underage sex in stories: how much detail can you get into?

[killallhippies]

i'm currently cooking up a story in my head that i feel should include some underage and unwanted sexual encounter in order to aid in the main characters development as a sexually frigid person with deep issues that eventually lead her too choices she wouldn't normally make. i am aware that detailed sexual encounters involving characters under the age of eighteen are strictly forbidden, but that brief descriptions are allowed for story purposes. just how far can you go before your story is rejected?

i don't plan on putting too much detail in it just enough to get the point across. hell, if i can't find my spare power cords so i can type it up in private it might not get done, but anyway...

any and all advice is welcome. thanks.

 

[gauchecritic]

At a guess Kill, you would get the story rejected if the situation is described at all.

Mentioning the fact of it is probably as much as would be allowed, any descriptive elements would seem to be a no-no.

That's just my opinion. I think you need an answer from W. Harold for a more salient viewpoint.

Maybe you could PM laurel with the excerpt and an explanation.

Gauche

 

[killallhippies]

At a guess Kill, you would get the story rejected if the situation is described at all.

Mentioning the fact of it is probably as much as would be allowed, any descriptive elements would seem to be a no-no.

That's just my opinion. I think you need an answer from W. Harold for a more salient viewpoint.

Maybe you could PM laurel with the excerpt and an explanation.

Gauche

right now it's in the notes stage with the rest of it rolling around in my head so an excerpt would be impossible at the moment. if i don't get a satisfactory answer by the time i've typed it up i'll probably do that though.

what i want to do is mention the basic situation or just have a kiss that was not expected or welcomed. is a kiss a sexual situation involving minors?

 

[sincerely_helene]

Bump!

I'm in a similar situation.

 

[Weird Harold]

right now it's in the notes stage with the rest of it rolling around in my head so an excerpt would be impossible at the moment. if i don't get a satisfactory answer by the time i've typed it up i'll probably do that though.

what i want to do is mention the basic situation or just have a kiss that was not expected or welcomed. is a kiss a sexual situation involving minors?

Since it isn't written yet, I'd suggest you avoid a flashback of the situation and write it as as the embarassd confession of the character about her past and avoid getting graphic about what exactly happened.

"I don't trust men because I was molested as a child. every time he got me alone for, even a moment, he'd give me a kiss that uncles shouldn't give neices and groped me," is well within the limits on underage sex.

A flashback that tells the complete molstation in "real time" with details about how much tongue and exactlyu where she was groped is probably over the line.

A kiss probably isn't a "sexual situation" but there are kisses and then there are Kisses -- it all depends on how graphic you are about the description.

As always, Laurel is the final word on what is too much when you include a character's sexual history when they were underage.

 

[killallhippies]

Since it isn't written yet, I'd suggest you avoid a flashback of the situation and write it as as the embarassd confession of the character about her past and avoid getting graphic about what exactly happened.

"I don't trust men because I was molested as a child. every time he got me alone for, even a moment, he'd give me a kiss that uncles shouldn't give neices and groped me," is well within the limits on underage sex.

A flashback that tells the complete molstation in "real time" with details about how much tongue and exactlyu where she was groped is probably over the line.

A kiss probably isn't a "sexual situation" but there are kisses and then there are Kisses -- it all depends on how graphic you are about the description.

As always, Laurel is the final word on what is too much when you include a character's sexual history when they were underage.

that makes sense and would probably work just fine though i do want to keep it in the characters head because i'm going for a disfunctional character who is confused about her own sexuality entirely. completely lacking self confidence, existing behind a wall, etc.

i'll keep it simple and avoid any details that might be over the line. thanks.

 

[Weird Harold]

that makes sense and would probably work just fine though i do want to keep it in the characters head because i'm going for a disfunctional character who is confused about her own sexuality entirely. completely lacking self confidence, existing behind a wall, etc.

Just remove the quote marks and italicize. My example then becomes "Internal Dialogue" -- thoughts instead of words -- and remains in her head.

A possible device that might work for what you're trying to do is "Post-traumatic Stress Flashbacks." When her current boyfriend kisses her in a certain way, He morphs into the "uncle" who molested her in her mind and she freaks out. You can then work her through the various "trigger events" to reveal what it is in her past that makes her so disfunctional now.

I think if you keep the actions and reactions in the present tense the underage aspect of the history will be minimized to the point where isn't an issue as far as Laurel accepting the story.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Dr. M has also offered some decent tips on the "Adult Sites" thread.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Killa,

As Weird Harold and Gauchcritic have said, you’re safest just referring to the event, and not giving any specifics of what happened. I’ve written two stories that included references to under-age sex, one was consensual lesbian told in narrative, one non-consensual heterosexual told in dialogue. To give you some idea what has “gotten by” in the past, here is a paragraph from each story.

Burying Uncle Hiram’s Ghost
"Sure you do, Uncle Hiram. You've known, we've both known, for years. And I never said anything about it, did I? Of course, I never said yes either, not that it stopped you from trying. But you didn't push too hard and I knew from momma how much you'd helped when my Father died, so--"

Randy Comes Home, ch 01
When Clara lived with Randi’s family, she’d been more like a fun-loving big sister and confidant than an aunt. It’d been Clara who taught her how to dance, and about boys, and how to kiss. And that’d led to the night Clara showed her how one woman could make another happy. They’d done it often after that.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[killallhippies]

thank you both. rf, that second example is probably more what i'm going for and i think that i can do that. i prefer to write in the third person anyway.

i've started typing it up, but i still have a long way to go before i'm finished. i'm a terrible typist.

 

[Pure]

Hi Kill,

I think the amount of detail, and the 'pornographic' intent will be determinative.

I don't think present time, past, remembered etc. is going to matter.

It might be worth stressing that a certain vagueness about ages is helpful. I.e. when a character of 23 says, "when I was much younger, xxx happened." As oppposed to, "When I was 16, xxx happened.

It's also worth mentioning that embeddedness and complexity are factors, also. Where in the text, the events are depicted, and the directness of the clues. For instance, if there's a mom of 40 (Mrs. X) and a daughter of 20, it takes some figuring if you say "Mrs. X was then in her mid thirties, and very naive, and didn't notice that xxx happened with her daughter."

Keep in mind that the whole exercize is rather hypothetical and has to do with phrases in laws that the courts have yet to allow.
These phrases are often vague, and Laurel hadn't tried to get detailed in her forbiddings.