Men are more likely than women to believe that sexual relationships between 16-year-olds and a partner decades older are acceptable, new polling shows in the wake of concerns raised by allegations against Russell Brand.
Nearly a third of men among the 1,077 British adults surveyed said they find it somewhat or completely acceptable for a 16-year-old girl to have a sexual relationship with a man under 30, compared to 15% of women who think this. was acceptable.
The investigation by Ipsos for the PA news agency follows claims by a woman who said she had a relationship with Brand when she was a 16-year-old schoolgirl and he was a 30-year-old BBC radio presenter.
The woman, who goes by the name Alice, has suggested that ‘distributed consent’ should be taken into account in the law ‘so that there are no adults exploiting a 16 (or) 17-year-old’s capacity for sexual determination’.
Women were slightly more likely to support raising the age of consent than men and felt that older men have more power in relationships with an age difference of at least ten years.
Russell Brand is facing allegations – reported in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 – of sexual assault, dating back to the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013
Alice, who said she had a relationship with Brand at the age of 16, has suggested that the law should take into account ‘distributed consent’, ‘so that there are no adults who have the ability of a 16 (or) 17 year-old exploitation. sexual determination’
More than a quarter (27%) of men find it somewhat or completely acceptable for a 16-year-old boy to have a sexual relationship with a woman under the age of 30.
While only 9% of women find this acceptable.
About 52% of men said it was somewhat or completely unacceptable for a 16-year-old boy to have sex with a woman under 30, compared to 73% of women who feel this way.
The trend continued with wider age gaps, with almost a fifth (17%) of men saying it was somewhat or completely acceptable for a 16-year-old girl to have sex with a man under 40 years old, compared to just 4% of women who feel this way.
When it comes to a 16-year-old girl having a sexual relationship with a man aged 50 or older, more than one in ten men (13%) find this acceptable, compared to 3% of women.
Overall, 48% of people said they tended to or strongly supported the idea of raising the age of consent from 16 to 18, while 40% said they supported the idea of staggered consent, in findings similar to those from a YouGov survey earlier this year. week.
Women were slightly more likely to support the idea of staggered consent – where it is only legal for a 16 or 17 year old to have sex with someone until the age of 20 or 21 – than men, at 41% and 38 years. % divided, according to Ipsos poll.
About 59% of all respondents said they believed that in relationships where the woman is 10 or more years younger than the man, he has more power.
Brand was last seen in public on Saturday, after a live performance at a theater in Wembley Park. His show has now been postponed
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of female respondents held this view, compared to just over half (54%) of men.
Speaking to BBC Radio Women’s Hour earlier this week, Alice said her mother had a breakdown because ‘there was nothing she could do to protect me from that relationship’, as the teenager was of legal age to consent to sex in hospital. time.
Alice said: ‘People say ‘well, just call the police’. And then what? I was allowed to be there legally.”
Alice added, “He was thirty. Now that I’m in my thirties and looking at sixteen year olds, I can’t imagine finding them sexually attractive. I can’t imagine considering them as a potential partner in any way.”
She said there is “a reasonable argument that individuals between the ages of 16 and 18 can have relationships with people within that same age range,” but that the law could do more to protect teenagers from much older adults.
The shocking allegations against Brand are said to have taken place during the height of his fame between 2003 and 2013.
Brand is facing allegations – reported in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 – of sexual assault, dating back to the height of his fame between 2006 and 2013, against four women, including Alice.
The 48-year-old comedian vehemently denies the allegations, saying that while he was “promiscuous,” all of his relationships were “consensual.”
Another separate allegation of sexual assault in Soho, central London, in 2003 was received by the Metropolitan Police after the Channel 4 Dispatches program aired last weekend.
The BBC is also investigating a separate claim that Brand flashed a woman before laughing about it on his radio programme.