Sex and the Law - Know what you tell people

I have recently been having an email conversation with a colleague. The conversations has been around what and how we teach people about the age of consent and the penalties for breaching the law.

I just want to remind people that even though we might say " It's no big deal if an 18 year old and a 16 year old are having consensual intercourse - heaps of young people are. ( In fact statistics tell us that approximately 50% of year 12s are having intercourse). IT CAN BE A BIG DEAL. Even though as an individual we might believe that consensual intercourse is okay between people under the legal age of consent (17 in South Australia). The ramifications can be huge.

Here is what part of the law says:

section 49 of the Crime Consolidation Act states


49—Unlawful sexual intercourse 


        (1)         A person who has sexual intercourse with any person under the age of 14 years shall be guilty of an offence and liable to be imprisoned forlife. 


        (3)         A person who has sexual intercourse with a person under the age of seventeen years is guilty of an offence. 


Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years. 

So... I know there is much more to the law and convictions than what I have put before you but to as responsible educators we should not dilute the very real (but rare) possibility that the young people we support may be putting their future at great risk.


Sure ....be sex positve but remember just like we should be teaching young people about the possible joys and pleasures of sexual relationships, we should also be teaching young people about the legal risks that they may be facing.

ONE FINAL THING:::

In terms of the role or those trying to empower youth to make the right choices (they also happen to be mandatory reporters in a good number of cases)  discussion about the law and sex has to take a constructive form...This discussion should simply not be approached from a legal perspective...there is too many issues that need to be spelled out and clarified. What young people need to know is that the law punishes violent, arbitrary, cohesive, repressive sex abusive sexual activity; that the law will punish those who take sexual advantage of others because of their immaturity or age (e.g. a 15 year old wants to have sex with a 10 year old); that sex is a natural part of human development that needs to be experienced with the outmost respect for the other. They should also know that there is an age of consent and that the law deems certain behaviour as evidence a person is not consenting. If the question of the legality/illegality of sex is framed in this way, I think it may have a much better effect on young people. Surely, service providers need to know the law in more depth, but legal explanations are best to those working in the area.