Dude, the kid was months away from the consensual age. Nothing is going to happen in those magical months before he turned 17. If it had happened a few months later, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
In matters of the law, yes I agree gender means nothing. Everyone deserves equal protection.
So who is the sexist?
The "kid" wasn't smart enough to keep his mouth shut afterwards. The criminals chose their meat puppet poorly and the results need to be jail time and a permanent restriction on access to children.
That is just what we have to do to protect other "kids".
Tom