It is hard to get ideas that have been shown to us as social norms since a small age. It is essentially brainwashing. The only time it think it is wrong is when a 31-year old is hitting on my girlfriend.

I dont think it is. Unless the guy is 60 and the girl just turned 20

It really depends on the people. There are a lot of teenagers who THINK they are emotionally mature enough to be in a relationship with an older adult, but they really aren't. If they are emotionally mature enough, then they should understand that the law is in place for a reason and to protect those who are unable to make the proper decision.

If you are 40 and dating a 25 year old. i don't care but if you are 25 and dating a 15 year old..it's not only illegal..it's sick and pedophilia.. emotional maturity has NOTHING to do with it. NO way can you tell me that a 15 year old is as emotionally mature as a 30 year old.. If you see nothing wrong with this picture..YOU HAVE A BIG PROBLEM AND NEED HELP.

The answer to your question is in your question. You wrote: "If both people are emotionally mature enough, I really see nothing wrong with it." The fact is that minors are NOT emotionally mature enough to appreciate the complexities of a relationship with a much older person. Yes, it used to be the norm that you were married by 15, but your life expectancy was also only about 45. And your formal education ended long before age 18. It was also the norm that women only did domestic work and needed a man to support them. It was also the norm that your family was involved in choosing a suitable mate, and divorce was culturally prohibited.

If someone under 18, or whatever the statutory age is in your area, is pining for someone significantly older than they are it is a clear sign of emotional immaturity. Likewise if an older person allows themselves to become romantically involved with a minor they are clearly acting in their own interests and not considering the long term implications on the life of the younger partner. Emotionally mature people can think beyond their own urges and consider the consequences of their actions before becoming involved in potentially devastating relationships. If we're talking about ages well below the legal limit I gladly side with the letter of the law and recommend therapy and intense monitoring to anyone considering it.

It's an imbalance of power and not many teens are as emotionally mature as they think they are and the older party knows this.

The only laws are regarding reaching the age of majority & entering into a contract with someone not mentally fit to do so. . Otherwise, there's no law that prevents marriage between folks 50 yrs apart in age if they want to commit.

It's not necessarily illegal, my partner is 31 years older than me and it's legal where we live. Plenty of people have a problem with it though, mainly because of the prejudices they've been brought up with and the views they've absorbed from society. Most people had problems with interracial marriage in past decades (many still do), many have problems with gay marriage and many have problems with large age gaps in relationships. It takes a long time for silly and unfounded prejudices to be questioned by society as a whole, mainly because of the tendency for people to be groupthinkers. It's so much easier for people to adopt ideas and beliefs from others, like ''gay marriage is wrong because the Bible says so, and so does my mum'' and ''large age gaps are wrong because they just are, it's weird'', than to actually stop and question their own beliefs and ideas about a topic. Doing that would take time, energy and might shatter their ideas about everything... imagine being stuck to a particular viewpoint and then finding out everything you'd ever based your ideas on was wrong or questionable, much easier to just not think about it and go along with what you've always been taught. As for people having an issue with large age gaps between adults and minors... that's a different topic. The law says it's wrong because the law is trying to protect people who can't protect themselves. I do think that some people are emotionally ready to have relationships much earlier than others but there's no real way to measure when people are ready -- if there was no enforced age of consent, vulnerable children would be sexually exploited. The age of consent aims to take the average age at which people are mature enough to consent to a sexual relationship and apply it to everyone in order to protect those who aren't ready. I favour laws like ''the age of consent is 16, but it's legal for a 14 or 15 year old to have sex if the sexual partner is up to (but not more than) four years older''.

unfounded stereotypes that all men are the "dirty old man" type if they fall for a younger woman. my dad met my mom when she was 15 and he was 25. guess what? 30 years later, and they're still married! My husband is 5+ years older than me, and even that short age difference made people call him a pedophile. We're pretty darn happy! As long as you love this person and the other person loves you, don't you worry about what anyone has to say.

Since you put this in pedophilia I'll answer accordingly. Pedophiles are attracted to pre-pubescent children. Like the 0-10 crowd. That is enough to upset any normal person.

It did used to be more the "norm". Men did marry significantly younger women, if they could. They did this because they needed the youngest/healthiest woman because the hardships of life and of childbirth were apt to kill an older, less healthy one. Lifespans were shorter so dramatic age differences like we can see today were never the "norm". This was also the olden days where women were property and had little say in the arrangement. Child abuse, wife beating and all manner of not nice things were also the norm. Didn't make them right and what all of those things had in common was that a vulnerable party could be taken advantage of and harmed. It is "only" the law which makes many things "wrong". Child abuse, animal abuse, spousal abuse, murder by dueling used to be socially acceptable, or a least accepted by society. I don't think that everyone gets upset over significant age differences unless one of the parties is perceived to be vulnerable and apt to be taken advantage of. This goes for the very young and the very old alike.

cause its not legal to date someone underage