Primary Source Text
Age Limit in Age of Consent Laws in Selected Countries
1880 1920 2007
Austria 14 14 14
Belgium - 16 16
Bulgaria 13 13 14
Denmark 12 12 15
England & Wales 13 16 16
Finland - 12 16
France 13 13 15
Germany 14 14 14
Greece - 12 15
Italy - 16 14
Luxembourg 15 15 16
Norway - 16 16
Portugal 12 12 14
Romania 15 15 15
Russia 10 14 16
Scotland 12 12 16
Spain 12 12 13
Sweden 15 15 15
Switzerland various 16 16
Turkey 15 15 18
Argentina - 12 13
Brazil - 16 14
Chile 20 20 18
Ecuador - 14 14
Canada 12 14 14
Australia
New South Wales 12 16 16
Queensland 12 17 16
Victoria 12 16 16
Western Australia 12 14 16
United States
Alabama 10 16 16
Alaska - 16 16
Arizona 12 18 18
Arkansas 10 16 16
California 10 18 18
Colorado 10 18 15
Connecticut 10 16 16
District of Columbia 12 16 16
Delaware 7 16 16
Florida 10 18 18
Georgia 10 14 16
Hawaii - - 16
Idaho 10 18 18
Illinois 10 16 17
Indiana 12 16 16
Iowa 10 16 16
Kansas 10 18 16
Kentucky 12 16 16
Louisiana 12 18 17
Maine 10 16 16
Maryland 10 16 16
Massachusetts 10 16 16
Michigan 10 16 16
Minnesota 10 18 16
Mississippi 10 18 16
Missouri 12 18 17
Montana 10 18 16
Nebraska 10 18 17
Nevada 12 18 16
New Hampshire 10 16 16
New Jersey 10 16 16
New Mexico 10 16 17
New York 10 18 17
North Carolina 10 16 16
North Dakota 10 18 18
Ohio 10 16 16
Oklahoma - - 16
Oregon 10 16 18
Pennsylvania 10 16 16
Rhode Island 10 16 16
South Carolina 10 16 16
South Dakota 10 18 16
Tennessee 10 18 18
Texas 10 18 17
Utah 10 18 16
Vermont 10 16 16
Virginia 12 16 18
Washington 12 18 16
West Virginia 12 16 16
Wisconsin 10 16 18
Wyoming 10 16 16
How to Cite This Source
Stephen Robertson, "Age of Consent Laws," in Children and Youth in History, Item #230, http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/230 (accessed June 18, 2019).

Tags
1000-1500 CE, 1450-1770, 1750-1914, 1900-1945, Advertising, Age of Consent, Boy, Boys, Europe, girl, Government Documents, Law, Legal Documents


Age of consent in Utah was 10. Youngest was Delaware at the ripe age of 7. In fact the oldest was 12. No wonder I can't get enough people to join to have a universal age of consent to be 18 to get married, have sex.

Fundamentalists like to take their child brides to Colorado, where 1st cousins can marry, at least for their legal nuptials. (Illegal in Utah.) I cringe to think what might develop with legalized marijuana--so much more potent than what Boomers smoked in their (er, our) youth.

This is something a lot of people don't want to hear...

But I remember when I was at school, kids were doing sex acts with each other even as youmg as 11 or 12. It might have been illegal but it still happened. When they got into the 15-17 range, a lot more were involved. And that's without going into the whole question of abuse by adults, or the fact that pornography is so easily available to minors now. (Back in my youth, you had to walk into a shop to buy it.)

Jordan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And that's without going
> into the whole question of abuse by adults, or the
> fact that pornography is so easily available to
> minors now.

God damned what a post.

It is one thing to play with your friends and quite another to be groomed, abused, and tossed out like garbage.

But pornography.

You are shooting to one side and the other but don't go into the "abuse by adults" and whether consent is even possible at 12 years old, sheltered, neglected, and raised by older siblings...

Nope.

Porn? Porn was available to 3rd graders in the 1950's. The calendars in garages, the magazines under the mattress. You didn't need to walk into stores. All you needed was some sort of male contact who felt in order to be a man you had to be exposed to porn.

Anon 3 Wrote:



> Canada 12 14 14
>

Canada's age of consent was raised from 14 to 16 in 2008.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-age-of-consent-raised-by-2-years-1.754941

18 should be the age of consent for being baptised.

I agree. I get that the church wants you to be baptized when you know right from wrong, but what about being mature enough to make more complex decisions... say 18. Although, thinking back when I was 18, I didn't think very deeply. So maybe the age of consent and being baptized should be raised to 40. :)

I agree with both of you.

There are two questions:

1) When can one tell the difference between right and wrong? Surely not at eight; arguably not at 18.

2) When is one morally autonomous? That cannot be anytime before legal emancipation, so anything before 18 is unreasonable.

No one before that age can make, or be held responsible for, a major moral commitment like joining a church that expects life-long loyalty.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2019 07:10PM by Lot's Wife.

I believe that all baptisms should be done posthumously. Because at that point the person being dunked-in-absentia can make an informed decision.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 18 should be the age of consent for being
> baptised.

And for "choosing" to wear a headscarf.

Don't get me started about muslims !

Those were also the days of child labor.

By historical standards, let’s say JS and BY didn’t do anything all that bad. Their church is still a bunch of crap based on lies and deception.

And the child labor laws were cruel. It all changed in 1885 when they went up but still by international laws, through any moral right and by contractual law, it should be 18. Granted that women were the ones most affected by this: I mean how many 10 year old males were being married; women being chattel up to this time.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer and always consult legal sources before posting something of that nature on RFM.

What I don't see is the age of the other partner identified. As I understand it, per the relevant laws, someone of the age of say, 16, can consent to relations with someone of their age, but for, say a 19-year old (usually male) to sleep with a 16-year old female is still statuatory rape.

And to bring this back to on-optic: LDS apologists are often obsessed with the ages of Joseph Smith's "brides" (as well as other 19th century members of the LDS Church). I recall a former regular here--raised in a "fundamentalist" sect--who noted if we wanted to understand the early church in Utah, we should look at those groups.

The statutory rape laws are state issues, and vary pretty widely from what I gleaned from a quick once over in google.

For Utah (if I interpreted the legalese correctly):
Under age 14, rape of a child, first degree felony

for youths aged 14, 15, if age difference is three years or less, class B misdemeanor, otherwise 3rd degree felony

For youths age 16, 17, if age difference is ten years or more, 3rd degree felony. 7-9 years, misdemeanor, 0-6 years, not charged.

"Utah statutory rape law is violated when a person has consensual sexual intercourse with an individual under age 18. Close in age exemptions allow teens aged 16 and 17 to consent to partners less than 7 years older, and partners between 7 and 10 years older if they had no reasonable knowledge of the minor's age."

https://www.ageofconsent.net/states/utah

SL Cabbie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> What I don't see is the age of the other partner
> identified. As I understand it, per the relevant
> laws, someone of the age of say, 16, can consent
> to relations with someone of their age, but for,
> say a 19-year old (usually male) to sleep with a
> 16-year old female is still statuatory rape.

That whould depend on the country. Some countries (those of the EU, famously) do indeed allow people to have sex before they reach the age of consent with partners who are also underage or not much older.

But there are also countries with a single cut-off age. In some countries of Latin America it's 12 and a 13-year-old with an 11-year-old is illegal, two 11-year-olds is illegal, but a 13-year-old with a 30-year-old is perfectly legal. Their choice.

They shouldn't have to use the lowest common denominator set by the law in guiding their believers to do the right thing. We realize that young people need maturity to make a marriage work. That likely means that girl needs to be at least twenty or more before marriage ties her down. At least that's how I see it.

in b 4 ~ you legal OPie ? ~

i was legal. Couldnt drink but could get married.

I think Ziller is asking whether you are legal now.

yes. still cant get any campaign started. why do you think it is so difficult, ziller?