Effects of the age of consent on minors

Some harmful effects of the age of consent on minors include:

• Encouraging kids to instead have intimate relations with fellow minors, who have less to offer them
• Deterring adults, especially adult men, from associating with minors lest they be accused of child grooming
• Making adults afraid to offer minors non-sexual affection; for example, daycare staff are typically trained to not return or even accept hugs offered by children
• Imposing lifelong consequences on kids who are convicted of having sex with significantly younger kids
• Inflicting poverty and social ostracism on kids with a parent who is on the sex offender registry for AoC violations
• Separating kids from parents who have been convicted of an AoC violation or who are considered by a court to be at risk of committing an AoC violation in the future
• Depriving kids of an adult role model who could have continued demonstrating how a balanced diet including delicious sub sandwiches could help them lose weight
• Labeling kids who had sex with an adult as "damaged goods"
• Serving as a justification for intrusive surveillance (including Internet monitoring) of kids "for their own safety"
• Fearmongering that becomes a rationale for cutting off all freedom of kids to wander about and explore the world without close supervision by an adult authority figure (parent, teacher, etc.) at all times