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Originally Posted by Stompy
In the US, most states have an age of consent at 16. Not sure where the "under 18 is illegal" came from.
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The law surrounding it is SO much more complex than that though. I can only speak for Canadian law (what I remember of it), but I'll give sort of a break-down of our "age of consent".
The age of consent is 14, meaning that sex between people (I believe the legal term was "young people") within the age group between 14 and 18 is legal. Sex of any kind between persons of any age below that is completely an utterly illegal.
If one of the two persons in the sexual relationship is of the age of majority, they may not have sex with a "young person", except under the circumstance that there are no more than two years in age difference between them. This effectively raises the age of consent to 16 for 18 year olds, 17 for 19 year olds, and after that it's adults only.
Those are just some paraphrasings of major pertinent points. There is a lot more written regarding sexual conduct and age, and I may have gotten some specifics a little off, but the general idea is still sound.