Kinda heavy but I love the story

This is exactly why I wish all mainstream stories that have any realistic grounding would strictly follow good ethics and morals. Because as much as you shout, oh its just fiction, fiction can have a significant impact on shaping the moral character and the social boundaries of its readers. Especially if the reader is younger or does not have a strong morally grounded background, they can often fail to recognise problematic things in stories unless they are explicitly denounced by the protagonists themselves.

Fiction and storytelling can be powerful indoctrination. We have been a family focused species since time immemorial. Yet small group of people with malicious self interest have, through the power of stories, within a few centuries indoctrinated entire cultures into restructuring themselves around monogamous sexual partnerships. Humans, like a lot of other animals, evolved to be majorly bisexual. Most of our ancestors lived in societies where they engaged in sexual intercourse with whoever they wanted with no stigma, no questions asked, over the gender of their partner. Yet again only within a couple of millennia, weird people with stories, corrupted us so badly that not only so many people lost lives, livelihoods and families for "sleeping" with the "wrong" gender, even the ones outside the eye of storm were left with such debilitating internalised homophobia that it also spills over to homosocial relationships and affects them badly by putting undue scrutiny and pressure over our friendships as well. What is religion, but a result of a few people using fiction to indoctrinate a cross-generational cult following. On the other hand, use fiction for good and you can overthrow millennia old systems oppressing women within a century. You use the power of storytelling to target paternalistic, authoritarian forms of administration that had existed for so long and were so prevalent that people assumed it to be natural and universal, dismantle them and build a democratic, egalitarian society in its place. Storytelling has proven to be so potent that depending on how its used it can trigger the transformation of the darkest society into Scandinavia or it can hail the downfall of a progressive society towards turning into Middle East.

Teaching a young, confused person that anywhere there is a power gap, the less powerful person cannot consent is very important and this author has upheld their moral duty by making sure their readers understood that. It is on the more powerful person to ensure that the weaker party does not end up in a disadvantageous relationship with the powerful person. If they can't make sure of that, and they still partake in the relationship that requires consent, they are guilty of abuse. Even if the weaker person is the one offering and agreeing to relationship, that is not consent. Whether it be a business contract or a sexual one, a person who is on the wrong end of a steep power gap and does not properly understand what they're doing, cannot provide consent.

And yet the overwhelming majority of romance genre keeps normalizing power gap, age gap, an adult with a minor. And the audience just feels a small moment of discomfort but then, moves on instantly ignoring the grossly problematic nature of the plot, excusing it away as fiction. Any pushback from the more discerning readers will be brushed off as hate. That's why it's important for the story itself to take the correct stand whenever a socially relevant issue is included in the plot. The story serves as an authority figure for readers. For most of them, whatever protags say, goes. That's why problematic issues when brought up should be dealt with responsibily, making sure that it is made clear to vulnerable readers what the correct stance is.