Legal Age of Consent: Whose Body is it Anyway?

It's my body and I'll do what I want to. Or will I? Did you know that you might not be legally able to consent to sex as a red-blooded American teen? Well, to be more accurate, you might be able to consent to sex in one area of the country but not another.

I kid you not. Sad little 17 year old virgins in Idaho still have to wait a few months to a year before they reach the legal age of consent, all the while knowing that 16 year olds in neighboring Wyoming are freely knocking boots. Where's the justice in that?

A Look at the Age of Consent

Don't get me wrong. An age of consent for sexual acts has a place. After all, it's hard enough on a lonely single night without thinking about 12 year olds legally hitting it under the sheets in their parents' homes. That would just be wrong. But where's the consistency? Are 16 year olds in one state really on an equal playing field (maturity-wise) to 18 year olds in another state? What did those 18 year olds do to deserve a two-year sexual "grounding?"

There are risks to sex. They teach you that in school before you're 10 these days. Pregnancy happens. STDs happen. But if you know about those things and are willing and able to protect yourself against them, what's so bad about two 15 year olds choosing to have sex? Legal age of consent laws can seem rather arbitrary, don't they?

Freedom to Fornicate: The Laws Where You Live

The legal age of consent for sex varies in the U.S. based on state, with ages of consent ranging from 16 to 18 years old. Here's a list of the legal age of consent in various states* across the country.

You can't consent to sex until you're 18 in the following states:
Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin

Your body is your own at 17 if you live in:
Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, or Texas

And kids apparently mature more quickly in the following states, where you can legally get it on starting at age 16:
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

* Legal age of consent for sex in various states was taken from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publication Statutory Rape: A Guide to State Laws and Reporting Requirements from 2004. LegalAge.com does not assert that the published legal ages of consent are still accurate. After all, it's possible that the more prudish states have come to their senses since then (and I mean really, who would have thought Kansas would be more progressive than a state like New York anyway?).