A leading blog on the science of sex, love, and relationships, written by social psychologist Dr. Justin Lehmiller. As I wrote in previous posts about this class, two of the ways that laws in the Netherlands are unique compared to the United States are that prostitution is legal and comprehensive sex education is mandated.
However, those are just a couple of the most interesting differences. Here are a few more:. Sex and the disabled. Specifically, disabled citizens are eligible to receive government assistance to hire sex workers. Because sex is seen as a right—something that everyone who wants to participate in should be able to enjoy. Age of consent. Though widely and incorrectly reported to be 12, the age of sexual consent in the Netherlands is actually 16 at least for non-commercial sex—in order to sell sex, one must be at least However, there is a close-in-age exception, meaning that if one or both partners are below the age of 16 but close in age, it is still considered consensual.
For comparison purposes, the age of sexual consent in the United States ranges from 16 to 18 depending on the state, and not all states have a close-in-age exception--and in some states, the close-in-age exception only applies in male-female encounters i.
LGB rights. Same-sex activity has been legal in the Netherlands since , sexual minorities have been protected from employment discrimination since , and same-sex marriage and adoption have been legal since The Netherlands was actually the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
By contrast, laws banning same-sex activity were ruled unconstitutional in the U. Transgender rights. In , the Netherlands passed a law allowing persons aged 16 and older to change their gender on legal documents with few restrictions. Prior to this new law, persons who wanted to change their gender on official state documents had to undergo gender reassignment surgery and sterilization, as well as get a court order.
