Research: Fantasies of women, at a younger age

[CharleyH]

This is a bit of a difficult ask because I know there are some troublesome pervs lurking on the AH. However, I assure you that I am not trying to get off, my query is purely research.

I can't give away the complete story I am writing, but it turns on a 12 year old's fantasies of what she envisions to be her future. It's been a long time since I was 12, and while I can write what I fantasized about for my future, I was hoping for some inspiration from other women, particularly those women who came of age in the mid to late 70's. What did you envision your life to be when you were 12?

I can see that posting to this thread might be an issue, so feel free to PM.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is a bit of a difficult ask because I know there are some troublesome pervs lurking on the AH. However, I assure you that I am not trying to get off, my query is purely research.

I can't give away the complete story I am writing, but it turns on a 12 year old's fantasies of what she envisions to be her future. It's been a long time since I was 12, and while I can write what I fantasized about for my future, I was hoping for some inspiration from other women, particularly those women who came of age in the mid to late 70's. What did you envision your life to be when you were 12?

I can see that posting to this thread might be an issue, so feel free to PM.

If there is any sex involved this story will never fly. Even if the sex happens in her future the #12 will get your story rejected. No one on Lit exists before the age of 18 trust me.

 

[CharleyH]

If there is any sex involved this story will never fly. Even if the sex happens in her future the #12 will get your story rejected. No one on Lit exists before the age of 18 trust me.

As said, this is a research query.

 

[CharleyH]

Let me put it this way: When I was 12, I read Tiger Beat magazine religiously. I had a vision of my life: I would marry Shaun Cassidy, have fun doing the things he liked according to Tiger Beat magazine, get divorced, and go off with Andy Gibb and do the things he liked according to Tiger Beat. When he got married to Victoria Principal, who was never as good as me, I turned Lorenzo Lamas, who had more ripples in more places than I could imagine.

And that sums up my 12 year-old fantasies.

 

[estragon]

On This Site

guarded by the leonine Laurel, who protects the cubs with a zeal not seen outside the savannas of Africa, the only 12-year old comes out of a bottle of Johnny Black. Slainte!

 

[Darkniciad]

Geesh... Pardon to the OP. Hope your reserarch quest is successful.

There is an 18+ rule at Lit, and it applies to minors in sexual situations.

Both of these passed without a hitch. The first was within a couple of paragraphs of the beginning of the story.

"Nothing," five-year-old Daniel called back to his mother, who gathered morels with his father a short distance away.

Ten-year-old Glen's voice piped up from the back seat as Kia drove home from the store. "Mom, why is Uncle Dan acting so goofy?"

No sexual situations, no foul. The number is not the reason for 18+ rejections, though it can cause knee-jerk reactions during speed-reading approval. I didn't do so in these, but if you're worried about the age number causing a rejection, simply put something in the "notes" section of the submission form that points out minors as characters in the story, but notes that they are not involved in any sexual situations.

Likewise, characters do not have to be chaste angels until they reach 18. This line is far sharper than the other, and you have to tread it carefully. The key is to have no sexual detail when conveying things that happened in the past.

At fourteen, she was the talk of the school. She had a boyfriend who had a car, instantly propelling her into the social stratosphere, and making the other girls green with envy any time she walked past on his arm. For a month, any time she wasn't with him was spent reliving it with her friends in whispers, giggles, and sighs. Page after page of her notebook contained different ways of signing her married name, following the wedding she'd already planned in intricate detail.

As soon as he got what he wanted in the back seat of his car, he'd moved on to his next conquest

Once again, approved in one go without a hitch. Your characters do not have to be virgins until 18.

[/thread derail]

 

[CharleyH]

guarded by the leonine Laurel, who protects the cubs with a zeal not seen outside the savannas of Africa, the only 12-year old comes out of a bottle of Johnny Black. Slainte!

Well, you guys haven't helped much. I'll take control of the thread once more. READ the first post.

 

[favoritesgoddess]

When I was 12, I didn't really think ahead to being an adult. I wanted to be 16. It was the best age, the epitome of coolness. I'd have my license and a boyfriend...it was going to be glorious.

Then I turned 16 and fantasized about being 18. When I was 18, I wanted to be 21. I don't remember any specific things, just always wanting be more grownup than I was, but not A grownup. KWIM?

Sorry it's not much help, but 12 was a LONG time ago.

Maybe edit the first post and say that you're not looking for sexual fantasies. This is a sex website and people assume...

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Are you looking for love life fantasies? I didn't have many of those at twelve that didn't involve other twelve year olds. I was destined for nerdiness even then, I'm afraid.


If you need non-love life fantasies...

I do remember dreaming about my future career. I wanted to be a ballerina, or at the very least be on Broadway (LOVED A Chorus Line and still know every damn word... I was twelve in the early 1990s, but hey, A Chorus Line started in the 70s, right?). I also wanted to get the heck out of small town New England, and New York City was the only acceptable destination for me. I also remember wanting to be pretty, and covering my walls with pictures of models that I cut out from magazines, hoping that it would somehow make me look like them when I grew up.

I have vague recollections of dreaming up epic love stories in my head, but these usually revolved around me being an awesome dancer in New York. A fantastically handsome man (who actually had no face in my daydreams) would, for no particular reason, fall in love with me at first glance and we would live in an Upper East Side apartment (with a wonderful Central Park view, of course). But really, the man was always secondary to my super successful career.


Thanks for the trip back to my twelve year old self, by the way. I haven't thought about her in a while. She was actually kind of cool, in a bad fashion, trombone playing, middle school play acting, braces and math whiz kind of way.

 

[3113]

The women's movement in the 70's was trying but hadn't, I think, made dents yet in girls fantasies. Generally speaking, girls then had much the same ambitions as girls of old--marriage or ballerina. Girl dreams.

I am, however, very much in agreement with Favoritegoddess.

When I was 12, I didn't really think ahead to being an adult. I wanted to be 16. It was the best age, the epitome of coolness. I'd have my license and a boyfriend...it was going to be glorious.

This is spot-on right and makes a really excellent point! 12 year old girls don't fantasize about being adult women with jobs and families (except in some vague way like marrying David Cassidy ). 12 is when girls stop seeing their moms as role models and start looking to older sisters--real or those teen girls they see around them. Including female pop singers.

You mentioned David Cassidy...do you recall that Susan Day, also of the Partridge Family, was also hugely popular with young girls? The 12 year olds might haved fantasized about marrying David, but when they dreamed about being Susan Day.

That means no fantasies of being a doctor or astronaut or wife/mother--but rather fantasies of being a cool 16 year old: Confident, beautiful, your hair long and silky straight, allowed to wear cool clothing and make-up. Also, having your own car, being able to drive and go off on dates and trips unchaperoned, allowed to go to teen parties, dances and events (which, at 12 you're not allowed to go to and seem so mysterious and fun). Parents and siblings vanish in such fantasies, and the 12 year old is on her own, her only family being her peers and those older teens she admires--and an adoring boyfriend or two. And hey, whadda ya know, that pretty much describes the heroine of Twilight and what happens to her. The popularity of those books wasn't just thanks to the romantic boys (who don't even want to kiss!), but becoming that girl.

If Twilight had come out in the 70's it would likely have been as popular then as now. It hits all the notes of what 12-14 year old girls fantasize about...which is being 16-18 years of age, beautiful, independent and desired...and don't skimp on the cool clothes

 

[TxRad]

Are you looking for love life fantasies? I didn't have many of those at twelve that didn't involve other twelve year olds. I was destined for nerdiness even then, I'm afraid.


If you need non-love life fantasies...

I do remember dreaming about my future career. I wanted to be a ballerina, or at the very least be on Broadway (LOVED A Chorus Line and still know every damn word... I was twelve in the early 1990s, but hey, A Chorus Line started in the 70s, right?). I also wanted to get the heck out of small town New England, and New York City was the only acceptable destination for me. I also remember wanting to be pretty, and covering my walls with pictures of models that I cut out from magazines, hoping that it would somehow make me look like them when I grew up.

I have vague recollections of dreaming up epic love stories in my head, but these usually revolved around me being an awesome dancer in New York. A fantastically handsome man (who actually had no face in my daydreams) would, for no particular reason, fall in love with me at first glance and we would live in an Upper East Side apartment (with a wonderful Central Park view, of course). But really, the man was always secondary to my super successful career.


Thanks for the trip back to my twelve year old self, by the way. I haven't thought about her in a while. She was actually kind of cool, in a bad fashion, trombone playing, middle school play acting, braces and math whiz kind of way.

If you brought her up to 18, she would in my opinion, for what it is worth, make an awesome character. You should consider writing her.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

If you brought her up to 18, she would in my opinion, for what it is worth, make an awesome character. You should consider writing her.

Aw, thanks! My twelve (and eighteen) year old selves are flattered.

I'll have to think of something good, though. I don't want to give a crappy story or partner to my past self. Hmmm....

 

[favoritesgoddess]

Oh, and I remember being 12 and wanting to wear grown-up clothes. I was sick of Osh-Kosh and the like and wanted to dress like a teen. I wanted to wear high heels (desperately!) and MAKEUP! I wasn't allowed either, so of course I wanted them! And I did idolize older girls--big sisters of my friends. They all seemed so put-together and I was so babyish next to them.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Oh, and I remember being 12 and wanting to wear grown-up clothes. I was sick of Osh-Kosh and the like and wanted to dress like a teen. I wanted to wear high heels (desperately!) and MAKEUP! I wasn't allowed either, so of course I wanted them! And I did idolize older girls--big sisters of my friends. They all seemed so put-together and I was so babyish next to them.

That's kind of funny. For all the years I taught twelve year olds, most of the girls had no interest in make-up that I could tell. I'd tell them that one hundred seventy-nine days a year they were forbidden to wear it but on the day of the Egyptian Parade it was mandatory. The mothers would come in and just paint them up and they would undergo this transformation from cute to (in many cases) gorgeous. Then as soon as the parade was over and it was time to eat the first thing they wanted to do was go wash it off!

 

[vrosej10]

i was an odd 12 year old. i was in the middle of a nervous breakdown, had stomach ulcers. I mostly fantasized about dying. Sex wise I actually thought no one would ever love me so I wouldn't settle down; I dreamed about both men and woman and I always expected to have a wild, polyamorous love life. I dreamt about having a baby a lot.

 

[Black13]

I uh... kinda figured out what sex was when I was pretty young. I had my first orgasm around the age of 7, spent a few years trying to figure out what it was, and when I found out I was all over it. I had pretty much mapped out the vast variety of sexual concepts by the time I was 12. At that point, puberty was kicking in, and I was thinking of pretty much every possible form of sex. Eh, probably not typical, but it was vivid. Now, ironically, I don't really get turned on by things. Bright flames burn fast, eh?

 

[Stella_Omega]

At twelve, I was deep into adventure books.

I was riding through the greenwood as Robin Hood-- NOT stuck in the castle as Maid Marion-- I was Ivanhoe, I was Frodo. I was Gerd, the wizard of Earthsea. I was Jim Hawkins, I was Huck Finn. On very rare occasions I could be a female character-- Meg Murray, from A Wrinkle In Time was one of the few.

I didn't much care for my real life where I was just a girl-- where the schools made me wear a dress and take Home Ec. instead of machine shop and wood shop, and didn't care if I did well in math or not.

 

[3113]

I didn't much care for my real life where I was just a girl-- where the schools made me wear a dress and take Home Ec. instead of machine shop and wood shop, and didn't care if I did well in math or not.

Man, I would have killed to have been able to take wood or metal shop rather than sewing. I sucked at sewing and really hated it.

Home ec, on the other hand, I loved and adored. I still make the biscuits I learned how to make in that class

 

[MarlowBunny]

Man, I would have killed to have been able to take wood or metal shop rather than sewing. I sucked at sewing and really hated it.

Home ec, on the other hand, I loved and adored. I still make the biscuits I learned how to make in that class

I loved home Ec too, and I was 13 year old boy. My junior high required every student to take 1/3 year of shop/drafting, 1/3 year of Home Ec., and 1/3 year of music or art.

I loved all of those classes far more than lecture classes. I used the gym bag that I made in Home Ec for ten years. I still make the same "from scratch" cake. I know how to prepare breakfast for five and have it all ready at the same time. I learned how to budget and grocery shop. We went on a field trip where each student had to plan a balanced meal for five people, buy all of the groceries for $30 or less, and then prepare the meal.

 

[MarlowBunny]

At twelve, I was deep into adventure books.

I was riding through the greenwood as Robin Hood-- NOT stuck in the castle as Maid Marion-- I was Ivanhoe, I was Frodo. I was Gerd, the wizard of Earthsea. I was Jim Hawkins, I was Huck Finn. On very rare occasions I could be a female character-- Meg Murray, from A Wrinkle In Time was one of the few.

I didn't much care for my real life where I was just a girl-- where the schools made me wear a dress and take Home Ec. instead of machine shop and wood shop, and didn't care if I did well in math or not.

The "just a girl" meme must have already died or been on its last legs when I was 12 in 1980. As a boy, I remember thinking how unfair it was that girls could wear anything boys could wear and not be called names. Girls could play boy's sports but not visa versa. Girls were preferred by teachers and society in general. Every magazine and TV show had girls on the cover. Think about Charlie's Angels.

I admired girls (and still do).

A teenage girl is at the hight of her abstract value to society. She is young, healthy, and nubile. She is at or will soon reach her reproductive peak. She is the most desired creature on the planet. Everyone wants to be her (or an idolized version of her).

A teenage boy has nothing to offer a teenage girl. A teenage boy has no value to society except as cannon fodder in wars. He may be perceived as reproductive competition by more powerful established males. He has no significant income or social standing (Justin Beeber and David Cassidy excepted of course).

It all turns around when men are 50 I am told. He then has maximum earning power, social standing, and the admiration of teen girls. I'm not there yet, and I have some doubts. I know enough teen girls to find the species in general vapid and narcissistic for the most part. Women in their 50s are supposedly valued by society for being "grandmothers"...

I am not religious, but one of the teachings I admire is that all people are intrinsically valuable and deserving of compassion. I don't see that much in society though.

 

[oggbashan]

edited - TMI

 

[Stella_Omega]

The "just a girl" meme must have already died or been on its last legs when I was 12 in 1980. As a boy, I remember thinking how unfair it was that girls could wear anything boys could wear and not be called names. Girls could play boy's sports but not visa versa. Girls were preferred by teachers and society in general. Every magazine and TV show had girls on the cover. Think about Charlie's Angels.

Parts of what you're saying-- that girls could play boys sports and such-- that was because of me and my never ending battle. For me though, it was pretty much futile. In my day girls were admired by teachers and society in general-- because they were girls. Girls were were by default, kind, pretty. Good at nursing, typing, cooking, making paper flowers. I was told i couldn't take shop classes because I might get hurt and that would ruin my most important asset, my prettiness.

I admired girls (and still do).

A teenage girl is at the hight of her abstract value to society. She is young, healthy, and nubile. She is at or will soon reach her reproductive peak. She is the most desired creature on the planet. Everyone wants to be her (or an idolized version of her).

except, of course, for those that don't.I didn't want to be a teen girl, i don't want to be one now.

A teenage boy has nothing to offer a teenage girl. A teenage boy has no value to society except as cannon fodder in wars. He may be perceived as reproductive competition by more powerful established males. He has no significant income or social standing (Justin Beeber and David Cassidy excepted of course).

this is true, I'll grant you!

It all turns around when men are 50 I am told. He then has maximum earning power, social standing, and the admiration of teen girls. I'm not there yet, and I have some doubts. I know enough teen girls to find the species in general vapid and narcissistic for the most part. Women in their 50s are supposedly valued by society for being "grandmothers"...

hehe. I'll tell you what, if you are smart enough to set your sights on fifty-year-old women you will have the best sex life-- the kind that most men only dream of, teenaged girls notwithstanding.

I am not religious, but one of the teachings I admire is that all people are intrinsically valuable and deserving of compassion. I don't see that much in society though.

I'm with you there as well...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

hehe. I'll tell you what, if you are smart enough to set your sights on fifty-year-old women you will have the best sex life-- the kind that most men only dream of, teenaged girls notwithstanding.

I'll keep that in mind in the event (God forbid!) that I ever have to start over again.

I was fortunate in that my mother felt that everyone needed to know how to do everything so I can cook, replace buttons, do laundry, etc. I learned as much in the garage from my dad about woodworking as I did from my single shop class. To everyone their own sense of victimization. Being a musician (at the time) and scholar I wasn't allowed any more of them. My counselors seemed to think it was more important that I take every possible academic subject they could find to throw at me.

The result is that my daughter can do all the 'womanly' tasks as well as lay brick and drive nails and my son got a sewing machine for high school graduation and went through chef's school before he took up cabinet making. We're a pretty versatile lot, considering the difficulties of manipulating devices with claws . . .

 

[Xelebes]

When I was a wee
Little lass of three
I dreamt I would be here.
But I'm not a wee
Little lass of three
And scream do I for beer.
Li'l Toddy Noddy
Is b'reft and naughty
And my bean's in a row.
Caught'm hotty toddy
With a fine'ng body
And I got none to show.
Little little boy
Girl is quite a joy
But the house left daddy
And the tears are mine
With this o' fine brine
Pickling this old biddy.

 

[Dual_Triode]

hehe. I'll tell you what, if you are smart enough to set your sights on fifty-year-old women you will have the best sex life-- the kind that most men only dream of, teenaged girls notwithstanding.

Huzzah! Best "mistake" I ever made: hooking up with a mature intelligent woman, with a libido, and not shy about what she wants.

When my sister was 12, she was trying to get noticed; searching for her identity. She finally accepted, some 20 years later, that she was queer; occupying that space somewhere between straight and gay.

When my daughter was 12, she was trying to understand her diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. She was trying to hide, trying to remain unnoticed.

When I was 12, I was playing ball and watching cars. I think boys have an easier time at that age than girls.