One hundred people at Cass Tech between the ages of 14-18 have taken a survey entitled “Are you legally able to consent.” This survey was open to 50 boys and 50 girls going into depth on what they knew about consent.
Recently on social media there has been an uproar of concerns about the documentary that aired on lifetime “Surviving R. Kelly.”
The documentary tells the stories of many underage women claiming to be sexual assaulted by the famous R&B singer Robert Kelly who is commonly known as “R. Kelly.”
There have been many fingers pointed at who is wrong in the film but what the people should really be asking is what have you taught your children about consent?
Have you equipped them enough for the real world, when it comes to sexual activity and consent?
One hundred people at Cass Tech between the ages of 14-18 have taken a survey entitled “Are you legally able to consent.” This survey was open to 50 boys and 50 girls going into depth on what they knew about consent.
Seventy-eight percent of the students answered yes to dating someone older than their age leaving the other 22 percent with a no. The tables then turned when being asked dating someone younger with 56 percent of the students answered yes and 44 percent no.
Going more into depth there was some interesting discoveries about our adolescents. Sixty-eight percent of people voted that they have engaged in sexual activity with someone who was older than them.
Michigan’s legal age of consent is 16 years although 81 percent of the students said the right answer which is 16, but 15 percent said that 17 is the age of consent and 5 percent said that the age of consent in Michigan was 13.
When asking if a 15 year old could consent to a 17 year old in sexual activity, 37 percent of people voted yes. Which is really contradicting due to the fact that only 20 percent of the students got the age of consent wrong.
How can a 15 year old consent to a 17 year old if Michigan’s legal age of consent is 16? The students were given a scenario: “You’re 17 years old. You’re dating someone who happens to be 25. Your in love with him/her and age doesn’t matter to either of you. You’re parents happen to find out, now they are trying to press charges. Can they do that if you consented? Why or why not?”
One response stood out the most, “No, because as long as you’re at the age of consent or older you should be able to consent to any age” given by a 16 year old female.”
After reviewing this survey there is a clear understanding that some of our population of adolescents don’t quite know much about the law of consent.
This situation should open the eyes of parents and adolescents everywhere. There are some things that schools don’t teach kids thoroughly that the parents must take responsibility to teach themselves.
Consent is a big criteria that kids should be taught earlier than sexual contact. Before they learn about sexual activity they need to learn about when your able to say “yes.”
