You have been conditioned to think like this. Had you been conditioned to think of things as nature intended you would not be so heated. Also, to be clear most of you have no idea what a pedo is. A pedo is somebody that is attracted to prepubescent kids. Like it or not mother nature intended for teenage girls to be able to breed. That said, I do understand your thought process as a father today. Things were much different in my fathers and mothers day. In the urban areas of the country, young females were expected to be out of the house by 15-18 starting their own families and homes. Now imagine you are one of those females. Who are you gonna seek out? An older established male, or 15 to 18 year old who has nothing to offer.
Even when I was 19/20 dating a 16/17 year old in the late 90's it was still socially acceptable, especially if you respected the family and asked to date said daughter. Had I been told no we are not okay with that, I would have moved on. Do I think today it is wise? No, but I am also tired of motherfuckers acting like todays standards were how it always was. Nobody ever said a word to my father that I know of. Then again my father was not to be trifled with. I am halfway tempted to post a picture of my mother and father, so you can understand the situation. My mother met my father at a bar. She was drinking and age never came up. My mother was stacked. My buddies always drooled over my mother. She did not look 15. She looked in her 20s. She was also very mature as most girls in that day and age in an urban setting were brought up to be. My mother and father stayed married for 40 odd years until he passed. Neither cheated that I know of. My mother refuses to remarry. Doesn't even date. He passed in 2012. She had eyes only for him. If you are saying that is such a terrible thing well, I guess you can have your opinion, but it has zero impact on their relationship. Which both were happy with obviously. Ntt saying it was perfect, no relationship ever is.
This will be my last post on this as I see no reason to argue over the past. What was, was, what is, is....
Though I will postulate a situation for you. You may think you have control over your daughters but you do not. They will do as they please behind your back if need be. So, if an older guy say 21 who is gainfully employed catches your daughter eyes and she is 16. She is dead set on pursing this guy. The guy does the right thing and mans up and asks to date your daughter. What would you say or do?
Now let's take it further, since you keep saying no, she either starts to hate you, or run away. Worse still she accepts your tyrannical ways because she respects her father, even if she may feel her father does not respect her desires and wishes. So she continues looking and finds a 17 year old drop, who slings dope and his mildly abusive toward her even though she denies it and you can't get a visual of it happening. Who would be the better the choice?
There is more to relationships than just age. But hey, you gotta do what yo gotta do and accept the ramifications of your choices and actions.