As long as you are aware of the risks, the best judge is you. There aren't any laws around being in a non-sexual relationship where one person is under 18 and the other over. Once you turn 16 it's not illegal for someone to have sex with you no matter how old they are.
The purpose of statutory rape laws is to help prevent teenage pregnancies. Generally speaking, an 18-year-old can date a 16-year-old provided that the relationship is not sexual. If the relationship becomes sexual, then it could be illegal depending on the state.
Five to seven years is generally an acceptable age difference. However, there's no single right answer here, as it depends on the situation. As long as both partners are consenting adults, there's nothing preventing you from dating someone significantly older or younger than you are.
Whilst the age of consent is 16 years old, where a person has a 'special care' relationship with a young person between 16 – 18 years of age sexual activity is also deemed to be illegal, as per subdivision 11.
In Victoria, the age of consent is 16. If you are 16 years old and above, you can legally have sex (or do another sexual activity) with another person who is 16 years or older as long as you both agree to it.
However, that does not mean the act is consensual at law. As outlined above, the age of consent in New South Wales is 16 years meaning that sexual activity with any consenting person who is above the age of 16 is legal. However, there is an exception relating to relationships involving 'special care'.
What is the age of consent in Victoria? Under Victorian law, a person aged 16 or older can validly consent to sex with any other person, except a person who in in a position of authority over him or her. This means that the general age of consent is 16.
In many countries, including Australia, Serbia, India, Brazil, Croatia, Colombia, and the UK a minor is defined as a person under the age of 18.
Is it okay if I'm 19 and dating a 16-year-old? If “dating” includes having sex, it is illegal because the 16-yr-old is a minor. Don't do it. If the minor's parent or parents press charges, you could be in jail for a long time plus leave prison as a sexual predator, limited as to where you can live or work.
Importantly, whereas cognitive capacity reached adult levels around age 16, psychosocial maturity reached adult levels beyond age 18, creating a “maturity gap” between cognitive and psychosocial development.
An often-asserted rule of thumb to determine whether an age difference is socially acceptable holds that a person should never date someone whose age is less than half their own plus seven years.
The “close in age” rule means that: 12- and 13-year-olds can be sexual with people who are no more than two years older than them. 14- and 15-year-olds can be sexual with people who are no more than five years older than them.
As long as you are aware of the risks, the best judge is you. There aren't any laws around being in a non-sexual relationship where one person is under 18 and the other over. Once you turn 16 it's not illegal for someone to have sex with you no matter how old they are.
Some pediatricians suggest that kids wait until they're 16 to start this kind of one-on-one dating. That's a good place to start the discussion, but every kid is different. Some are more emotionally mature than others. Some teens come from communities and families where one-on-one dating starts earlier or later.
About legal age in Australia
In Australia, you're considered to be an adult when you turn 18 years old. But for certain things, the legal age can be younger. The information in this article is general in nature, and laws differ from state to state.
Australian Capital Territory
Section 11 of the Children and Young People Act 2008 (ACT) defines a child as a person who is under 12 years old, and section 12 defines a young person as a person who is 12 years old or older but not yet an adult.
While in many circumstances it is perfectly legal for an adult to have consensual sexual contact or intercourse with a 16-year-old, there are some circumstances where it is not. Most often, it comes down to the nature of the relationship between the two individuals.
Although the legal age of consent throughout Australia is either 16 or 17 years of age, legislation in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia makes it an offence for a person in a supervisory role to have sexual interactions with a ...
There is no law that says what age you can leave home.
These authorities are unlikely to become involved if you are over the age of 15, have a safe place to go and there is nothing illegal happening at the place you move to (prostitution, drug use, crime, under-age sex) and you can support yourself financially.
A teenager, or teen, is someone who is 13 to 19 years old. They can also be described with the term "adolescence".
The age of consent is also 14 in Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Mauritius, Malawi, and Chad. The age of consent is slightly higher at 15 in France, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic, Greece, Denmark, Iceland, and Slovenia, as well as in Thailand, North Korea, Cambodia, Costa Rica, and Uruguay.
The age of consent in Germany is 14, as long as a person over the age of 18 does not exploit a 14- to 15-year-old person's lack of capacity for sexual self-determination, in which case a conviction of an individual over the age of 18 requires a complaint from the younger individual; being over 21 and engaging in sexual ...
Age of Consent Laws NSW
In the eyes of law, this is because a person under 16 is legally incapable of giving consent to sexual activity. Only sexual activity with any consenting person above 16 is legal.