I BELIEVE in a child's right to a childhood. I appreciate that sounds like a statement of the blindlingly obvious. Sadly, in the adult-focused world our children have inherited, it is anything but.
The Jimmy Savile scandal has led to a debate about potentially lowering the age of consent
From the provocative outfits they wear to the precocious comics they devour, to the reality shows they consume and the pop stars they adore, children (boys and girls) are fed a glut of skimpy clothes, erotic gestures and overtly sexual and debasing behaviour and language.
I have observed this phenomenon (to protect my daughter, now 15, from its impact) and I view the sexualisation of children as an outright assault on them.
Barrister Barbara Hewson recently created a furore when commenting on celebrity arrests following the Savile revelations. Appearing to show no empathy towards the young abuse victims, she said the age of consent needed to be lowered to 13 because: "I do not support the persecution of old men."
Yes, she really wrote that and, despite the justified vilification that followed, she has stuck doggedly to it. For some her suggestion is merely academic, for others it is far from it.
Last week, the sick reality of such a statement became clear as Operation Bullfinch, an investigation into child "grooming gangs" in Oxford, culminated at the Old Bailey.
If Ms Hewson had her way, there would be few convictions of this type. Despite the nine men maintaining an iron grip of sexual abuse on young girls, the depravity visited on some of these children would be legal and Statesanctioned.
As indeed would many of the charges relating to child abuse in North Wales care homes, or at the hands of Jimmy Savile or any Church-related acts of paedophilia that have come to light over the recent years.
And therein lies the dark heart at the debate about lowering the age of consent. To do so would be a green light for predatory older people, men and women, to satiate their perverse desires legally and with no fear of prosecution.
Oh how I wish Ms Hewson's ill-considered request was an anomaly. Sadly it is not. Lowering the age of consent has been a campaign issue for groups and individuals for four decades at least.
During the Seventies, UK pressure group Liberty, formerly known as the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), called for 14 to be the age of consent.
At the time Harriet Harman, now Deputy Labour leader, was a senior figure in NCCL and the submission she signed off argued that "childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult, result in no identifiable damage".
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| Harriet Harman, Deputy Labour Leader |
The favoured argument is that children in other parts of Europe are permitted to have sex much younger than their British counterparts.
Recently political activist Peter Tatchell waved a PIE flag at a Unison rally. "Not all sex involving children is unwanted," it proclaimed.
Although repugnant, the banner was not unexpected as Tatchell had previously called for the age of consent to be 14.
Leaving aside how, as a parent, such a sign makes me react (much less how child abuse survivors must feel when they see it) the debate for lowering the age of consent lacks credibility.
The favoured argument is that children in other parts of Europe are permitted to have sex much younger than their British counterparts.
Who says these places, including Germany and Spain, have got it right? Show me a young teen who is truly ready to embark on a sexual relationship and I'll show you an enigma.
At 13, children cannot legally vote, drink alcohol, smoke, drive or leave home. Why should something as important as sex and the physical and psychological issues that accompany it be any different? Particularly when there is an age difference with those involved.
I was heartened last week when I appeared on ITV's This Morning to argue against lowering the age of consent and 91 per cent of the audience agreed. I worry about the other nine per cent.
So when the issue of lowering the age of consent raises its troubling head again, and it will, let us be in no doubt that this is not about "a human right to choose our sexual start-date" but about protecting children from predators who would take advantage of such a ruling.
Children need a childhood, not one that is bogged down by adult considerations. And it is left to us, as responsible adults, actively to reclaim childhood for them. They deserve nothing less.
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/400800/End-this-war-on-childhood
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