As if consent laws are for adults to bone minors, not for minors to bone each other.

Um wat.

Age of consent laws are quite literally laws that specify when someone is legally old enough to consent to sex with adults. It has nothing to do with minors having sex. You may be confusing “Romeo and Juliet laws” with age of consent.

Romeo and Juliet laws are exceptions to the age of consent (in the US. Don’t know about any other jurisdictions. But I think it’s similar in most Western countries). These laws are supposed to protect people who are developmental peers and around the same age. The amount of leeway beyond the normal age of consent generally varies between two and four years between the two people.

So if you can consent at 16 then a 15 year old could consent to people between the ages of 17-19, depending on the jurisdiction. And if the age of consent were 18, then a 16 year old could consent to people ages 18-20, again depending on the jurisdiction.