In general, there are no laws that say when a young person can start dating another person but there are laws about doing sexual activity with another person, which we explain below! However, there are laws which make grooming children under the age of 16 a crime. In Victoria, grooming may occur where an adult over 18 communicates with a young person who is under 16 years old so that they can sexually abuse that young person. These laws can also apply to online relationships.
If you are worried about a relationship with an adult including an online relationship , or communications you are receiving, please contact us for free and confidential advice. A sexual act can include many different types of activities, such as:. Consent is required for any sexual act, not just those involving penetration. There are also special laws applying to recording a sexual activity with another person or sending or receiving sexual pictures or videos. For more information about these laws please see our pages on sexting and image-based abuse.
It is useful to think of consent as an enthusiastic yes! It is never okay for someone to assume you have given consent or to force you to keep going if you want to stop. You can also change your mind or withdraw your consent at any time. Consent is really important, and we recommend you check out our page on consent if you are thinking of having sex or doing something sexual with another person. The age of consent is the age at which the law says a person can agree to sexual activity.
If you are under the age of consent, the law says that you cannot legally agree to sexual activity, and any person who does something sexual with you has broken the law. In Victoria, the age of consent is 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, even if you are above the age of consent, it is a crime for someone who is caring for you or supervising you like a teacher, youth worker, foster carer, step parent, religious leader, sports coach, counsellor, etc to have sex with you while you are under In Victoria, consent to a sexual activity with a person who is between the ages of 12 β 15 can be a defence to sexual crimes if both people are 12 or over, and the difference in age is not more than 2 years. A person who is under the age of 12 can never consent to sexual activity.
