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consent, age of
(redirected from age of consent)

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consent, age of

Age at which consent may legally be given to sexual intercourse by a girl or boy.

In the UK the age of consent is 16 for both heterosexuals (since 1885) and homosexuals (since 2000).

In the USA it varies according to state statutes.

History

The Criminal Law Amendment Act (1885) raised the age of consent from 13 to 16, and that of abduction from 16 to 18, after a campaign by William Thomas Stead (1849–1912), editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, exposed the white slave trade from England to Paris and Brussels. Stead's purchase of a girl to demonstrate the existence of the trade led to his prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment for three months.

In Britain, homosexuality ceased to be illegal over the age of 21 in 1967, and the age of consent was lowered to 18 in 1994. UK MPs in late June 1998 voted overwhelmingly to lower the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. However, the House of Lords in late July decisively threw out the amendment by 290 votes to 122. Two further bills were thrown out by the House of Lords in 1999 and 2000. In November 2000 the House of Commons used the Parliament Act to push through the bill; the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act, lowering the age of consent for homosexuals to 16, became law in December 2000.



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From the beginning it backed such measures as abortion on demand up to 22 weeks' gestation; fetal experimentation; the elimination of the crime of incest between brother and sister; a reduction in the age of consent for sexual intercourse from 18 to 14; the decriminalization of prostitution and keeping a bawdy house; and the elimination of the crime of bestiality.
Conservatives slash secret liberal excesses by Gosgnach, Tony / Catholic Insight
The legal age of consent also varies according not only to jurisdiction, but also according to the sexuality and age of the young person's sexual partner.
The fixed age rule: young people, consent and research ethics by Bessant, Judith / Youth Studies Australia
We chose to examine female and male teenagers who had had sexual intercourse before or after age 16-the modal age of consent at which teenagers are legally allowed to have sexual intercourse, regardless of their partner's age.
Young teenagers and older sexual partners: correlates and ... by Ikramullah, Erum / Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
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