Quora Answer: Is a 25-Year-Old Man Having Sex with a 15-Year-Old Girl, or a 60-Year-Old Man with a 30-Year-Old Woman, Worse?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Which is worse: a 25-year-old man having sex with a 15-year-old girl, or a 60-year-old man having sex with a 30-year-old woman?”

When it comes to the law, it does not look at the difference in age, but at the age of the people involved.  In the example above, the 25-year-old man will likely be guilty of statutory rape because the age of consent in most parts of the world is 16 years of age.  In Brazil, however, the age of consent is 14 years of age, with judicial precedent of it being 12 years, if the sexual partner is up to two years older.

Statutory rape is a serious offence, since the underage person is considered to be unable to give informed consent.  The punishment is mitigated if the perpetrator is close to that age.  So, within the Singapore context, for example, a 15-year-old sexually penetrating another 15-year-old may be sent for probation.  A 25-year-old will certainly go to jail.

As for the example of the 60-year-old man and the 30-year-old woman, they are consenting adults.  We could conceivably have a 90-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, and as long as it is consensual, it is perfectly legal.