the age of consent varies between states and countries. the laws in different areas range as low as 13 years to 20 years old. the laws are almost always affected by a nation's culture. nations with islamic law tend to have lower ages. european countries generally range from 14 years to 16 years. in the united states, the age varies from 16 to 18. in many areas, there is a "close-in-age" part of the laws. this allows for people under of consent but above a certain age to have sex with people as long as there older partner is either less than a certain age or the difference in age is a certain number of years. the age of consent may also vary if one of the people is in a position of authority over the other. for example, if the older person was a teacher of the victim, the age may be higher than for other people, an example of this is indiana where the age where a person can have sex is 16 except if the older partner is a teacher at the victim's high school, in which case the age limit is 18. if the two people are married, the age is often lower. age of consent can also be affected by the type of sex or the sex of the person. many areas have different ages for homosexual sex as well as anal sex. there are areas which also have different ages depending on if the person is male or female.