This objection argues that when it comes to respecting other people’s decisions,
behaviors, and lifestyles, we should leave them alone in self-regarding ways because they are adults. Adults have reached their maturity in their mental faculties and there is less risk of them making mistakes. They can see long-term goals and have established what they want out of life and how to achieve those goals. Anyone younger is still mentally immature and any major decision, especially bad ones, will affect them, perhaps
permanently. Mill even argues that the Harm Principle applies only to human beings “in the maturity of their faculties. We are not speaking of children, or of young persons
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below the age which the law may fix as that of manhood or womanhood. Those who are still in a state to require being taken care of others, must be protected against their own action as well as against external injury.”266
Applying this to sex, adults in general can choose what sort of sexual behaviors to engage in without an external authority figure. Children obviously cannot engage in sexual behavior because they are not physically nor mentally mature to understand the ramifications of sex. Thus, liberal-consequentialism applies to adults but not to children. The situation becomes complicated when this is applied to adolescents however. At what point can people direct their own lives without an authoritative figure? There is no
specific point since humans attain maturity gradually for each individual. Yet, Mill offers a clue: “as soon as mankind have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion, … compulsion, either in the direct form or in that of pains and penalties for non-compliance, is no longer admissible as a means to their own good, and justifiable only for the security of others.”267
There is a minimum that people reach where they are considered mature in certain activities, where one is “guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion.” In the USA, we have an arbitrary age where people are mature enough to drive at the age of sixteen, to purchase and partake in tobacco products (in many states) at the age of eighteen, and to drink alcohol at the age of 21. When it comes to sexuality, what is the minimum where one is considered mature? Many states set a minimum age of consent that can range from 16-18. However, legal permission to do something does not mean that one is mature enough to understand the activity. Being mature entails one is not only
266 Mill, On Liberty, 14. 267 Mill, On Liberty, 15.
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educated in the activity, but can understand the consequences of the activity and take the responsibilities of that activity. When we educate children, we expect them to mature over time. There is no point when one is mature; one rather becomes mature over time by developing their mental faculties. David O. Brink argues that educating children does not mean that children will remain in a status of immaturity:
Consider the case of children. Presumably, transitional justice requires that we provide them with an education—in the broadest sense—that develops their normative competence. To do so, we really need to recognize both their potential competence and the scalar character of actual competence. We should not treat children or other potentially competent individuals the way we would treat the permanently childlike. We need to try to teach them skills and allow them to acquire varied experiences safely. Children need to play an active part in their own development and education. In particular, they need to be given various sorts of deliberative opportunities and responsibilities, including the freedom to make and learn from their own mistakes in certain circumscribed ways, which prevent or minimize the chance of catastrophic outcomes. As they get older and their competence grows, they need to be given more freedom, opportunities, and responsibilities. Only in this way will the potentially competent develop actual competence.268
With children slowly developing the mental faculties, they will slowly gain a sense of maturity and autonomy. As they age, we give children more challenges,
responsibilities, and opportunities that are appropriate for their age. We do not expect to teach someone trigonometry until they have gained the mental understanding of the prerequisites such as geometry, algebra, and mathematics using variables. People must develop certain prerequisites before they move on to the next level. The same could be said within sex education. The difference, however, is not just learning new information, but it is also incorporating the information so as to use the information in their lives not only in terms of practical action, but of understanding themselves in terms of their sexual identity. One may not need to teach sexual preventative measures to five-year olds, for
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example, but one should teach them information as a prerequisite that is appropriate for their lack of sexual maturity, but this information would serve them to gain maturity over time.269
Thus, there is a way for sex education to be congruent with Mill’s notion of liberty. To gain a sense of maturity is to develop one’s own autonomy and freedom which means that children and eventually adolescents need to be given various opportunities and responsibilities in order to develop their maturity.
Different responsibilities and opportunities are appropriate for them at different stages of normative development. Adolescents need to be given various sorts of deliberative opportunities and responsibilities, including the freedom to make and learn from their own mistakes in certain circumscribed ways, which prevent or minimize the chance of catastrophic outcomes. As they get older and their competence grows, they need to be given more freedom, opportunities, and responsibilities. Only in this way will the potentially competent develop normal adult competence.270
The minimal standard would not be a quantifiable demarcating point, but a gradual process where one gains more knowledge as it is appropriate for one’s maturity level. The same could be said within sex education. The education they need is a gradual process so that they can become functioning adults later in life.
Empirically speaking, there was a “quasi-experimental evaluation” from the Guttmacher Institute of condom distribution in schools. The study revealed that access to condoms from schools did not increase rates of sexual activity, and that students who are sexually active are more likely to use condoms.271 One could say that a comprehensive
269 As an example, Chicago Public Schools have considered teaching sex education to
kindergartners that is age-appropriate. The information given to kindergartners, for example, will be about anatomy, health relationships, and personal safety. See Chicago Public Schools. “Student Health and Wellness.” October 31, 2018. (Accessed November 19, 2018.)
https://cps.edu/oshw/Pages/HealthEducation.aspx. 270 Brink, Mill’s Progressive Principles, 195.
271 Michelle Fine and Sara McClelland. “Sexuality Education and Desire: Still Missing After All These Years,” in Harvard Educational Review, 76 (2006): 312-313.
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sex education and health resources will not initiate or increase sexual activity, and it may help those practice healthy sexual practices for those who are already sexually active. It seems that the education is helping students becoming more responsible in determining the sexuality.