We do need way to protect innocence
THIS week, South African teenagers were given the go-ahead to have sex without the threat of a criminal record, when the Constitutional Court found that the law criminalising this was unconstitutional and gave Parliament 18 months to fix it. The current legislation makes it a crime for children aged between 12 and 16 to engage in consensual sexual activities if there is more than a two-year gap between them.
Sections 15 and 16 of the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act were declared unconstitutional and invalid in a unanimous Constitutional Court judgment on Thursday, with the court holding that making such behaviour a crime – when it was part of normal adolescent behaviour – would do more harm than good.
Strangely, the ruling has been hailed as a victory for children, especially girls, by the Women’s Legal Centre and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre.
Their reasoning is that pregnancy, a physical marker of sexual intercourse, made young girls easier targets for prosecution. To them, girls are stigmatised by their peers and communities for having sex at such a young age, while boys of the same age do not face as much censure.
While on some level their argument may be seen as having merit, the overriding factor is that a 12-year-old’s body has not matured sufficiently for him or her to be considered a sexual being, and to legally condone such behaviour will have serious long-term societal implications.
The obvious debate is whether the state should be censuring children, or if that is a job best left for parents.
But given the figures of teen pregnancy and rape in South Africa, some may believe that the law as is stands currently is better than what amounts to legalised, formal support for sex between pre-teens.
In theory, responsible parenting should be enough to keep young teens away from sexual activity. However, no parent can fully protect a child from the influences of society and while legislation is no guarantee of compliance, the threat of criminal action may in some cases be enough to make a teen think twice.
Making it more difficult for children to have sex may just give them a few more years to enjoy their innocence, before they face the responsibility that come with being sexually active.