The age at which consent may legally be given
to sexual intercourse by a girl or boy. In
the UK it is 16 (21 for male homosexual
intercourse). The Criminal Law Amendment Act
1885 raised the age of consent from 13 to 16,
and that of abduction from 16 to 18, after a
campaign by William Thomas Stead (1849-1912),
editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, exposed the
white slave trade from England to Paris and
Brussels. Stead's purchase of a girl to
demonstrate the existence of the trade led to
his prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment
for three months. In the USA it varies
according to state statutes.