“that would be akin to calling a man who has sex with a 16-year-old girl a heterosexual pedophile.”
Actually, no. A pedophile is attracted to pre-pubescent children. That means up to around ten, eleven, or twelve, depending on the onset of puberty.
In previous eras, girls were eligible for marriage at menarche, or earlier if it was a state marriage. The attempt of some today to define attraction to physically mature young women of child-bearing age as a perversion is unique in human history.
The abrupt and recent turn in our thinking on this issue can be discerned not only from the lyrics of pop songs, but from the legal age of consent.
The age of consent is 16 in 33 of these 50 states, and 14 in three more. It is 17 in 8 states, and 18 in only 8 states.
Do you have a link to that information? I'd like to see a breakdown by state.