Men are extra probably than ladies to assume a sexual relationship between a 16-year-old and a companion a long time older is suitable, new polling has discovered.
It comes within the wake of issues raised following claims Russell Brand was in a relationship with a 16-year-old schoolgirl when he was a 30-year-old BBC radio presenter.
Almost a 3rd of males who responded to the Ipsos polling mentioned any such age hole was acceptable, in comparison with 15% of ladies who agreed it was okay.
The statistics confirmed a “grave need” for extra conversations with younger individuals on points equivalent to consent, energy imbalance inside relationships and gender equality.
Women had been barely extra more likely to help elevating the age of consent than males and to really feel that older males in relationships with no less than a 10-year age hole maintain extra energy, in line with the unique Ipsos polling for the PA information company.
The survey of 1,077 adults throughout Great Britain got here every week after the allegations in opposition to Brand first surfaced.
Alice (not her actual identify) mentioned she had a sexual relationship with the comic when she was a young person, and he would ship BBC vehicles to her college to gather her from classes so they might have intercourse at his residence.
He grew to become more and more controlling through the relationship, Alice mentioned, and inspired her to mislead household and pals concerning the relationship.
What women and men take into consideration this age hole
According to the PA polling, greater than two-thirds (68%) of ladies mentioned any such age hole could be unacceptable, simply over half (54%) of males felt this fashion.
More than 1 / 4 (27%) of males mentioned it was both considerably or fully acceptable for a 16-year-old boy to have a sexual relationship with a lady aged as much as 30.
This compares with simply 9% of ladies pondering that is acceptable.
The pattern continued with larger age gaps – as virtually a fifth (17%) of males mentioned it was considerably or fully acceptable for a 16-year-old woman to have intercourse with a person as much as 40 years previous, in comparison with simply 4% of ladies feeling this fashion.
When it involves a 16-year-old woman being in a sexual relationship with a person aged 50 or older, a couple of in 10 males (13%) thought this was acceptable in comparison with 3% of ladies.
Overall, 48% of individuals mentioned they both tended to or strongly supported the concept of elevating the age of consent from 16 to 18, whereas 40% mentioned they supported the concept of staggered consent, in findings much like these from a YouGov ballot earlier this week.
Staggered consent
Women had been barely extra more likely to help the concept of staggered consent – the place it’s only authorized for a 16 or 17-year-old to have intercourse with somebody as much as the age of 20 or 21 – than males, with a 41% and 38% cut up, in line with the Ipsos polling.
Speaking to BBC Radio Women’s Hour earlier this week, Alice mentioned her mom had breakdowns as a result of “there was nothing that she could do to protect me from being in that relationship” because of the truth {the teenager} was the authorized age to consent to intercourse on the time.
Alice mentioned: “People say ‘well, just call the police’. And then what? I was legally allowed to be there.”
Read extra:
All the businesses which have lower ties with Brand
Why are the allegations solely popping out now?
The allegations in full
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
Alice added: “He was 30. Now that I’m in my 30s looking at 16-year-olds, I can’t imagine finding them sexually attractive. I can’t imagine thinking of them as a potential mate in any way.”
Anna Edmundson, head of coverage and public affairs on the NSPCC, mentioned: “While 16 and 17-year-olds are above the legal age of consent, we know from young people that reach out to Childline that they can still be vulnerable to grooming, exploitation and other forms of abuse, particularly from adults.”
Source: information.sky.com”