In all of human history, except the last 150-ish years, human females started having children around 13-14. My great-grandmother got married at 15 to her 17 year old boyfriend and had 2 kids by the time she was 18. She told me, "This is the way it was, back then." Because they were farmers. And playing around, partying, isn't in the cards. They had to farm and raise animals. That's a job every single day. The industrial revolution and the information age have created a concept that did not exist in all of human history which is the concept of a teenager. This is why we still have these odd vestigial "coming of age" rites from various cultures and religions which is around 11-13. You crossed the threshold from being a child to an adult. There was no "teenage" life. Today, saying a kid is now a man when he passes a rite at 11 seems odd. But not so, back then. He was expected to take up a club, sling, or knife to defend his family and tribe as soon as he passed that rite. He would be taken on hunting trips and resource gathering trips (with other tribes or settlements). "Teenagers" came into existence when automation, scaled production, and regulations made it possible for our children to not have to exit primary school and enter the work force. That's why "primary" school ended at the 8th grade, in the past. But the free time offered allowed for better education and a new time period between "adult adults" and children: the concept of a teenager. So now our teenagers are no longer expected to pair off, have children, and contribute to the "tribe." Now they can get educations. And this is a good thing. We know from archaeological findings that super young girls having kids could kill them (12-13). Mortality for young girls trying to give birth increases, greatly, at younger than 14. And this is obviously not the case for all girls at younger than 14 - it is possible we have a selection bias in the records (because all the ones who could have children at younger than 14 did just fine). Regardless, it would seem that girls having children at younger than 14 is not a good idea. In the old days or today. Just because they can get pregnant does not mean they are physically ready to give birth. And that's important. Another very shocking fact about humans before the modern age: human females, on average, had been pregnant 3 times by the time they were 18. We can tell this from their hip bones. Our ancestors had it difficult. Me, personally, I think the age of consent should be after you pass a test that proves you are mature enough to understand how relationships work. I think many adults, well over 40, still haven't figured this out and they have not business entering into sexual relationships with anyone. But that's an authoritarian measure so I obviously cannot support something so drastic. Lots of kids (I think 15 year olds are kids, still...even though I'm not much older, they are kids to me) are having babies when they shouldn't. Stupid hormones. "It's the media hypersexualizing our children!" No, kids have been fucking for thousands of years and having babies for thousands of years. They are full of hormones and are horny beasts.