Bedroom activities are beyond the reach of legislation, at least for now in Germany. The German Parliament learned that lesson after heavy criticism led it to shelf a bill criminalizing ordinary sexual activities between teenagers.

The bill proposes lowering the age to 14 from the current 18 which will make a German youth legally liable for a sexual crime. Current national laws on sexual abuse of minors requires the perpetrator to be over 18 and the victim under 16. A new European Union guideline increases the victim's age limit to up to 17, while the German bill makes the perpetrator liable even if he is below 18.

German Justice Minister Brigette Zypries allayed fears of criminalizing consensual sexual contact between teenagers. "No young person has to fear being punished when he invites a date to the movie theater and petting occurs," Deutsche Welle quoted Zypries.

The proposal also expands the definition of child pornography to include words and photographs or video clips that depict sexual activities between young people. It copies a similar U.S. law verbatim. A 15-year old who takes his picture of himself in the buff and emails it or posts it on social networking website becomes criminally liable under the proposed German law.

Discussions on the controversial bill, which aims to protect young Germans from sexual exploitation and pornography, was postponed until early 2008. Jorg van Essen, a parliamentary leader of the Free Democratic Party, told Deutsche Welle, "The valid warnings from the opposition and assessors have apparently had an effect."

European experts said the German bill is hostile to sex and to teenagers, while the German Society for Sexual Research said the plan is sexual colonization since the roots of the law came from the American legal system.