Posted on 12/11/2007 7:46:15 PM PST by camerakid400
GERMANY is poised to bring in a draconian law tomorrow that will effectively outlaw kissing and cuddling between children under 17 in public places.
While experts acknowledge that the bill has good intentions, they fear it will deprive teens of a sexual rite of passage, through flirting and experimentation.
Broadly speaking, the law is aimed at the 14-17 age group, but some subclauses have far-reaching consequences. Parents who put a picture of their naked youngster in a bath or a paddling pool on the internet, for example, will leave themselves open to charges of disseminating child pornography.
But it is the attempt to regulate - in essence - the raging hormones of teenagers that strike many as bizarre and unworkable. Under the law, to go before the Bundestag tomorrow, a teenage boy up to the age of 17 who is caught "fondling or stroking the chest" of someone younger will be liable to prosecution - regardless of consent.
If he does it in a cinema and the girl complains, he will be deemed to have been guilty of planning the "assault" by paying for the cinema ticket to commit the act - crime aforethought.
Critics say Germany has gone more than two steps beyond European Union and United Nations' guidelines in introducing the law, claiming that it is copied from the United States. A 15-year-old girl in Pittsburgh faces a long jail term on a charge of distributing child pornography after sending nude pictures of herself over the internet to a friend.
"This is not something Germany should be copying," said Jürgen Grünewald, a child welfare consultant. "It seems pompous, heavy-handed and totally unworkable."
Lawyers see a minefield ahead: false claims from girls who were rebuffed by the school hunk at a disco or boys spurned by the class vamp. But Brigitte Zypries, the justice minister, said the younger generation needed to be protected as much from itself as from the bogeymen that parents insist lurk at every teenage party.
At present, the law stipulates that sexual abuse among minors occurs when the perpetrator is 18 and the victim is at least two years younger. This age disparity is being done away with under the new legislation. Wolfgang Neskovic, of the Left Party, said: "In a ridiculous way, we are trying to regulate the hormones and lifestyle of teenagers and criminalise that which has gone on since time immemorial."
Under the new law a 15-year-old who posts a picture of herself in a bikini on the internet would be guilty of disseminating a pornographic photograph. She could be punished by law - as would anyone who downloaded it, for whatever purpose.
Professional artists and writers would face up to three months in jail if they make "realistic descriptions of sex among young people" in magazines, films, books, newspapers or on the internet.
Andreas Hill, a Hamburg sex therapist, warned that the bill - which appears likely to be passed by the coalition right-left government in Germany - might release a "wave of useless procedures for an already overstretched police force to deal with, while the really relevant crimes in society go unsolved".
So a 17 yr old can no longer give his little brother a purple nurple?
I don’t care to see it much either. However, this is dangerous territory for government to tread in.
JAIL for two teenagers kissing? It’s a bit much and sounds very Nazi-ish.
I can’t wait for the prudish busybody Freepers to start praising this policy.
I’ve lived in Germany for 15 years now...and live in a small town (3,000 people). In summer months...in the 1-acre park of this town...you can drive by at 2pm in the afternoon...and there will be some 14-year old girl and her boyfriend...locked in a very tight embrace. Around the evening hours....at least dozen girls out there with their boyfriends. Face it...they can’t go anywhere to socialize and no cars to drive around...even if they are 16. Adding to this...higher pregnancy rates over the past ten years and significant drinking by underage kids now.
Good! I’m sick of all the PDA (Public Display of Affection).
Lock ‘em up!
Dry spell?
Pornograghy is much more acceptable here than the U.S.
You can buy gas ration coupons that can be used as certain gas stations on the German economy. I knew some folks who avoided it because they wanted to avoid taking their kids into the place. Right at kid’s eye-level on the magazine racks...the young-uns got a peep-show.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.