General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is it okay for a 18 year old to have sex with a 14 year old [View all]Ms. Toad
(34,256 posts)including activities which involve sexual intercourse. That is a remnant of when most such statutes used that label (and a formal name for a few states which still actually use that label).
It is a law based on the principle of statutory rape laws. Sexual activity which may have been freely engaged in and welcomed by both parties is made into a criminal assault based solely on the ages of the participants.
(In some cases that is appropriate, and a useful way to permit the prosecution of people who abused their position of power (age, position, family relationship, etc.) because the survivor could not realistically say "no" - I do not believe that is universally the case within a peer group, merely based on the ages of the people involved.)