medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Back to Sir Richard Burton's original comment ...
What was the date of it ?
Between about 1883 when W H Stead published his expose' of child
prostitution (The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon) and the passing of the
Criminal Amendment Act of 1885 which raised the age of concent (to marriage
and by extension to any sexual activity) to 16 for both sexes (whereas
previously it had been - since the Middle Ages - 12 for females and 14 for
males), there was much discussion of this topic in the press and in the
drawing-rooms. Some traditional moralists believed that it was wrong to
raise the age of consent higher than the individual age of puberty since it
meant that a person could experience carnal desire without any lawful means
of expressing it, and this would encourage the sin of self-abuse. The
reformers were,of course, anxious to protect the young and vulnerable from
exploitation, although contemporary social workers can tell you that plenty
of 14 year olds are only too happy to be exploited....
Was Burton perhaps looking at other moral traditions in this context ?
BMC
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