The minimum marriageable ages aren't just "old laws that no one ever bothered to change," because girls in their early teens in the US are being legally married off to adult men even today. If they had just been overlooked, then the minute a 13-year-old was taken to the courthouse to get a marriage license, someone would step in and go, "now wait a second, this is antiquated and we should get to updating it."
But they don't. Because it's still acceptable here to think of post-menarche girls as ready for marriage and breeding, and even to think of marrying them off as soon as possible as the best thing that can be done for them. Why do you think the scion of the Robertson clan got away with saying 15 is the best age to marry a girl off? Why do you think so many Christians and conservatives were perfectly fine with Roy Moore allegedly going after a 14-year-old?
In general, Americans (whether they'll admit it or not) think it's wrong for a girl who's unmarried and a minor to have sex because she's UNMARRIED, not because she's a minor. A 30-year-old fucking a kid is perfectly fine so long as he's done the "proper" thing and wed her.
Re: 16 is the age of consent in Indiana
But they don't. Because it's still acceptable here to think of post-menarche girls as ready for marriage and breeding, and even to think of marrying them off as soon as possible as the best thing that can be done for them. Why do you think the scion of the Robertson clan got away with saying 15 is the best age to marry a girl off? Why do you think so many Christians and conservatives were perfectly fine with Roy Moore allegedly going after a 14-year-old?
In general, Americans (whether they'll admit it or not) think it's wrong for a girl who's unmarried and a minor to have sex because she's UNMARRIED, not because she's a minor. A 30-year-old fucking a kid is perfectly fine so long as he's done the "proper" thing and wed her.