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Its a simple balancing act. 15 is probably too young, because there remains a significant number of girls who are still beginning puberty at that age and pregnancy, while possible, is more dangerous than it would be in just a year or two. By the time a girl is 17, the chance that a pregnancy is better off delayed for a year based on physical development is minuscule.
Plus in the modern age girls are idiots at 15. And the window of years around that. Particularly when an older man can flash cash at them and not be immediately hung by his heels by her brothers or dad. Some of the Epstein accusers aren't, in my view, the heroines they are made out to be, but I don't doubt they feel traumatized. Even the girl who served as his wrangler and got all her friends to turn up for all the great times. Of course she regrets it now. We all regret a lot of things.
Centuries ago yeah, maybe females and males could get the sexual congress going earlier. They could also feed themselves and survive in the wild, and had to answer to the tribe. In the current year I'm not at all convinced. I partially agree with @Corvos in his comment, but like almost everything, case-by-case.
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