content guidelines clarification

[Texienne]

Please note that I have absolutely no problem with this: "Sexual activity involving characters under the age of 18 (including but not limited to explicit sexual discussion, voyeurism, exhibitionism, fantasizing, masturbation, and graphic sexualized descriptions, in addition to actual sexual intercourse). Literotica has always had a strict policy against any under-18 content, and any attempt to violate that policy is grounds for account termination."

But I have some stories I want to move here that in a few cases (changing which would be a heck of a long rewrite) a character mentions (but does not describe) having sexual encounters underage. There are a couple cases in which the specific context is that they were pregnant at sixteen or seventeen. The scene is never described, just the fact that it happened (for example a 5 month old baby of an eighteen-year-old highschool dropout) and some context as to why it happened.
I can certainly rewrite them (I am already rewriting some stories written when I was seventeen and failed to see the problem if the characters were of permissible age in my state, which was sixteen at the time. Obviously these don't fly and I am certainly rewriting them. So I am not opposed to rewriting.) I just would like to avoid it in cases where the character or someone who knows them is simply describing the character's back story, and changing their age so they are eighteen before conceiving would be a real bear because other things bear upon it. (We're talking in this case a whole long series I wrote elsewhere, not a short story)

So yeah, does anyone know exactly how that line is drawn? Is just mentioning they had an encounter while underage and the resulting pregnancy was why they disappeared from school and their friend's life be enough to be considered Sexual activity involving characters under the age of 18 or are only descriptions or mentions of the act that are forbidden?

 

[StillStunned]

The way I see it is like this. Is there enough detail for some creep to read it and rub themselves off, muttering, "Huh-huh, huh-huh, sixteen year old girls, huh-huh..."?

If in doubt, err on the side of caution.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I've had two stories rejected for alluding to underage sexual activity.

One was was for mentioning the MCs step father had been arrested for child porn. I had to explicitly state that the MC was not a victim to get it published.

The second was my most recent. Initially, I indirectly mentioned the MC masturbating 'after the onset of puberty.' Again, I had to explicitly restate that in a way that guaranteed the MC was over 18.

YMMV, but if you want it to get through, I'd suggest not playing with the gray areas at all.

 

[onehitwanda]

So yeah, does anyone know exactly how that line is drawn?

No. Frankly, it could be entirely down to how much the moderator (i.e. Laurel) hates the world that particular day.

I'd be hesitant to include anything like this in anything I'd written. Once bitten, twice shy.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

No. Frankly, it could be entirely down to how much the moderator (i.e. Laurel) hates the world that particular day.

I'd be hesitant to include anything like this in anything I'd written. Once bitten, twice shy.

What about nibbled?

 

[onehitwanda]

What about nibbled?

I'm more akin to corked wine, not an amuse-bouche.

 

[StillStunned]

No. Frankly, it could be entirely down to how much the moderator (i.e. Laurel) hates the world that particular day.

I'd be hesitant to include anything like this in anything I'd written. Once bitten, twice shy.

Pro tip: don't submit anything with dubious content on a Monday.

 

[onehitwanda]

Pro tip: don't submit anything with dubious content on a Monday.

Or any other day ending with 'y', for that matter.

 

[Texienne]

The way I see it is like this. Is there enough detail for some creep to read it and rub themselves off, muttering, "Huh-huh, huh-huh, sixteen year old girls, huh-huh..."?

If in doubt, err on the side of caution.

That's pretty much the way I see it to. And I am definitely not in that territory with this. I'm talking about where the creep would have to write the entire scene themselves before doing so, because none of it is included.

Again, I am rewriting those old stories that included acts of minors that I wrote back when I was the same age as the character. Those are very obviously no good.

 

[StillStunned]

Or any other day ending with 'y', for that matter.

So, Whitsun, Halloween... any other options?

 

[onehitwanda]

So, Whitsun, Halloween... any other options?

Candlemas is the only sure bet.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Do you necessarily need that context for the story?
If your character is 18 and someone mentions their two year old kid... well readers can do the math, leave it at that.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Drinks anyone?

 

[NotWise]

So yeah, does anyone know exactly how that line is drawn? Is just mentioning they had an encounter while underage and the resulting pregnancy was why they disappeared from school and their friend's life be enough to be considered Sexual activity involving characters under the age of 18 or are only descriptions or mentions of the act that are forbidden?

No one knows where the line is. There are several different ways to step over the line, and each has its own limit.

In my experience, Lit will allow mention of sex before a character is eighteen, but consider leaving out the character's age, and implying the event rather than actually saying it happened. For age, just establish the context. In the case of a pregnancy, you don't need to say that sex was had. We all know where babies come from.

The outcome may depend on how you write it more than what you write.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Once more, context counts more than content.

A thirty year-old woman explaining to her fifteen-year-old daughter that she had been foolish to have sex so young would certainly imply that underage sex had occurred. As long as she doesn't go into details about the event, the context of the discussion would not violate the content rules.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I'm more akin to corked wine, not an amuse-bouche.

But surely even, nay, especially the best wines should be tasted, let breath, savored momentarily on the palette before they are fully enjoyed.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My first story here was rejected as it was set four days after the FMCs 18th birthday and she then referred to her her longest sexual relationship being with her vibrator. A nice joke maybe, but enough to get it sent back.

 

[onehitwanda]

One of mine got sent back for referencing an underage kiss.

 

[Bramblethorn]

But I have some stories I want to move here that in a few cases (changing which would be a heck of a long rewrite) a character mentions (but does not describe) having sexual encounters underage. There are a couple cases in which the specific context is that they were pregnant at sixteen or seventeen. The scene is never described, just the fact that it happened (for example a 5 month old baby of an eighteen-year-old highschool dropout) and some context as to why it happened.

I have posted similar stuff before and that went through without problems. Granted that was a while ago and Lit policy about such things does sometimes shift, but AFAIK it should still be okay.

I'd suggest mentioning it in the "note to moderator" field, acknowledging what you're doing and clarifying that there's no detail, to avoid a skim-reading rejection.

FWIW mine was something like "Grandma was sixteen when Dad was born, she was an adventurous young lady".

 

[ElectricBlue]

Once more, context counts more than content.

A thirty year-old woman explaining to her fifteen-year-old daughter that she had been foolish to have sex so young would certainly imply that underage sex had occurred. As long as she doesn't go into details about the event, the context of the discussion would not violate the content rules.

Yes, it's always down to context and the brevity of the sentence.

@Texienne - you could be setting yourself a challenge. If the whole story was essentially written when you were the same age (that is, under the Lit age line), then there's surely going to be a lot of content that tangles the line?

The usual guidance is, a sentence or two is okay, but no description of sex whatsoever, and no little "hints" left behind.

The only thing you can do is your best to read the content with the editor's eye, submit it, and see how you go.

Maybe it would be more fruitful to turn your efforts to a new story, now you're older, and leave your younger writing alone, as a tribute to who you were then? You might read it over in a decade or two and think, was that me? It's who you were, for sure. But if you edit out the sexual teenage you only to get published on Lit? Some memories are just fine, left as they were, and kept private.

 

[Britva415]

So, Whitsun, Halloween... any other options?

Fourth of July...

dammit

 

[AwkwardMD]

Drinks anyone?

Ladies, Enbies, and cultured Gentlemen of the assemblage, we are gathered once again. Raise your glasses.

We drink not because questions are stupid, but to mark another turning. We barely made it a month since the last one. Time is a flat circle, and we here have all survived this cycle.

Drink, and I hope to see you all next time.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

cultured Gentlemen

How did you know I arose from a petri dish? WHO TOLD YOU!!???

 

[THBGato]

But I have some stories I want to move here that in a few cases (changing which would be a heck of a long rewrite) a character mentions (but does not describe) having sexual encounters underage. There are a couple cases in which the specific context is that they were pregnant at sixteen or seventeen.

In my story Twenty, the narrator is 19 and has a three year old daughter. There are also flashbacks to her kissing a girl pre-pregnancy and <spoiler>
[SPOILER]it's revealed that she was, unwittingly, pimped out by her friend as a younger teen[/SPOILER]
</spoiler>. I think it was approved quite quickly.

 

[FrancesScott]

I just posted this on another thread.

I have been waiting for six days after a rejection. In an initial discussion Laurel mentioned that it was a question of potential misinterpretation of ages due to vague writing about a past event, rather than any blatant attempt to skirt the rules. I took her point, edited and resubmitted. I’m still waiting.