Miranda Sawyer

Miranda Sawyer (born 7 January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster.

In 2004, Sawyer wrote, researched and presented an hour-long documentary for the UK's Channel 4, about the age of consent. Her documentary was titled Sex Before 16: How The Law Is Failing and reportedly argues to have the age of consent lowered in the UK. The documentary was part of a 4-episode series called "Adult at 14 season", which frankly examined issues around adolescent sexual activity. The episode "14 Alone", for example, saw a group of ten 14-year-old boys and girls spend five days and nights together in a house with no TV, video games, or mobile phones, whilst "Kids on porn" offered a frank look at young people's attitudes to pornography and the role it plays in shaping their adolescent lives.

In 2003, Sawyer had written an article in The Guardian entitled Sex is not just for grown-ups, in which she argued for the age of consent to be reduced to 12. Sawyer was concerned that upcoming legislation would criminialize all peer aged and close-in-age sexual activity involving people under 16-years-of-age, and she draws on interviews as well as her own experience to argue her case. Sawyer wrote:

When I was young, I went to parties where the room for coats was full of writhing couples by 8.30pm. My friends and I talked about hand-jobs and blow-jobs, feeling up and fingering, even before we'd tried anything of the sort. [...] From 12 onwards, my friends and I played spin-the-bottle, we timed each other snogging at parties, we swapped partners, we shared beds - or, more often, bus shelters - we reported back on getting off with each other. He moves his head around too much when he kisses, she holds your dick too tight [...]

I was a teenager in the Eighties: aren't British kids far more sexually speedy these days? In fact, the most recent National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles shows that about a quarter of British girls and a third of boys have had full sex by the age of 16. Maybe you think that's a lot, maybe you think that's not many. The fact is, they're doing it.

For the past few months, I've been making a TV programme about the age of consent, and talking to teenagers about sex. Some drip with sexual braggadocio, while some don't want to talk about it; some lie, though most don't. There is still a depressing gender divide between girls and boys: when a girl has lost her virginity, she's likely to keep it quiet; when a boy loses his, he shouts about it (unless it's against his religion). A boy who has sex is deemed a player, a girl who has sex is a sket (a slag).

Kyle, a perfectly turned out, 16-year-old charmer, lost his virginity at 12, 'to an older woman'. She was 14. 'She was in control, man,' he laughs. 'She used handcuffs and everything.' [... S]ince Kyle's first experience of sex, he has had about 12 partners - 'I flexed it in a train toilet once!' - most of whom were one-night stands. He is unembarrassed about this. 'Teenage sex is more fun, more casual,' he says. 'It's about experimenting; everyone wants to experiment. As long as you keep your self-respect.'

Laura lost her virginity at 13, unhappily. She sought advice, from a Brook Advisory Centre, and finished with her boyfriend. Still, a year later, after dating other boys, she felt ready for her next sexual partner. He was 21. At 15, Laura became pregnant. She had never thought about the age of consent before: suddenly, she panicked. She thought her boyfriend might go to jail. [...]

Studying the various surveys, most teenagers, when asked, say that the age of consent is 16. But asked whether that's the right age, their answers become mixed. Some say there should be no age of consent at all. Some say it should be higher (18), or lower (12). [...] The stark truth is this. Though the age of consent can frighten teenagers into not seeking help when they need it, it doesn't stop them having sex. Cross-European comparisons of sexual health, carried out by Rox Kane and Kaye Wellings at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, show that the age of consent has no bearing on the age of first sex. [...]

If we want teenagers to delay their first sexual experience until they are ready, so that they're not forced into it, so that they won't get pregnant, so that they'll enjoy it safely and, vitally, won't regret it - then the age of consent is no help at all. [...] Personally, I would scrap the Government's new age of consent laws. Instead, I would adopt a three-step approach. One, improve sex education. We need to empower teenagers so that they are equipped to deal with the complicated situations that sex can bring. Two, tighten laws against paedophilia. And, three, lower the age of consent to 12. Actually, I'd be open to an age-gap system such as exists in the Netherlands and Portugal, though I don't say this in the TV programme, as it would criminalise Laura's ex-boyfriend. Certainly, it's worthy of discussion. But, either way, I would still lower the age of consent to 12. Not because I think that teenagers should be having sex at 12, but because I think they should be delaying it until they are ready.

Twelve is an indicator, a marker between the ages of childhood and adolescence, not an average age of first sex, not the best of a bad job. Teenagers will continue to have sex when they want to, regardless of the law. What we have to do is educate them so that they don't do so until they're fully prepared. They, and we, need to talk about sex openly and without fear of prosecution. We should help them to celebrate themselves, to understand their own needs and desires. They have a right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. They have a right to enjoy sexual experimentation, if that's what they really want. But until they are ready for the jump into adulthood, into full sex, with all its emotional and physical consequences, we shouldn't ban teenagers.