An enduring memory of the 12 years I spent as an educator at the Corradino Correctional Facility is that of a 19-year-old man who, several years ago, was sentenced to a prison term for having sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl.

I shall never forget the picture of this educated, gentle person mixing with some of Malta’s coarsest, hardened criminals simply because of the relationship with his underage partner. The facts of the case were that the parents of the girl were against his dating their daughter and eventually reported him to the police.

I know of countless cases of couples who started dating very early and where one of the partners was only 15 or 16 while the other was a few years older. Many of these eventually married and today have a stable marriage. None of them had any brushes with the law but, had circumstances been otherwise, they could easily have finished up as inmates at the Corradino Correctional Facility.

All this serves to illustrate the absolute need to lower the age of consent. Today, in Malta, we have the anomalous situation where a person who is 16 years old is held to be criminally responsible if any laws are broken; is eligible to vote at local council elections; is allowed to work; is allowed to get married but cannot have sex with another person. Ask yourself if this is not utterly ridiculous!

Malta, Turkey and the Vatican City are the only States in Europe where the age of consent remains as high as 18 years of age. Cyprus and Ireland both have 17 as the age of consent while all the other European states have legalized sex at 16 or lower. This has been done because the realities of sexual relationships today are vastly different from those of several years ago.

Let me make one point clear: the teenagers of today are much more sexually conscious than those of the past. I am now almost 59 years old and I vividly remember that when I was at secondary school one hardly even dared to speak openly about sex because in those days it was still considered almost taboo to have an open conversation about it. The reality today is totally different: you will find pupils as young as those of Year 4 discussing sex among themselves!

Furthermore, today’s youngsters are exposed to sex from a very early age. Even if on a Sunday morning, they open a newspaper at home, they will sometimes find glossy magazines with scantily-dressed females and sometimes even couples in provocative poses.

If they are watching television, several advertisements have sexual content.

I know of countless cases of couples who started dating very early and where one of the partners was only 15 or 16

Explicit sex is the order of the day in several movies and the list goes on and on.

What a difference from my schooldays! I can still remember going to the movies and watching heavily-censored films with the main actor knocking on a female’s bedroom door, then an obvious cut in the film, followed by a scene showing him exiting the bedroom and all this accompanied by the boos, jeers and catcalls of the audience!

The point I am trying to make is that we cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich and we therefore have to admit that life has changed radically from that of half a century ago. Some laws that were relevant many years ago have become totally outdated and irrelevant today. The law about the age of consent is one of them.

Suffice to say that from a 2012 survey, it results that 41 percent of youths in Malta, aged 16 to eighteen, were sexually active and with many having started at 15.

So I think that it makes a lot of sense to lower the age of consent to 16.

However, amending the law has to be complemented with providing adequate safeguards for our younger teenagers. First of all, sex education should be introduced as a specific subject taught on its own and not as part of another subject within the school curriculum. Secondly, as a society we have to continue providing healthy lifestyles not centred around sex alone. As such, we have to facilitate and increase access to sports opportunities, cultural activities and voluntary work.

We have to ensure that each town and village has “safe” meeting places for teenagers such as youth centres, drama clubs, band clubs. These should be run by professionally-trained personnel who are sensitive to the needs and the vulnerabilities of people of a young age and can provide the protection and guidance needed.

Of course, we have to make sure that our health services are equipped to deal with the sexual health problems of underage teenagers and can provide the guidance and counselling needed in this regard.

Finally, as to the argument brought forward by some who oppose lowering the age of consent, that is, that this will lead to a substantial increase in the number of pregnancies at age 16 and 17, I believe that, while this always remains a possibility, we are, in fact, exaggerating the likely consequences of lowering the age of consent.

We have to move with the times. Lowering the age of consent has become a social necessity.