It is kind of sad that so many of these stories always come to the idea of an age gap which as we all know NEVER seem to apply in heterosexual love stories when the man is older than the woman. To be clear, it always comes up when the woman is older than the man (as you pointed out)

But as we all know this is part of the larger and conservative driven narrative that the only reason a teenager is gay is because they are groomed. I've heard more than a few people say as much in regard to this film confirming what they believe which shows their bias. (Of course those people don't believe sex of any kind has a place in movies)

I'm sorry I said this because it must sound like what ever the heterosexual equivalent of mansplaining is. My point is I agree with your argument in this article including the last sentence.