So what's at stake? Are we defining childhood or innocence? Would it be progress to abandon laws of sexuality and rely on laws of violence alone, or would this be a step backwards to depravity and misery?

    The Panel

    Anne McElvoy asks writer and feminist Julie Bindel, Guardian columnist Suzanne Moore, and Oxford philosopher Gerald Moore to consider the threshold between innocence and experience.

  • Find out more about speakers

Jump to what you want to see in the debate
  • Julie Bindel
    The Pitch
    We are obsessed with girls having underage sex not boys
  • Suzanne Moore
    The Pitch
    Underage sex is a way to criminalise young people
  • Gerald Moore
    The Pitch
    Consumer capitalism enforce our obsession with childhood innocence
  • The Debate
    Theme One
    Underage sex
  • The Debate
    Theme Two
    Defining innocence
  • The Debate
    Theme Three
    Alternatives to the age of consent
Find out more
Want to learn more about our speakers?
Join the conversation

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Tabetha on 10/10/2013 11:56am

As a mother of a young daughter it is completely inconceivable to think that we should change the age of consent. The society is sexualised to such a degree that our children are being exposed to it all at an ever younger age. Children should not be having sex when their bodies are not yet ready for it and this idea should be enforced by the law.

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