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Of course most people find young, sexually mature people of their preferred sex physically attractive -- and of course 18 is an arbitrary number. Unfortunately, legislation isn't easily written to account for subtleties like the maturity or immaturity of an individual teenager. There are plenty of young people in the world who had sex with adults as late teens and came out fine. There are also plenty of young people in the world who thought they were mature enough to have a sexual relationship with an adult, and ended up coerced, manipulated, abandoned, and psychologically damaged. Most adults who would willingly begin a sexual relationship with someone still under the care of their parents likely have ignoble intentions, whether they consciously mean harm or not.
In other words, I agree with your point, and reiterate mine: Just because it's perfectly natural doesn't mean there's no argument for civilized society to punish it severely.
I agree an argument for punishment (and sometimes severe punishment), can be made. However, I do wish our laws were more sensible on this issue. An 18 year-old having sex with a 16 year-old isn't a crime worthy of punishment IMO, but a 50 year-old having sex with a 16 year-old is. Our laws could take into account age differential, rather than just the age of the minority involved.