TeenHelp - View Single Post - I if I wasn't really raped what happened to me?

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Rape and Statutory Rape are two different legal terms.

Rape is defined as when one does not give consent to any sexual advances while, the majority of the time, statutory rape is when both parties is consenting to sexual activities but one is under the age of consent.

The age of consent is defined as the age where, in the eye of the law, that a person has enough knowledge about sex and what it includes. In my state, the age of consent is 16, which means if a 17 year old has sex with a 13 year old, it is considered statutory rape; even if the 13 year old consented to having sex with the 17 year old. In the eyes of the justice system, the 13 year old doesn't know any better or what they're consenting to; therefore, statutory rape.

The minimum age of consent around the world is 9 in the Middle East, but the exception is that the child must be married. These are the countries where children as young as seven are married off, and these places are the only ones where there either is no age of consent/it's set at marrying age (which can be as young as seven) or there is but it's whenever the girl reaches puberty (around 9-12).

In other countries, the age ranges from 13 (I think in a South America country and Spain) to 19 (New Zealand or one of those Southeastern Asia countries).

Here is an awesome article on the Age of Consent I wrote earlier this year.