Rambling about Underage Characters

[anothermellofan]

Comments

[saphira112]

Agreed. Pedophilia is downright wrong and the child, no matter how one looks at it, is more often than not always the victim of it

[chamyl]

I had the same issue with my writing my own fics.
Therefore, I just follow the italian law. 14 is the age of consent. 16 if the partner is a teacher/someone who can influence the younger. 13 if the partner is not over 18.

And anyway, what do you mean "child"? From 13 onwards they're teens in my opinion, and it's completely different.

(And this comes from someone who gets sick if she sees shota and can't even think about... Urgh. Pedos.)

And no, I don't think you should age up your characters, that would be hipocritical, because you'd still think of them as "underage" but specify they are not. That'd be quite a contradiction.

And anyway in the USA this concept of underage is too big deal in my opinion. Just like the drinking age, but that's beside the point.

Thanks for commenting!

[anothermellofan]

You're right, what is a "child" anyway? The category of youth is clearly socially contrived just like all other labels. (Hence, the age of consent is different everywhere you look, even varying from state to state here at home). But if I get to thinking about that idea too deeply this comment could become quite long.

Ahem, don't mock me for this question but, what is shota?

There are a lot of (I'm assuming Japanese) words that float around the fandom that I have never taken the time to understand. I know yaoi and yuri ... and that's abou it. Sad, I know. I should prolly google it ...

Re: Thanks for commenting!

[chamyl]

Ah don't worry, I took me a lot to get all the japanese words!! Okay, let me. *rolls up her sleeves*

Yaoi and yuri you already know. Yaoi derives from YAma nashi, Ochi nashi, Imi nashi that means no climax, no point, no meaning, referring to the fact that yaoi hasn't got plot. (In their opinion, not in mine =_=) Yuri is simply a common japanese girl name.

Shota refers to things like Boku No Pico, where the center of attention is a kid. Or, in the common language, if you pair up someone in his early teens with an adult it's called shota too, even though it's not correct.

Shonen-ai and shojo-ai, that you might have read around too, are the "light" versions of yaoi and yuri, when there's nothing more than a kiss. (Like Gakuen Heaven) In japanese shonen means male teen, shojo is a female teen, and ai means love.

Uhm what else... I think you know seme and uke... And there are probably no other relevant words, I guess...

Oh god how much do I rant? O.O Pardon ;;;;

Re: Thanks for commenting!

[anothermellofan]

You did not rant! I really appreciate this, this is exactly what I needed.

Okay Boku No Pico? That's fucked up and creepy as hell. There's a difference between exploring teenage sexuality and exploiting it. That pic on the wikipedia page is going to give me nightmares.

Thanks for all the definitions and examples to match! :D

[anothermellofan]

Thanks for the thoughtful response :)