Voices en Español

Last week, the day before Valentine’s Day, a British lad named Alfie Patten made global headlines for becoming a father at the tender age of 13. Spanish media jumped on the story and Spanish newspaper readers/tv viewers openly shared their shock, disgust and, in some cases, smug superiority, on blogs and news sites.

Here are some random readers’ comments (typos included) that were posted on 20Minutos.com about the physically prepubescent padre: 

Dios!! Voy a vomitar!!!

Es normal, son ingleses..

Deberían estar obligados a abortar o a darlo en adopción por ley. el recién nacido va a ser un desgraciado por culpa de unos padre irresponsables.

Que los ingleses en materia de anticonceptivos y educación sexual estan tanto o más verdes que nosotros.

Habría que reflexionar en qué pasa en esta sociedad cuando chavales de 13 años empiezan a tener relaciones sexuales sin saber que significan, al final esto no es sino una consecuencia de la sociedad orientada al hedonismo y la busqueda del placer que tanto se nos ha inculcado.

Well, low and behold, guess what the age of sexual consent is in Spain? 13.

Wow. Must be a holdover from another century when the average lifespan was shorter and people got married as soon as they entered puberty. Fortunately, the Spanish government realizes that this age is way too young. There is currently a serious discussion going on about changing the penal code, which would include, among other things, possibly raising the age of sexual consent to at least 14.

Hmm, I wonder how many of those readers/viewers slamming Alfie and his family were aware that in Spain, under current Spanish law, there would be nothing at all wrong with a 13-yr-old having sex with an older person. Seems like some Spaniards might be suffering a slight case of paja-itis, where they can ver la paja en el ojo ajeno y no la viga en el propio.

Photo by Walik, used under license from iStockPhoto.com

P.S. Is it just me or does this pooch bear an uncanny resemblance to actor Samuel L. Jackson??