Young People’s Views of Lowering the Age of Consent Essay

Despite all the formal training and experience in this field, Twenge herself is a part of the target audience. Twenge is a mother of three who states “they’re not yet old enough to display the traits of IGen teens, but I have already witnessed firsthand just how ingrained new media are in their young lives.” Throughout the article she provides both personal and statistical information to enhance her argument and support her findings. These Range from multiple surveys conducted throughout the country, including one that had been performed on undergraduates at San Diego State University. An interview with a teen girl from Texas had also been included into the work, avoiding a bombardment of the reader with evidence and numerical data. By providing this break from purely logos argumentation she allows the reader to build an emotional connection with the work; as well as, create a bridge between author and reader. The way she presents the statistical information in her article is by providing the reader with multiple surveys and studies that show this new generational data of how teens are becoming less socially interactive in public. while presenting her information she does show that there

While sexual education is mandatory in almost all secondary schools across Australia, the level of depth at which it is taught varies throughout every school. Many highly important areas of sex ed, such as learning about consent, contraceptive options and violence in relationships, are less commonly taught in high school, with puberty typically being the prime topic taught in PDHPE lessons instead. But when we look at the increase in things such as sexual assault, sexual violence, Sexually Transmitted Infections and teenage pregnancy among today’s youth, we must wonder why such imperative subjects to educate teenagers on are discussed so minimally.

Bill Hughley, Executive Director of the Rockdale Coalition for Children and Families, said “state wide statistics illustrate that high risk sexual behavior among teenagers is a growing problem as young teenagers begin to experiment with sex with people much older than them (Jones, par 4). Many of these teens are engaging in sex not realizing that if both partners are not within the same age bracket they could be committing a crime. There is an exception for teenagers convicted of statutory rape and child molestation included as part of so called “Romeo and Juliet Laws” teenagers as long as they are not more than four years apart-to be charged only with misdemeanors and they would not be requires to register as sex

"What is on the minds of America's youth today?" was the prompt for an essay contest. The top of the page hosted two images; one of the youth of 1968 protesting racism, and one of teenagers on Spring Break in 2004. The magazine claimed that 30 years ago, young people were so focused on sit-ins, protests, and what was happening in the world around them and today, teens are content solely with "watching their MTV, and following the love lives of Brad, Jen, Jessica, and Paris." I was intrigued by the article. I let the prompt linger in my mind.

Statutory rape refers to the act of sexual intercourse in which one of the participants is below a certain age, as defined by law, at which they are deemed incapable of being able to consent to such behavior. The age of consent varies between states and has been altered over time and the history of such laws will be discussed later on. But this paper will know discuss the concept of sex being a social construct based upon rates of sexual activity in adolescents and behavioral problems that have resulted from sexual relationships. So what factors influence society’s perception of sex? Age, and age difference between partners is certainly a major component, being one of the most significant aspects of what is considered statutory rape. From the play, we know that Li’l Bit was 11 years old when she was first sexual assaulted by Peck, who is significantly older than she is. Harold

Martha Kempner, author of the article “What’s Wrong With Our Age of Consent Laws”, states “Age of consent laws is meant to protect young people from exploitation by adults, but in too many instances they send 18-year-old boys to jail for having consensual sex with their 15-year-old girlfriends. The boys then end up on sex offender registries for life along side rapists and pedophiles. Should we really be legislating teen sex?” There are also many inconsistencies amongst state to state regarding these laws, differing between ages 16 and 18 as the legal consent age, causes much confusion for couples in relationships, such as one Kempner stated, as well as the opportunity for the exploitation of 16 year olds by adults who live in states in which the laws have been lowered. Now the age of 25 for sexual consent laws, is likely too drastic, however we propose that there should be at least an equal age amongst all states, to eliminate any further unnecessary confusion, embarrassment, and

Today’s youth grew up in the digital revolution when the Internet first became a public space. This (relatively) new and ever-expanding medium resulted in an explosion of the availability of information and new ideas. These ideas would serve as a catalyst to mold many aspects of present-day society. They established and cemented new ideas as real norms that further challenged societies’ perception of ideal norms. From this ideological explosion and conglomeration of contemporary conceptions of a nationally connected society came both the constructive and the controversial. The later included such groups as: otherkin, headmates, the never-ending stream of new gender identities, and the phenomenon of self-diagnosis of mental illness.

The aim in this paper lies in critically discussing the significance of the selected article with regards to everything known about the issue of sexual offense. The scope lies in firstly discussing a brief summary by highlighting the statements made in the article, then indicating one’s personal reaction and finally using knowledge from the course and peer revied sources to critically examine such statements (Hogue et al, 2006). The critical discussion will be inclusive of issues such as the way in which the article helps in confirming, complementing or contradicting the literature research. The aim will further lie in discussing the potential implication from the article, the article weakness, striking features of the article,

Looking into one of the popular area in Toronto (Jane and Finch) is amazing research to do, and gazing on few things youths in the community is facing the most will provide background how my research topic came to existence. Before the advent and proliferation of the media, this place was one of the most popular areas of residence among the middle-income earners. Observing the area problem from a macro level is the impact of mass media within the contemporary society; is a process that can neither be underestimated nor presumed. In my initial understanding of the area, the majority of people preferred to live here because it was a cosmopolitan area with friendly people. Not to forget how the community experienced rapid growth from 1961 to 1971

With adolescence being a time of both sexual maturation and increased risk-taking, it is unsurprising that adolescence is a period in which many young people become sexually active (Tillett, 2005). With 69% of year 10 to 12 students reporting having engaged in some kind of sexual activity and 34% having engaged in intercourse (Mitchell et al, 2014), the idea that adolescence is a period of sexual innocence is misinformed; young people do have sex, whether or not they have undertaken sex education or have access to contraception. The ethical issues around adolescent access to contraception are numerous. The idea that young people will engage in more sex if they are able to access contraception is persistent, and this holds the potential for unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and damage caused by having sex without giving informed consent. The second ethical issue of parental consent revolves around parents having the right to be aware of their children’s medical history, conflicting with the child’s right to confidentiality.

There are generally two very broad ways in which young people have been targeted and portrayed by the media in Britain. There is a whole media industry aimed at socially constructed youth in terms of lifestyle and identity. Magazines are produced specifically for young people. Record companies, Internet music download sites, mobile telephone companies and radio stations all specifically target and attempt to shape musical tastes of young people. Networking sites on the internet, such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, allow youth to project their identities around the world. Youth are often portrayed by news media as a social problem, as immoral or anti-authority and consequently as folk devils as part of a moral panic. The majority of moral panics since the 1950’s have been manufactured around concerns about young people’s behaviour, such as their membership of specific ‘deviant’ subcultures (e.g. teddy boys, hoodies) or because their behaviour (e.g. drug taking or binge drinking) has attracted the disapproval of those in authority.

Alan Greenblatt’s article “What is the Age of Responsibility” (2009) clarifies the complications within our society and government in regards to the rights and responsibilities of our youth. Greenblatt develops his clarification when he provides factual information about the laws and expectations that are pushed upon young people. Greenblatt’s purpose is to inform the reader of the issues with our justice system and our society in order for them to form their own opinion. Greenblatt uses a friendly informative tone with his reader in order to capture a young audience.

Consent laws were originally set to prevent the problem of children being preyed upon by a sexual predator, which is causing more harm now (Appel 1). With the consent age being low there are many teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancies cannot only be dangerous for the baby, but for the mother as well. Any parent who is aware of the ¬sexual relations of their child should be held responsible because they are aware of the situation and are not doing anything to try to help prevent it. If any parent does not try to stop it or is okay with it, they can face prosecution and loss of custody for contributing to the corruption of a minor (Napolitan

Laws regarding the age of consent in the United States have undergone multiple revisions, resulting from differing perspectives on how to regulate teenage sex and prevent statutory rape. As a result, the state laws have defined ages at which they deem adolescents to be capable of consenting to sexual intercourse. Today the breakdown of age consent laws in the United States is as follows: 28 states use 16, 15 states use 18, 6 states use 17, and 1 state uses 14. (Leitenberg & Saltzman) But it was a long road before this point, beginning with English common law in the colonies, which set the age of consent at around ages 10-12. According to Carolyn Cocca, age of consent restrictions were imposed at the time to “Preserve female virginity, which

Negative effects of Mass Media for teenagers,  The exposure of sex images and excessive portraits of violence in movies and dramas have instilled negative thoughts and taboos in the mind of these teenagers for they have been consistently getting increased exposure to things which are not suitable for their age.