# What state has the lowest Age of Consent? What country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081 "2001-06-17T00:27:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@No\_Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Bones)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/1 "2001-06-17T00:27:57Z")
What state has the lowest Age of Consent? What country? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/2 "2001-06-17T00:34:48Z")
Planning a vacation nobones? [http://starbulletin.com/2000/08/28/editorial/editorials.html](http://starbulletin.com/2000/08/28/editorial/editorials.html) “WHILE researching a series of articles on prostitution in Hawaii, the Star-Bulletin’s Christine Donnelly learned that the age of sexual consent in the islands – 14 – is the lowest in the country. The low age of consent is a problem because it makes it easier for predatory older men to exploit inexperienced girls” etc ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/3 "2001-06-17T00:53:19Z")
Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I can see this thread getting ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/4 "2001-06-17T00:59:45Z")
Interesting to note that, if I read it right,[this chart of the ages of consent](http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm) around the world lists age 17 as being the age of consent in New Mexico for _heterosexual_ sex while the age of consent listed for _homosexual_ sex is 13. ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/5 "2001-06-17T01:20:20Z")
Spain. Legal age of consent for both straight and gay, boys and girls, is 12. ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/6 "2001-06-17T01:21:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by urban1 \* > \*\*Spain. Legal age of consent for both straight and gay, boys and girls, is 12. > > \*\* I just looked at the chart. I still, do believe, however, that the age is 12. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/7 "2001-06-17T01:55:57Z")
**urban1** , I’d be wary of take anything on that site at face value; there’s a whole lot of stuff relating to the age of consent in Australia which is either plain wrong or not adequately qualified. ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/8 "2001-06-17T02:41:57Z")
A google search (no other search engine results would be accepted here), for ‘age of consent spain’ indicates that the AOC was recently raised to 13 from 12, possibly under pressure from the EU. ---
**Author:** ![jaimest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jaimest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaimest)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/9 "2001-06-17T06:18:10Z")
Don’t those ages of consent depend on the age of the partner? I mean if a 12, 13, or 14 year old can legally “consent”, it is only if the other party is under a certain age…I hope ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/10 "2001-06-17T06:21:23Z")
Hawaii has a legal consent age of 14, correct me please if I’m wrong. That’s what _she_ said anyway. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/11 "2001-06-17T06:23:06Z")
Here they are for the U.S.: [http://www.actwin.com/eatonohio/gay/consent.htm](http://www.actwin.com/eatonohio/gay/consent.htm) ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/12 "2001-06-17T06:25:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jaimest \* > \*\*Don’t those ages of consent depend on the age of the partner? > I mean if a 12, 13, or 14 year old can legally “consent”, it is only if the other party is under a certain age…I hope > \*\* That used to be the case in Australia when we still retained our carnal knowledge laws. Now, age differential is only likely to be considered where one party is **under** the age of consent. As a general rule, the age of consent here is 16. It’s extremely unlikely, though, that charges would be laid against a 17 year old having sex with a 15 year old, whereas there’s a very real chance that a 17 year old having sex with a 12 year old **would** face charges. ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/13 "2001-06-17T13:59:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jaimest \* > \*\*Don’t those ages of consent depend on the age of the partner? > I mean if a 12, 13, or 14 year old can legally “consent”, it is only if the other party is under a certain age…I hope > \*\* I’ve seen nothing to indicate this (at least not in European countries). There seem to be some qualifications about this in some States (Colorado, for instance). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/14 "2001-06-17T14:21:00Z")
It’s been discussed quite a lot before, Bones. Wouldn’t you rather know why some states have lower ages than others? Why would hawaii be 14 & california 18? ---
**Author:** ![No\_Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@No\_Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Bones)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-state-has-the-lowest-age-of-consent-what-country/69081/15 "2001-06-17T17:18:59Z")
Actually, I’m concerned that my daughter will try to marry her live-in boyfriend, who is rough on her. I guess it’s too late to worry about that, but I do.