What are the specific rules regarding under 18

[hottchic]

In a story I am writing, as part of the background of one of my characters, I want to bring in her being sexually abused as a child in order to explain some of her attitudes.

This would be described in general terms rather than going into specific details and in a very negative context, with the idea of highlighting how devastating this can be to a person, and how people who have experienced such a trauma are in need of a lot of care and sensitivity.

The specific objective in this case is to raise in the reader, feelings of the need to expose all such abuse, and an empathy with the victims.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The specific rule is:

No sexual activity involving bestiality (you can write stories about supernatural beasts like ghosts, unicorns, werewolves, etc.) or underage persons will be considered. For the purposes of this site, the minimum legal age is 18. This site does not publish stories, articles, essays, or other material supporting, encouraging, or defending child abuse and/or exploitation.

That being said, the rule does not require that your characters are virginal until their 18th birthday. Rather, the story must not contain any description of sexual activity involving an underage character.

I have a story in which one of the characters was also a victim of child sexual abuse. I wrote to Laurel and asked her if I could describe the character's background, and I provided a sample of the text I wanted to include. She responded that what I submitted was ok, so long as I didn't go any further. The approved story contained the following excerpt:

"The little slut lost her virginity at thirteen to some older white guy, around thirty-one or thirty-two, I think. Her parents found out and pressed charges. He went to jail. Two years later she got pregnant, this time with an even older white guy. A year later she got pregnant again. Yep, you guessed it, another older white guy. This whore had two kids before she even graduated from high school."

So long as you are not trying to be cute or push the envelope of what is allowed and what is forbidden, and you state up front in the author's note section of the submission page what you want to do, you should be OK. If your story goes into greater detail than mine, then I would clear it with Laurel first.

 

[hottchic]

So long as you are not trying to be cute or push the envelope of what is allowed and what is forbidden, and you state up front in the author's note section of the submission page what you want to do, you should be OK. If your story goes into greater detail than mine, then I would clear it with Laurel first.

This is the section that I want to include in my story:

Then surpisingly after hearing the accounts of our treatment at the hands of the rapists, Jenny went on to tell the story of how she was sexually abused repeatedly by her father. This had continued until the age of 13, when she finally had the courage to tell her mother. After that her mother divorced her father and he was charged with child sexual abuse for which he was required to serve a 15 year jail term.

To ensure that Jenny would never have to see her father again, she and her mother had relocated to another state and taken on a new identity. And from this point onwards Jenny had always been wary of men and worked to become a backbelt in Taekwondo, and had made weight training a daily routine. She had never wanted to ever feel at the mercy of another person again.


From what you described I feel that this level of detail would be acceptable and not break the spirit of the rules about under age sex.

 

[Darkniciad]

That looks well within acceptable range to me. Just make sure that you include something in the "notes" section of the submission pointing out the section. Otherwise, it might get speed-read and rejected without noting the context.