Growing Up Sexually

AUSTRALIA (Non-Aboriginal)

Index → Additional Western Nations → Australia

(See also Aboriginal Australia)

A proposal has been advanced by the New South Wales (Australia) Antidiscrimination Board to establish 14 as the age of consent to sexual relations for both sexes[1]. The current age of consent would be variable for territories but typically 16 for all categories (Graupner, 2000)[2]. Coates (1997)[3] states:

“There is little information available about types of sexual behavior and whether patterns of sexual experimentation have changed. However, anecdotal reporting indicates that Australian children are no different from children in other countries and engage in sexual rehearsal play. This is conventionally curbed by witnessing adults, although enlightened parents will take the opportunity to educate their children about private and public, acceptable and unacceptable, behavior. Many parents will tell their children that it is acceptable to engage in self-pleasuring as long as they confine it to the privacy of the bedroom. It is not customary for children to witness adult sexual interactions nor for children to be initiated in to sexual activity by an adult”.

“Each state and territory, through their respective education authority, has a curriculum that provides for personal development and education in sexuality. These have been developed by experienced educators and offer well-rounded, age-related programs for both primary and secondary education. The implementation of such programs, however, is variable and no child in Australia is guaranteed a consistent and continuing sexuality education”.

“Biology and reproductive sexuality is generally offered before the emotional aspects of human sexuality, although personal safety and the concept of invasion of private “space” is suggested for the 6- and 7-year-olds. Information on gender identity and sexual orientation is suggested for secondary school students at about 15 and 16 years of age”.

“Results of a survey of 2,000 respondents aged 16 to 25 years suggest that adolescents are probably more sexually experienced than their parents were at the same age (McCabe and Collins 1990)[[4]]. Intercourse is occurring at an earlier age than ten years ago and in greater numbers. The mean age of first intercourse is about 16 years, and by the age of 18, nearly 60 percent of young people report that they are sexually active. There is also a reported increase in the number of sexual partners at a given age.

Casual sex is still an important part of adolescent sexual activity, although most sexual experience in adolescents probably occurs in the context of a steady relationship. Explanations for the initiation of sexual intercourse include curiosity, peer pressure, and the need to be loved. The rates of sexual experience are greater in males than in females (Dunne et al 1993[[5]]; Cubis 1992[[6]]). Peer pressure from boys is strong and many young women report that their first experience of intercourse was not a positive one”.

Australian childhood sexual thinking was studied by Goldman and Goldman’s (1981; etc.)[7] comparative work. Goldman and Goldman later (1988)[8] added to these data with a study on behaviour.

Among 308 Year 10 girls (mostly aged 15 or 16) in Sydney, 18% were sexually active, and the mean age at first intercourse was 14.5 years[9]. According to a 1995 study among technical college students, the mean age of first sexual intercourse was 16, range 12-23 (1.2% at age 12, 5.1% at age 13, 14.2% at age 14)[10].

Historical Observations

During “Victorian” days, children’s “sexuality” (finger-sucking, masturbation) was declared unnatural, and a known cause of mental and physical degeneration as well as crime (Kociumbas, 1997)[11]. Kociumbas[12] analyses children’s literature used in Australia in the years prior to 1914, noting the dominant themes of hard work and religious purity, the superstitious treatment of sexuality, and the resultant effects on the development of sex roles among children. In Victoria, Australia the age of sexual consent was raised from 12 to 16 in 1909 (Tyler, 1986[13]; cf. Siedlecky, 2004)[14].

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. Volume I. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Dec 2004