There are benefits of this style. The whole point of the law is that having sex when not equal is the bad thing, not the inability of a minor to consent. Here

There are benefits of this style. The whole point of the law is that having sex when not equal is the bad thing, not the inability of a minor to consent. Here it’s quite common that an 18 and 15 year old who are dating are being relieved from the criminal responsibility because they are considered to be close enough in their stages of development by the judge. It may be harder to do that if it’s defined via rape. Because how would the development level of the older partner affect the younger ones inability to consent. Personally I’d rather have this way instead of reading from the news how a married couple has the older one saying they are a registered sex offender because they banged eachother as teens.