Another day, another "Is this going to ding the under-18 ban" thread

[Unblemished]

Once again, a new author comes to you to ask about the 18 rule. There's a similar thread in the catalog, but I figured it might be gauche to derail it. Hopefully no etiquette breach has occurred.

I've got a few irons in the fire (a sequel, a ghost story, this and that), one of which involves an extremely promiscuous girl shagging her friend, who she had previously avoided due to knowing him from childhood. It's not particularly romantic, just a raunchy, kinda tongue-in-cheek FWB tale between 20/21-year-olds. But the plot requires their prior friendship to be alluded to.

I currently have this:

Anyway. On the day everything kicked off I was lounging on a park bench with a boy at my side, sucking on an ice cream. I'd rather have been sucking on a boy with an ice cream at my side (for later), but no dice. Besides, the boy was my best friend, and I didn't wanna go there. His name was Leo.

Not that there was anything wrong with fucking Leo. A lot of girls had done it, including two of our shared friend group. A third had considered it too but claimed she'd feel guilty cheating on her boyfriend, who was seeing to her needs in an adaquate, though perhaps not exceptional manner. The temptation was still there, mind, because Leo was said to be rather more weighted to the exceptional end of the scale. But Maggie wasn't that sexually driven, cheating can be a big hurdle, and hey, her current guy was getting her off well enough. Mostly.

So the question was, why hadn't I done it? Me, the turbo-slut extraordinaire?

Because I'd known Leo since we were six. Well, since he was six and I was six and a half, which is a very big deal when you're six and six and a half, respectively. And it's hard to look at someone that way when you used to play in each other's backyards, dare one another to climb trees and lament together about how our parents refused to give us tablets because, quote-unquote, "giving unrestricted internet access to small children will do horrifying things to their brains".

Besides, while Leo might have wavy blonde hair and dreamy blue eyes now, back then he was just the kid that grannies cooed at and called adorable while me and Jess and Sally from over the road pretended to puke behind their backs. He might have chiselled abs and strong biceps now, but back then he was a scrawny little wretch. And while he'd become confident and self-assured after winning his battle with puberty, back then he was a wimp. Total wimp. Had to bully that kid into climbing trees.

Besides, for all the stories I heard about his sexual prowess, my primary memory regarding Leo and love was of him whining about how he couldn't get a date. Or that time a bit after his 18th when I saw his browser history while we were pirating anime together and discovered he had a foot fetish, for which I teased him mercilessly. Verbally or by wearing sandals, I hear you ask?

Weak question. Both ways. Obviously.

Since there's no pre-18 sexual contact, I think it should be fine? The only time I've run up against this before was with a character whose age was never stated but was meant to be 18+, and that went through fine on re-submission once I put in a note and added a line confirming her as being of age. But asking around, finding ways to be double sure couldn't hurt.

EDIT: Argh, thwarted by the draft system once again. Fixed now.

 

[NotWise]

Once again, a new author comes to you to ask about the 18 rule. There's a similar thread in the catalog, but I figured it might be gauche to derail it. Hopefully no etiquette breach has occurred.

I've got a few irons in the fire (a sequel, a ghost story, this and that), one of which involves an extremely promiscuous girl shagging her friend, who she had previously avoided due to knowing him from childhood. It's not particularly romantic, just a raunchy, kinda tongue-in-cheek FWB tale between 20/21-year-olds. But the plot requires their prior friendship to be alluded to.

I currently have this:



Since there's no pre-18 sexual contact, I think it should be fine? The only time I've run up against this before was with a character whose age was never stated but was meant to be 18+, and that went through fine on re-submission once I put in a note and added a line confirming her as being of age. But asking around, finding ways to be double sure couldn't hurt.

EDIT: Argh, thwarted by the draft system once again. Fixed now.

The only way to know for sure is to submit it and see if it sinks or floats.

That said, I give it not an icecube's chance in hell of getting through. Your under-18 characters can't even talk about sexual activity or have sexual thoughts.

 

[ChloeTzang]

The only way to know for sure is to submit it and see if it sinks or floats.

That said, I give it not an icecube's chance in hell of getting through. Your under-18 characters can't even talk about sexual activity or have sexual thoughts.

Well, I just had a new one sent back for a website mention. Hadn't even occurred to me when I wrote it, so oops, corrected and resubmitted.

 

[Unblemished]

The only way to know for sure is to submit it and see if it sinks or floats.

That said, I give it not an icecube's chance in hell of getting through. Your under-18 characters can't even talk about sexual activity or have sexual thoughts.

Geez. To be clear, they're in their twenties, referencing a childhood with no sex in it, the only time she brought up sex stuff was when they were explicitly 18, and that's still going to breach it? Maybe if it gets rejected I could jettison the 18 year old teasing on re-submit?

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't agree with NotWise. I don't see why this should NOT get through. There is no narration of under-18 sex of any kind, nor of under-18 characters thinking about anything sexual. Why shouldn't this be OK?

If this is NOT OK, then there is something completely absurd and incoherent about the applicable rule.

 

[NotWise]

Geez. To be clear, they're in their twenties, referencing a childhood with no sex in it, the only time she brought up sex stuff was when they were explicitly 18, and that's still going to breach it? Maybe if it gets rejected I could jettison the 18 year old teasing on re-submit?

It isn't clear to me at all that your characters are over 18, and she refers to him as a boy. Where does she say they're over 18?

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't think it will be kicked either. I had one kicked by cause of a transposition, 12 rather than 21, but every other age references were 21. A quick change and back in the queue and no issues.

 

[Unblemished]

It isn't clear to me at all that your characters are over 18, and she refers to him as a boy. Where does she say they're over 18?

I stated at the top of the thread that they were 20/21. In-text their ages are explicitly stated before the posted excerpt - I wasn't going to force anyone to slog through the whole draft, so I left the rest out and confirmed it at the top of the thread instead. As for calling him a boy, people still use 'boy' and 'girl' to refer to adults, especially young adults, and especially in informal contexts.

If context helps, the first paragraph goes thusly:

My slut phase was over.

It was a shame, but it had to happen: My studies were getting harder, I'd been forced to get a second job and prices were going up everywhere, with that third reason neatly explaining the context for the second one. I no longer had the cash to go clubbing every other night or the time to cruise for dick on tinder, and the number of early mornings and essay deadlines in my future were playing havoc with the party lifestyle. I'd celebrated my 21st birthday in style, serious style, the sort of style that might be worth a story some other day, and the next afternoon I soberly decided to put it all behind me...At least until I graduated.

So she's explicitly 21 (making the guy 20) and is in both higher education and employment.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The highlighted section is not problematic. The part that could get you dinged is the reference to Leo as a boy, followed immediately by discussing him as a 6 year old. Nothing there is a violation, but if it only gets a cursory glance (which is highly likely), that paragraph could get you. I would describe him as a guy, a dude, or a young man. Just don't say you wanna "suck on a boy" and then describe a six year old in the next sentence.

 

[Unblemished]

The highlighted section is not problematic. The part that could get you dinged is the reference to Leo as a boy, followed immediately by discussing him as a 6 year old. Nothing there is a violation, but if it only gets a cursory glance (which is highly likely), that paragraph could get you. I would describe him as a guy, a dude, or a young man. Just don't say you wanna "suck on a boy" and then describe a six year old in the next sentence.

...ah, yeah, point taken on that one.

 

[KeithD]

As for calling him a boy, people still use 'boy' and 'girl' to refer to adults, especially young adults, and especially in informal contexts.

If context helps, the first paragraph goes thusly:

Unfortunately, the initial scanner Lit. uses doesn't do subtle nuance. I think that indeed the word "boy" threatens to have the story kicked back no matter what the real uses of the word are. I've seen it happen. I've written it in perfectly understandable context before and then changed it simply because the scanning bot here can't do nuance.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I see nothing there that violates the 18+ rule. Lots of stories have children in them and that's fine.

That said, I can see the explicit (such a word) mention of children setting off the computer screening which is, as noted, rather hyper. The way around that is to put a note in the Admin box on the submission page, pointing out that there's absolutely no sexual involvement until all are 18+. That cuts around the computer and brings a human into the process.

Good luck.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Remember, since the software does the first read-through, boy or girl and anything sexual near those words are red flags.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I agree that the content should pass if reviewed by a human. It might even pass the auto-vetting. There are thousands of stories on here where "boys" and "girls" are mentioned, typically as the adolescent version of later adult characters, or as children of the adult characters.

If it was me, I would take the time to add a note to the admin when submitting just to save yourself the need to resubmit with the note later.

 

[TadOverdon]

Well, I just had a new one sent back for a website mention. Hadn't even occurred to me when I wrote it, so oops, corrected and resubmitted.

I mentioned Wikipedia, but I think I got away with it. Said Basil Fawlty.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't agree with NotWise. I don't see why this should NOT get through. There is no narration of under-18 sex of any kind, nor of under-18 characters thinking about anything sexual. Why shouldn't this be OK?

If this is NOT OK, then there is something completely absurd and incoherent about the applicable rule

Not that at this point anyone here knows what this site will do at any given minute, but I'll side with you. I see nothing in that blurb remotely sexual,.

 

[KeithD]

There are thousands of stories on here where "boys" and "girls" are mentioned,

That doesn't mean some of those didn't require rejection confirmations or notes given before they passed--and, yes, the system isn't consistent in when it fingers something and when it doesn't. If I simply must use "boy," I do as noted above--cover the context of doing so in the notes box.

 

[lovecraft68]

Remember, since the software does the first read-through, boy or girl and anything sexual near those words are red flags.

Boy

https://search.literotica.com/?query=Boy

Girl

https://search.literotica.com/?query=girl

Looking at some of the titles and tags there are sexual references in many of them within a couple of words.

So either those terms aren't a problem....or this is where we here "well a few things slip through" Bullshit from the usual suspects.

My guess is the term is okay, just like someone tried to say babysitter can't be used, or teen can't be used, or high school can't be used...but all are, and frequently.

There's one answer to stop all this, instead of being lazy and unprofessional, post the damn rules in detail, where they can be easily found and actually enforce them with something resembling consistency.

No one in this thread, regardless of their opinion, knows for sure if this will fly or not case in point on the half ass way the place is run.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Well, there's always Rule 0 anyway (or it's equivalent).

 

[ElectricBlue]

Once again, a new author comes to you to ask about the 18 rule. There's a similar thread in the catalog, but I figured it might be gauche to derail it. Hopefully no etiquette breach has occurred.

Ask yourself, what's the literary point of the (quite lengthy) flashback to being six year old kids?

For me, this has the same problem as a back-story exposition pile-on in the first five hundred words of a story. Who cares what the characters did fifteen years ago or a year ago, or even last week? Tell me what's going on right now, and if the back story is relevant (which it most often isn't) weave it in subtly, when needed. As I say, what's the relevance of the young age reference to the story?

This could well ping a word bot red flag, because it does go on a bit, unnecessarily, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a bounce, even though the text, on a close reading, may be benign - issue is, though, you don't get a close reading, you get a cursory one.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

I liked the passage. It makes me want to learn more about these two. And maybe even see them knock boots together. It's not quite incest, but they've been Westermarcked to feel icky about sex with each other, as the passage implies.
But then again, I see porn as the spice in my plot.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

It's a good setup. I think it could be written a bit more clearly, probably with a few fewer words, but it reads well.

I think a new paragraph after the sentences about being six/and a half, and also splitting the sentence about his lovely blonde hair from the bit about later, would make it clearer that there were no sexual feelings at all Back Then. But this is Now...

No prediction as to what Lit will do, but if it's written clearly to make a contrast between Then (no such feelings) and Now (presumably they get together or there will be disappointed readers), I think it should be fine.

 

[Djmac1031]

Sounded fine to me. The comparisons and age differences seemed apparent.

Basically each one boiled down to "I find him sexy now at 21 but thought he was a dweeb when we were kids."

I don't see how that's a problem.

Just my opinion

 

[Jmanchu]

I think it sounds okay.

So, on the topic of using the word "boy, or girl." I guess if I use that I gotta add some notes for the admin to avoid bots false flagging. Good to know.

Since there's a difference between "bad boy/bad girl" and "bad man/ bad guy/bad woman."