What is statutory rape?

The "age of consent" is the legal, minimum age that a person must be in order to have the legal capacity to consent to sex. In other words, any adult who has sex with a person that is under the age of consent is automatically guilty of rape and are not allowed to argue that the victim was a willing participant. The victim's actions are irrelevant. All that matters is that the victim was under the age set by statute for consent.