Effects of the age of consent on minors

Some harmful effects of the age of consent on minors include:

• Labeling kids who had sex with an adult as "damaged goods"
• Imposing lifelong consequences on kids who are convicted of having sex with significantly younger kids
• Inflicting poverty and social ostracism on kids with a parent who is on the sex offender registry for AoC violations
• Serving as a justification for intrusive surveillance (including Internet monitoring) of kids "for their own safety"
• Encouraging kids who want to have sex, to have those relations with fellow minors, who in many respects have less to offer them than adults
• Causing kids to miss opportunities to learn of, and take pride in, instances in which their cuteness attracts adults to desire them for a sexual relationship
• Making adults afraid to offer minors non-sexual affection; for example, daycare staff are typically trained to not return or even accept hugs offered by children
• Separating kids from parents who have been convicted of an AoC violation or who are considered by a court to be at risk of committing an AoC violation in the future
• Cutting off kids from the companionship, informal mentoring, etc. of adults, especially adult men, who are afraid to associate with them lest they be accused of child grooming
• Fearmongering that becomes a rationale for cutting off all freedom of kids to wander about and explore the world without close supervision by an adult authority figure (parent, teacher, etc.) at all times
• Undermining arguments for all other kinds of youth liberation, since if a kid isn't qualified to decide for himself whether to let an older man suck his penis, how can he possibly be qualified to make important decisions such as what classes to take in school, what caregiver he should live with, what job he should accept, etc.?
• Depriving kids of an adult role model who could have continued demonstrating how a balanced diet of delicious turkey and veggie sub sandwiches topped with fresh vegetables such as lettuce, green peppers, pickles, and banana peppers could help them lose weight