Unfortunately, as a westerner, there are some complexities here.
Child sex tourism is considered a major issue in western society, so there is plenty of attention on it. That attention extends overseas, where you can be prosecuted for committing an act that, though legal where you were, would have been illegal at home. Logistics make this difficult, obviously (they're unlikely to figure out many of the "violations" that took place, especially if they were within the law of the foreign nation and no alarm was raised), but the possibility of your being punished is there if they do somehow learn of who you had sex with.
Long story short: No
American,
Canadian, Australian or British citizen can legally have sex with anyone under the age of 16. The age of consent for a travelling citizen from any of these nations will either be 16 or the local age of consent, whichever is higher.
1. Find the age of consent. If it is below 16 (as it is in Sweden at 15), know that it is, legally, 16 for you. Stay at or above that to avoid all potential for trouble. If it is higher (ex: 17 in Ireland), then you must obviously obey the higher age of consent.
2. For pay-for-play, the rule in nearly every western country is that she must be 18. Be wary of the possibility that an otherwise legal 16/17 year old could claim that you paid her, and potentially get you in trouble with the authorities. That scam is a threat in some of the shadier locales of the world where the line between pros, semi-pros and ordinary girls is blurrier than we're used to in the west. This is an unlikely scam, but it could be used against you.
The bottom-line is that, as far as the law is concerned in western nations, there is nothing wrong with pursuing a 16/17 year old. If the girls you're running into over in Sweden are this age, have at it. If you just want to play it safe all-around as a westerner to avoid the (admittedly minimal) risk of being falsely accused of paying a girl under 18 as part of a scam, stick to 18 as a lower limit. Again, you're probably more likely to run into that scam in more ambiguous locales.
Engage the 15 year olds at your own risk. Sweden won't care, but Canada will.
Quote: (08-22-2012 09:07 PM)houston Wrote:
I could of swore there was a thread on here where Mixx and Anthlone proved that to be false. I, as an American, can go to Canada and legally be with a 16 or 17 yr old as long it's not prostitution. I think...
This is correct.
You can also legally be with a 16 year old (assuming you are not a parent/guardian of or in a position of authority over said 16 year old) in
30 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia.
17 is legal in the following
9 states: Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas, and Wyoming.
The remaining
12 states insist on 18: Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.