Contrary to popular belief, age of consent laws are meant to protect teenage boys from being charged with statutory rape just because he’s dating someone a year or two younger than him (with additional Romeo and Juliet laws, which have in place reasonable age gaps).
It used to be easy for the family of a teenage girl to get her boyfriend charged with statutory rape and then ruin his life; especially if they didn’t like him for one reason or another.
When it comes to what’s considered a reasonable age gap, anywhere between a year to two and a half years is usually considered reasonable. So for example, if a 17 year old starts dating a freshly turned 20 year old and is just a month or two away from turning 18 then it would be considered a reasonable age gap.
However, anyone under 17 and a half would be off limits to the 20 year old because there really isn’t a good reason for the age gap. At least in the first example, a two and a half year age gap isn’t the worst thing when dealing with someone in their late teens/early twenties. They may or may not have attended the same classes in high school at some point within the last two years (hence why, again, reasonable age gap comes into play).
The AOC law doesn’t protect creepy grown ass men lusting after 14-17 year old girls. Simple as.
