The legal age to consent to have sex in Queensland is 16. When we say sex, we mean sexual intercourse which is when a penis, finger, object or any part of a person is fully or partially inside another person’s vagina or anus. This is called penetration. This legal age applies to all people, including people in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. At 16 years old, people reach the age of consent, which means in the eyes of the law they are viewed to have general sexual competence to enforce personal boundaries and negotiate the risks involved in sexual activities.
~ Christie
Some people become interested in having a boyfriend or girlfriend at an early age, others are not interested until they are well into being an adult. There is no magical age that tells you when you can and cannot start dating.
However, parents and carers’ rules about relationships play a part here too. If your parents have told you that you must be a certain age to date and you keep a relationship secret from them, it will be difficult for them to help if you need support and advice. Relationships can be tricky, and you may need the support from your family at some stage.
In any case, regardless of age, it is important that if you do decide that you want to start dating someone, that you ask for their consent and communicate this with them. You both must also be mature enough to follow basic relationship rights and responsibilities, such as respecting one another as an equal, giving yourself and them space to spend time with other friends and family, and ensuring you both are free to express yourselves respectfully without any pressure or threats.
If you feel you and the person you are interested in understand how to be a respectful partner and will not pressure each other to do anything that you are not ready for, that is more important than any particular age.
~ Bonnie
Before you look at how you get a girlfriend, a good thing is to work out why you would like a girlfriend. Is there someone you have romantic feelings for? Is it because some of your friends have girlfriends?
If there is someone you are interested in, there are many ways you could go about asking them out. You could start off building a friendship, seeing if you have common interests, morals and values that are similar. If this goes well and you feel like you and this person would work well in a romantic relationship, then you could ask the person out on a date.
You can do this in a few ways, if you feel too nervous to do it face to face, you could send them a message asking them if they would like to go out with you. If you would prefer to do it in person, its important to choose your time well. Maybe somewhere away from your peers, where you can both talk respectfully and honestly about it.
Something to consider before this is that you may not always get the answer you are hoping for. Be prepared for this and remember how important it is to be respectful no matter what. If the person you like tells you they would not like to date you, respectfully accept their answer and remember, you deserve to date someone who feels as excited about the relationship as you, so their honesty is a good thing. Using respect and being prepared when asking someone out makes room for a healthy friendship If the feelings are not mutual. And if they are mutual, congratulations! You and your girlfriend can enter into a relationship that started with respect.
~ Christie
