Introduction Consent is when a person freely gives their permission or agrees to something. This decision needs to have been made without being: Pressured or bullied Given drugs or alcohol to change their decision Or, otherwise manipulated. At what age can I legally have sex? This is also known as the ‘age of consent’. In England and Wales, the age …
Marriage and Civil Partnership
At what age can I enter marriage or a civil partnership? In England you can get married or enter into a civil partnership once you reach the age of 18. 16 and 17 year olds used to be able to get married or enter into a civil partnership with parental consent, but this is no longer the case. What’s a …
Healthcare and medical treatment
When can I receive medical advice or treatment on my own? Young people aged 16 or over are entitled to consent to their own treatment and this can only be overruled in exceptional circumstances. Children under the age of 16 can consent to their own treatment if they’re believed to have enough understanding to fully appreciate what’s involved. This is …
Online grooming
Introduction Chatting online is a useful and easy way to keep in touch with your friends. But it’s really important to remember that talking to people you don’t know, or haven’t met in real life, can be dangerous. What is grooming? Online grooming is when someone (the groomer) uses the internet to make friends with you and gain your trust. …
Online pornography
What is it? Online pornography (porn) can be text, an image or a video that is sexually explicit. For example, this could include a photo of someone naked or a video of people having sex. It is perfectly natural to be curious about sex and relationships. However, it’s a topic that many people feel uncomfortable discussing with an adult. Watching …
Rape and other forms of abuse
Rape The definition of rape was changed by law on 1 May 2004. What was previously known as ‘rape’ has been replaced by the criminal offence of ‘sexual assault by penetration’. Sexual assault by penetration It is against the law for someone, male or female, intentionally to penetrate the vagina or anus of another person with a part of their …
Self-harm
What is self harm? Self-harm is where you hurt or injure yourself on purpose, for example: cutting yourself taking overdoses of tablets or medicines not eating enough scratching your skin to cause sores and scarring. After self-harming, you might feel a short-term sense of relief or control. This can make it easier to rely on and harder to stop. Why …
Sexting
What is sexting? Sexting is a term used for sending or receiving of sexual, naked or semi-naked images or videos which can be taken by a young person of themselves (selfie), or by others. Examples include: naked pictures pictures of genitals sex acts including masturbation sexual pictures in underwear Sexting can be done on anything that lets you share media …