There are some facts being discussed. Certainly most people are aware that the legal age of consent in most of Europe and basically every country other than the USA is 16.
Can we agree that "underage" means "below the age of consent" and if the age of consent is 16 then "underage" would be 15 years old or lower in countries like Finland, or 14 years old or younger in Sweden.
This being said.
There is a debate to be had about ethics vs the letter of the law.
While a 15 year old is legally "of age" in Sweden, and a 16 year old is legally "of age" in Finland
Ethically it is still extremely suspect for a man in his 30s to date a 15 year old in Sweden. It would be unethical for a 35+ year old man to date a 16 year old in Finland even if it's not prohibited by law.
On one level one could argue that 16-18 makes having healthy children, but medical technology kind of negates this fact.
Maybe if you're a farmer who can feed a very large family there is a benefit if you want to maximize the number of children you can have by 1-2.
But we're not talking about courtship, or bonding, or marriage, or fidelity or love. We're talking about degenerates trying to fuck girls under 18.
Of course, there is always going to be an undercurrent of haggery in these sorts of topics and simps who advocate on behalf of these hags who simply hate the idea of men being allowed to date girls who have what they've lost to time and experience.
So just to be clear, I'm not for raising the age of consent to something autistic like 21 or 25 or instituting legislation that says you can only date people X number of years apart from yourself mainly because I find it funny when hags kill themselves at 45 because no one wants them.
That being said. There clearly needs to be a consensus reached on how old is old enough. There's such a wide range of age of consent laws across the western world. Do Swedes mature faster than Fins? The AOC in France is also 15 but the age of consent in Britain is 16. Do the French mature faster?
I think not.
The age of consent isn't necessarily arbitrary but I think that different countries set the age of consent for various reasons.
I think America's AOC being 18 has a lot to do with the private prison industry more than protecting 17 year olds from horny 20 year olds.
I think the French and Swedes have similarly set the ages of consent lower for the exact opposite reason, because they don't want to spend money on prisons to house people for fucking people who should really honestly know whether or not they want to do what they're doing at that age.
I'm sure very few people will agree with me on any of this but I'm also no emotionally possessed with the spirit of puritanism that exists in the American psyche. I had my driver's license at 15. If society trusts me to operate a 2 tonne killing machine (if handled improperly) at that age, I assume I should have been old enough to decide where I wanted to stick my PP. At the same time, there are risks associated with sexual activity which may require a more mature temperament to evaluate the risk/reward matter, and yet the AOC in my country is 16. Here, a 16 year old could fuck a 45 year old if they wanted to and no one could stop them.
Of course I also think about how utterly retarded most people are in general. How many stupid women in their 20s are getting pregnant from drunken 1 night stands. Is it right to criminalize drunken sex because of some autistic view of consent?
The matter is extremely complex and there are many issues to account for.
The law can only attempt to protect society the best of it's capacity based on what society agrees ought and ought not be legal.
There's a wide range of ages of consent, ranging from 11 in Nigeria to Bahrain at 21. I think both extremes of the spectrum are inappropriate for different reasons, but actually putting a definitive age on sexual maturity is very difficult. 11 is retarded, Nigeria should be nuked from orbit, but going to jail for fucking a 20 year old is also fucking retarded. Should a person go to jail for having sex with a 18 year old? Or a 17 year old? or a 16 year old? I think probably not, but I definitely think that Sweden and France are a year too low. 15 seems too young to me but I also don't really see a problem with 16 or 17, or really 18 even though I don't think a 22 year old should get buttfucked in prison for dating a 16 or 17 year old
It's all extremely complex.
Also
I didn't read the thread because I assume that OP is a fucking sped and I assume most people are moral grandstanding for upcummies instead of being objective.