And yet they seem to have the requisite maturity to do a good deal many things more complicated than sex play. Sex is not rocket science, nor is it inherently tied to emotional and cultural baggage. So we can be remedy it by changing the culture. Of course, you know that, which is why you keep insisting on the same question-begging answers. It very well is resolvable, so this is just a complete bullshit answer, yet another example of argumentum ad ignorantiam.

As good parents and with a caring society, it would be hoped that the children's best interests take precedence over the desires of others.

Removing the cultural stigma as a factor, we do not know that lack of sexual play (with children or adults) is more beneficial for kids than having sex play (with children or adults) in our Western culture, since that condition has never really existed, and there is ample evidence--and powerful logic--to suggest that a sexually open culture that included children would be more beneficial to all of society, including kids. Thus, the assumption that removing the barriers to children engaging legally with adults in some forms of sex is inherently not in children's interest is begging the question. That is the very issue we are debating here, and it has not at all been proven.

Unfortunately we can't have either a completely free society or a completely controlled one - we have to tread a middle ground. There will be plenty of areas where controls of children are too strong perhaps - things like sexting, where the laws really do need to be softened, and in other areas too.

See my point above.

Perhaps because it is seen as such an adult preoccupation, and it mostly is, with seemingly few pre-pubescents indulging in much other then 'play' or masturbation.

That children are ignorant of sex does not imply that this is in their best interest. Children are ignorant of a good many things, which is why we teach them.

There might it is true be the remains of attitudes from the past but the consensus view seems to be that a child's sexuality is for them to develop and not for ANY other to intrude into their life.

Bullshit. that's a nice soundbite but it is not reality. The real consensus is that children, if they are allowed any sexual freedom at all, are allowed only a very small range of sexual behaviors and are generally punished one way or another for going outside of them. That includes engaging in sex play with adults. If children's sexuality was truly respected, then their right to say 'Yes' would be just as respected as their right to say 'No'--so you tell me who generally does most of the interfering in their sex lives. Pedos? Heh, that would be fucking hilarious if it wasn't such a tragedy.

I never said it was necessarily a problem - it can be for those having very early sexual experiences and it can be for those involving those having older partners. Early sex has been linked to a variety of problems in later life.

Correlation does not imply causation. ⚠️ ↗ The reason it is problematic is because of society. It is the elephant in the room that very few in your camp will acknowledge, since they are the problem. When the studies that will inevitably be done once the moral panic ebbs proves my contention, we MAPs will have the last laugh. In the end we are the ones who have the children's best interest at heart (well, most of us--there are bad apples in every bushel.)