I have doubts about that. Violating children has always been a taboo. It was just a matter of time and increased power of parents before hard and fast laws were made for that. Age of consent laws and early marriage permissions still exist in many states here that don't make any sense in terms of either brain or body development, and certainly not ability to function as an adult and single-handedly care for a child, so no, I think men still primarily control these laws, especially when one considers that in many states one must be 21 to even have a bank account without a co-signer.

But older boys get similar problems with recruiting into armed forces., having them serving with lethal force but not being able to drink, rent a car or have a bank account, but they can die on a border somewhere. It's better than it was, but it is what it is.

In ancient times big data was not the most logical thing, and those in power controlled official knowledge. Knowing one can have 5 children hand have one live to be an adult was generally enough reason to start as soon as possible and to keep going until it stopped.