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The âAge of Consentâ is the age at which a person may consent to participation in sexual intercourse. A person younger than the legal age of consent cannot legally consent to a sexual act. The age of consent in the United States ranges from 16-18 depending on the state, meaning that a person 15 years of age or younger cannot legally consent to sex. Each state enacts its owns laws which set the age of consent.
But one canât just assume, reading a story about a 16- or 17-year-old having sex, that â 17 will get you 20 â and that the sex had to be statutory rape; to figure that out, one would need to look into the age of consent in that jurisdiction, and likely also consider the relative age of the parties.