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legal rights for the province
of Ontario
Age of Consent |
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| 16 |
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You are legally
able to consent to sexual activity with anyone
who is also able to give consent, except for
members of your immediate family. |
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| 14 |
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You are legally
able to consent to sexual activity. You are
not able to consent to sexual activity with
an authority figure, a family member, or anyone
upon whom you are dependent. |
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| 12
+ 13 |
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You are able
to consent to sexual activity with someone
who is no more than two years older than you
(to the day) and not younger than 12.
You are not able to consent to sexual activity
with an authority figure, a family member,
or anyone upon whom you are dependent. |
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| Under
12 |
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You
are not legally able to consent to sexual
activity. |
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What does this
mean for us?
Age of consent laws are set up to protect young
people from exploitation, abuse, or assault. Youth
may have less ability to negotiate their needs and
desires because they may have less experience, self-confidence,
or understanding of those needs and desires than
their potential partners, especially if those partners
are older and/or more experienced. However, people
do have sexual experiences when they are younger
than twelve, and those experiences may be consensual
and positive. The Youth Line is sex-positive and
does not wish to devalue these experiences in any
way. Our goal is to empower youth to be able to
make informed decisions about sex. |
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