“Statutory rape” is when someone older than a state’s legal “age of consent” has sex with someone under that age. It’s illegal, even if both people say they wanted to have sex. In all but two states, the age consent ranges from 16 to 18. In Hawaii, the legal age of consent is 14 and in South Carolina, it’s 15.

The idea is that children and teens under a certain age are too young to make heavy decisions about sex. Also, older teens and adults have more power and can coerce or manipulate someone younger into doing sexual things.

Statutory rape can include sexual intercourse or other types of sexual touching. It can happen between people of the same or different genders. And, the older person can go to jail for doing it, regardless of whether they are male or female or whether their younger partner agreed to have sex.