The law around the age of consent could be changed, after one of Russell Brand’s alleged victims argued teenagers get too little protection from sexual exploitation.
In the UK, the age of consent is 16. This means anyone, whether 19 or 90, could have sexual relations with a teenager legally. The concern is this makes it easier for teenagers to be groomed and taken advantage of by much older people – which Mia Latter claimed happened to her.
Latter, 37, said she had an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with Brand when she was 16 and he was 30. Brand has confirmed they had a consensual relationship.
She claimed he referred to her as “the child” around his entourage and said there was a clear power imbalance between the pair.
Latter has chosen to reveal her identity to campaign for a staggered age of consent, which would ban sexual relationships between adults and 16 and 17-year-olds.
“I think we all sort of agree that… adults shouldn’t be allowed to have sexual relationships with children, with somebody under the age of 18,” she told The Sunday Times.
Speaking on why she decided to be named publicly, Latter added: “I just keep hearing the words of Gisèle Pelicot: that shame must change sides. It’s not my shame. It’s not my burden to carry any more.”
Comedian Lucy Beaumont last week waived her anonymity as a whistleblower about David Walliams having inappropriate sexual relations with teenagers. She told Sky News that speaking out might harm her chances of ever “work[ing] in TV again” but she felt there was “a window of opportunity” to change the law around the age of consent, which she thinks is “insanity”.
Walliams denied abusing his position of power and said he did not break the law.
The government said on Sunday it would consider changing the law but did not give any further details about when or how. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News: “What we’ll definitely do is think about whatever we can do to help people at the wrong end of these abuses of power.”
What is a staggered age of consent?
The age to consent to sex is 16 in the UK, meaning an adult can have sex with a 16 year old unless they are in a position of trust, such as a teacher. If an adult has sex with someone aged 13, 14 and 15 it is considered unlawful “sexual activity with a child”, and with someone under the age of 12 it is rape.
Latter and other campaigners want the Government to look again at the age of consent. The main options being urged are to either raise it to a higher age or to introduce a graduated approach.
Staggered age of consent considers the age differences between the people having sex.
Campaign group Close The Consent Gap has called for the following changes to the age of consent (Image: Close The Consent Gap)Layla Stone, founder of Close The Consent Gap, is calling for a graduated system where anyone more than three years older having sex with a 16 or 17-year-old would be committing an offence.
She said this would “protect [them] from predatory adults” and “reflect substantial power imbalance that can be created between the ages of 16 and 20”.
Stone told The i Paper: “This precedent has been set elsewhere. Staggered ages of consent are in place in Canada and some Australian and American states.
“We believe that implementing it across the UK would offer protections to children in the way it does in many other jurisdictions.”
While the government said it would look at staggering the age of consent, ministers did not specify what age ranges should be considered and some called for greater protections to stop young people from having sexual relations with those much older than them.
Latter told the Sunday Times: “If you’re in your thirties, forties, and fifties and you’re trying to have a relationship with someone under the age of 18, it [should] be a criminal offence.”
Louise Haigh said the age of consent ‘deserves proper consideration and scrutiny’ (Photo: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)The places where a staggered age of consent is in place
Ages of consent vary across US states. In Florida, the threshold is 18. But using a staggered framework, 16 and 17-year-olds can legally consent to sexual activity with people who are up to 23 years old.
Consenting age varies between 14 and 18 in Europe. In Poland, Germany and Italy the threshold is 14.
France’s age of consent is 15. After toughening its legislation in 2021, which made having sex with people under the consenting age liable for a rape conviction, lawmakers added a Romeo and Juliet clause, allowing minors to have sex with someone up to five years older than them.
Named after the teenage lovers in Shakespeare’s tragedy, so called “Romeo and Juliet” clauses were introduced in some countries as close-in-age exceptions. This style of clause could influence the government’s decision when it will look at staggered consent.
These are mostly concerned with allowing young people, who may not be at consenting age, to have consensual sex with others who are at a similar stage of development.
In Canada, where the age of consent 16, someone who is 15 can have a relationship with someone who is above the age of consent, as long as the age gap is a maximum of five years.
Cabinet minister Louise Haigh told the Sunday Times: “It clearly would be a massive step to change the age of consent, but it deserves proper consideration and scrutiny. I can absolutely understand why [Mia Latter] is calling for it.
“We need to listen to Mia and other victims like her who have been through these experiences, because it’s really important that, as lawmakers, their experience is at the heart of what we consider.”
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