Comment by _a_a_a_

It's complicated.

> and the hiring of poor boys as prostitutes makes a difference

I'd say absolutely yes, that is wrong, but at the time it was not considered so wrong. I understand the age of consent was introduced for girls to stop them being used as prostitutes, and some men at the time were against this legislation. The question is, who defines 'right'?

> Child brides in modern Yemen or many other places

Sadly in their eyes, this is considered acceptable, even good. In our eyes, and mine, it's unacceptable. How do we define 'right' in this context? If we are right then how do we make them understand they are wrong?

Why they do it is simple; it is done in their culture so it is right. I see exactly the same kind of thing appearing here on HN where somebody condemns something they don't like (e.g., https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38981118) because "you're wrong because you're not right", essentially.

> but a 40 year old who is found to have had sex with a 16 year old is likely to be badly regarded

I'm not so sure. Such cases have existed, I remember on TV maybe 25 years ago a woman of 40 who married her husband of 16, it seemed to work and nobody seemed to upset about it. I personally knew of a couple, she was 19 and he was 60 and it was a good relationship while it lasted. I think people would take such age-unequal relationships on their own merits, and that is actually a good thing because otherwise it would just be intolerance.