It's so important to talk to your kids about sex! A study shows that raising the legal of from sexual consent from 14 to 16 is not safeguarding younger teens. The study was released yesterday by the University of B.C. and Simon Fraser University. The age of consent was raised to protect teens against exploitation by adults and to help prevent poor decisions by teens. Researchers now say the 2008 law was not formed around facts. The study states 39 per cent of children who had sex before age 12 had a sexual partner who was 20 years or older. 14 and 15 year olds were more likely to be as sexually responsible as their adult counterparts, but were more likely to be exploited by those within their own age range.