Age of consent should be done away with, there is no magic number that applies to everyone.
Don’t ask me what we should have in its place, there does need to be something in place to stop pedophiles and predators, but I don’t know what.
For me, it all depends on the person, how mature they are, what facts they have, and what their personality is like.
For example, a friend of a friend has a daughter, who is 13, who has been spotted giving boys blow jobs in stairwells. She gets loaded up on vodka, calls boys her own age over, and blows them, some times two at a time. Obviously, this is not your best kind of behavior, however I would find it very hard to argue that she does not know fully well what she is doing, or that she does not understand what consent is, and the risks of disease are, etc. In her case, I would say it is up to her.
Then you have 13 show up again, but this time we are talking of a 13 year old prostitute who is servicing men in their 40’ and 50’s. This to me would have to almost always be an illegal situation.
Me, I was ready for sex as soon as I was about 11 years old, in my case, I think it should have been legal for me at 11 to have sex if I wanted. I had all the facts about HIV, pregnancy and all that, and was self aware enough to know who I was and what I wanted.
On the other hand, a very nerdy friend of mine was not ready at 19. When he first had sex, it fucked him up in the head, and he did not leave his room for a month, even at 19, he was not ready.
I would suggest having a test, so you can get your legal license, but then people would also abuse that system, and even if they did not it would not be perfect.
The best way, would be to assign a judge and jury to every sexual encounter on the planet, and have a tailor made ruling for each one, but with 7 billion people on the planet, that is hardly plausible.
Perhaps, the best compromise, would be to keep the age of consent laws, but have a variety of different ages for different demographics. E.g. 15 for boys, 16 for girls. Perhaps do away with statutory rape, if both parties are under 18, or under and over 18 but with less than 5 years difference.
I enjoy watching Chris Hansen on dateline, to catch a predator. From watching that show, I think everyone can tell what is what, who is a predator and who is not.
A 19 year old who shows up to meet someone that said they are 15, who brings flowers and stuff like that, is not a predator, just a lonely teen driven mad by hormones, taking some bait. However, when the guy who shows up is 54, and also brings alcohol, rope and a 5 year old child to meet someone who said they are 13, it is quite clear you are dealing with a predator.