(Non erotic) flashbacks/references to high school/emotional conflicts?

[lexy_sadie]

Hi,

So I have a feeling this may be a dumb question, but I'd rather ask a question and do something dumb.

I notice a few high school reunion based stories with (paraphrased) "I thought X was so hot back then but was scared to say it." There is no sexual contact between minors, hence no rule breaking.

What I'm wondering is, if flashbacks to remembering gaybaiting and the like is okay, where maybe the target of the gaybaiting didn't enjoy it, and the abuser is out of the picture, but overcoming it (regardless of being gay or not) felt good and added emotion to an erotic experience in the long term.

But I can see people saying it is sexualizing an unpleasant experience, as opposed to overcoming it, so if that's the case, I can pass--it's not a critical part of the prospective story. (This material can go into a non-erotic story.)

I couldn't find anything either way in the rules so I wanted to ask if anyone could point me to them.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[baffling8929]

Disclaimer: this is my opinion and interpretation of the rules, it's worth the paper it's written on.

What you're describing sounds like it would be permissible to me. My read of what you're describing is that the past experience didn't rise to the level of a physical sexual act. Even if it had, saying it happened without describing it probably wouldn't violate the rules. My understanding is that it's permissible for a character to say something like "I lost my virginity at 16," without details of the encounter.

It's one of those maybe gray areas that won't be cut and dried in the rules-as-written.

 

[StillStunned]

So I have a feeling this may be a dumb question, but I'd rather ask a question and do something dumb.

I had a professor at uni who said, "The only stupid question is the one you don't ask."

No question is dumb if you don't know the answer.

 

[Voboy]

Should be fine.

People can reminisce about underage romantic entanglements, but they better not be explicit and they shouldn't titillate the reader.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I've got a series where the MMC confesses that the first time he masturbated he was fantasizing about the FMC. Didn't provide any details, but it went through.

 

[lexy_sadie]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I appreciate both the general thoughts/reasoning and specific examples. (And if anyone has more, I appreciate it too! )

And yeah, it's something that definitely wouldn't have been fun for the target at the time. My guess was this was okay but for something like this I really, really want to make sure it's definitely okay, because reasons.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have flashback scenes in a story where it is detailed how the boy and girl in high school explored intimacies, knew that both wanted the other to be their first, teased and tormented each other physically, but didn't have actual sex of any kind until they were both 18. It never has been challenged as pushing the limits of the rules here.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think (again, just my interpretation) that the key thing is the potential eroticism. A character merely saying that they got their first period at 12 is hardly erotic and would most likely pass.

Similarly, saying, "I lost my virginity at 16," with no further details, would probably be approved. On the other hand, saying, "Bobby Smith popped my cherry in the back seat of his father's Cadillac, after the prom and after an hour of heavy petting," would likely not.

To say, "I was still in the closet at 15, but some of my classmates picked on me anyway," would likely make it, too, provided there were no more details given.

As always, the ultimate judge is Laurel, the site owner.

Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I appreciate both the general thoughts/reasoning and specific examples. (And if anyone has more, I appreciate it too! )

This story: Dear Helen - has some lengthy flashbacks to high school which went through without a problem. The flashbacks cover off the emotion, but the story (and the sex) is being told decades later.

 

[SmokingFap]

Thanks everyone for your responses! I appreciate both the general thoughts/reasoning and specific examples. (And if anyone has more, I appreciate it too! )

And yeah, it's something that definitely wouldn't have been fun for the target at the time. My guess was this was okay but for something like this I really, really want to make sure it's definitely okay, because reasons.

I've only published a handful of stories on here and kept them completely 18+, although I have vaguely alluded to fantasies at younger than that. But it seems to me that that's what the review process is for. If you write something objectionable to Laurel, I would think she would reject the story, but let you know why and how to correct it for publication. I haven't had anything rejected, so that's just my guess. But it's not like she's going to ban you from the site or anything if you cross a red line in a story. And all of the advice above seems on point, as well.

In chat or on the threads is a different story. No pun intended.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

Chapter 1 of Dreaded Days, my 2022 Valentine's Contest story, includes a teenage crush and great angst but absolutely no erotic action. The two get together in Chapter 2 and only begin plotting their first time after they turn 18. The story was very well received in the contest (it was roughly top ten at the time) and since, so as others have said, keep any erotic action out of the story until after their 18 according to the site rules and you should be fine.

 

[YDB95]

My two D-Cup Blues stories have lots of flashbacks to when the characters were underage, but those scenes have no sexual content whatsoever. I added a disclaimer at the start of the first one explaining as much, and had no trouble getting it published.

 

[RetroFan]

I've got a few stories of characters having crushes on other characters before the age of 18. As one example, the male narrator reflects on his celebrity crush from childhood - a pretty 18-year-old presenter on a Saturday morning television block - but there is no hint of anything even remotely sexual until many years later, when he is a 35-year-old high school teacher and she is a 44-year-old mother of two working in a completely different job.

In another story the narrator reflects on having a crush on his friend's older sister - a high level junior tennis player - when they were younger, and how without meaning to he would annoy her by following her around saying dumb things like asking her if 'she liked stuff' and commenting on how nice the weather was when it was wet, windy and cold. In two cousins stories I have written the crush by the male narrator on the female cousin began in their younger years. In one the girl cousin became terrified of a doodlebug when they are caught in an air-raid in World War 2 and the boy helped her into the shelter this setting off the crush; in the other the cousin feels sorry for his female cousin as she is raised by out-of-touch, fundamentalist Christian parents and his attempts to protect her from other kids who aren't so nice lead to him getting a crush on her.

In all of these cases there was not the slightest hint of anything even remotely sexual for these characters prior to the age of 18, so reflections of crushes from younger years are okay provided there is nothing that could be interpreted as erotic.