Yet another question on the "Under 18" rule

[soflabbwlvr]

I apologize in advance for the question. It seems that nearly every permutation of this question has been asked and answered (some multiple times), but I did not see an answer to this one.
Can a character allege that she had sex with an adult character when she was under 18? The adult character denies it, but the false allegation forms the basis of a feud that becomes the central conflict in the story. The story picks up years after the event, but is referenced by both as the basis of their feud and the horrible things that happen afterward.
Is this permissible?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's hard to say. A mere mention of the fact might fly but if you start describing the encounter it's likely that your story will be rejected. There are guidelines for authors to follow but the truth is that the website doesn't deal with these cases in a consistent way so no one can really tell you where the red lines are. They keep shifting, kind of.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You'd need to check with Laurel to be sure, but my rule of thumb on this is "could somebody get off on it?" There are plenty of stories here which state that somebody had sex before 18, but the more detail they get into and the more they sex it up, the less likely it is to be allowed.

 

[OffNSFW]

In my novel, M.U.F.F., I had a similar bit to this, as part of the backstory of a character who is an adult by the time the actual story chronology occurs. The moment in particular is in chapter eight. The gist of it is that a character has been exaggerating about her sexual experience, including at least one while underage. The story doesn't go into detail about it and the moment does not take place during a sex scene or anything like that.

I don't think "Could someone get off on this?" is a helpful litmus test, at least, not for me. "Am I including this for purposes of sexual arousal/stimulation?" might be a better question to ask.

 

[MillieDynamite]

To cover your bases, have it happen in high school when she is 18 years old.

 

[ElectricBlue]

She can allege it, sure, just don't write sexualised details of the (alleged) encounter.

Invoke the Single Sentence Rule: make a neutral statement, not a scene.

 

[Katie_Mae]

To cover your bases, have it happen in high school when she is 18 years old.

If the person she was accusing happened to be her teacher or something, this would still work as a serious accusation without the under 18 portion.

My understanding of the rule is, ultimately, Laurel doesn't want readers aroused by depictions of children, or works detailing children in sexual situations, even if they're not involved. So while your scenario doesn't sound arousing, there is also the fact that authors have continued to be surprised by what is/isn't allowed and the only person who can say for sure is Laurel. You can also write the story and post it with an explanatory note asking if it is suitable, then if it's sent back edit until it's suitable.

 

[MillieDynamite]

If she's 18, you bypass the rule; it is under 18 that isn't allowed. However, his being a teacher makes her accusations very dangerous for him. I would write with a great deal of ambiguity when it happens where some think she's telling the truth and some think he is. Years later, you pick up the story however you plan to.

So yeah, that works, and if he's a 35- or even better- 40-something teacher at the time of acquisitions, it has a lot of creeping going for it.

If the person she was accusing happened to be her teacher or something, this would still work as a serious accusation without the under 18 portion.

My understanding of the rule is, ultimately, Laurel doesn't want readers aroused by depictions of children, or works detailing children in sexual situations, even if they're not involved. So while your scenario doesn't sound arousing, there is also the fact that authors have continued to be surprised by what is/isn't allowed and the only person who can say for sure is Laurel. You can also write the story and post it with an explanatory note asking if it is suitable, then if it's sent back edit until it's suitable.

 

[NotWise]

It depends on how it's written. I have something similar in one of my stories. It was initially rejected then accepted on appeal. The story contained no description of the event, just a statement that it happened.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't think "Could someone get off on this?" is a helpful litmus test, at least, not for me. "Am I including this for purposes of sexual arousal/stimulation?" might be a better question to ask.

Difficulty there is that neither the readers nor Laurel know what you had in your mind when they wrote it, they just know what's on the page. Plenty of stuff gets taken as salacious that wasn't intended that way, and that can still be a problem for Lit.

 

[Britva415]

If we can’t have characters talking about the underage sex they had, I don’t see how we can have them talking about underage sex they’re making up, either.

Both ways, it’s a character talking about underage sex.

If you do muster the berries to try to publish it this way, what do you think about making it a BTB story for lying about an innocent person? Set an example

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree that the applicable test here is "Can somebody get off to it?" If so, then it's not acceptable. My guess is there's a way to do it, briefly and neutrally, that will pass muster under the Site's rules.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I apologize in advance for the question. It seems that nearly every permutation of this question has been asked and answered (some multiple times), but I did not see an answer to this one.
Can a character allege that she had sex with an adult character when she was under 18? The adult character denies it, but the false allegation forms the basis of a feud that becomes the central conflict in the story. The story picks up years after the event, but is referenced by both as the basis of their feud and the horrible things that happen afterward.
Is this permissible?

One of my works in progress struggles with a very similar plot element and I am awaiting a response from Laurel about it.

In my story, a 13-year old daughter alleges that a man that she thinks is her mother's lover (he isn't) exposed himself to her and touched her breast through her clothes. She is making the false allegations to strengthen the likelihood of her father gaining custody of her in a divorce. There is no detail other than those provided in her accusation and I'm pretty confident that Laurel will approve it when the mention of underage sexual activity is considered in the story context.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Thank you to everyone who responded. This is going to be a challenge, but I think I can pull it off.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

One of my works in progress struggles with a very similar plot element and I am awaiting a response from Laurel about it.

In my story, a 13-year old daughter alleges that a man that she thinks is her mother's lover (he isn't) exposed himself to her and touched her breast through her clothes. She is making the false allegations to strengthen the likelihood of her father gaining custody of her in a divorce. There is no detail other than those provided in her accusation and I'm pretty confident that Laurel will approve it when the mention of underage sexual activity is considered in the story context.

Thank you BobbyBrandt. Let me know what Laurel says when she responds. In my story, the protagonist is a musician. The antagonist is a deluded super fan. The fan alleges that she was invited backstage when she was 16, and had sex with the musician who was around 19 or 20 at the time. The musician -- and everyone else involved -- dispute the claim. The fallout from the scandal damages the musician's career. The story picks up a few years later, and deals with the subsequent feud between the two.
I am pretty sure I can say that she alleges sexual activity occurred. I would like to be just a little more descriptive, because that's how people would talk about the allegation. ("She says I invited her backstage after the show and went down on her. I never even met her.") Something like that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am pretty sure I can say that she alleges sexual activity occurred. I would like to be just a little more descriptive, because that's how people would talk about the allegation. ("She says I invited her backstage after the show and went down on her. I never even met her.") Something like that.

That's one way people might talk about the allegation, but unless the details are important to the story you might be able to sidestep them and still have the conversation sound plausible:

"She says I invited her backstage after the show and–"

"I know what she says you did. It's in Rolling Stone."

 

[OffNSFW]

Difficulty there is that neither the readers nor Laurel know what you had in your mind when they wrote it, they just know what's on the page. Plenty of stuff gets taken as salacious that wasn't intended that way, and that can still be a problem for Lit.

That's true, but I think this can be mitigated by authors being brutally honest with themselves about why they're including it and how it reads. (It may also help to use an outside editor, for authors who are uncomfortable/unaccustomed to casting the unsparing eye on their own work.) The "can someone get off to this?" test isn't helpful, at least to me, because the world is full of people who get off to all kinds of stuff that a vast majority of people would see as completely innocuous. I would find myself spending more time second-guessing those people than I would actually writing.

 

[Bramblethorn]

That's true, but I think this can be mitigated by authors being brutally honest with themselves about why they're including it and how it reads. (It may also help to use an outside editor, for authors who are uncomfortable/unaccustomed to casting the unsparing eye on their own work.) The "can someone get off to this?" test isn't helpful, at least to me, because the world is full of people who get off to all kinds of stuff that a vast majority of people would see as completely innocuous. I would find myself spending more time second-guessing those people than I would actually writing.

I'll unpack it a bit then: any sexual scenario has the potential to be arousing to somebody out there, no matter how repellent it might be to the average well-adjusted person (should any of those be present here). Rule 34 exists for a reason.

But most readers need a bit more than "they had sex", even when the scenario aligns with their predilections. The more an author describes such a scene and lets the reader visualise it, or put themselves in the perpetrator's head, the more plausible it is that somebody can find it arousing and then somebody looking to take down Literotica can argue "this is a site that caters to people who get off on X", where X = something that a court might consider non-protected "obscenity".

 

[ChloeTzang]

I apologize in advance for the question. It seems that nearly every permutation of this question has been asked and answered (some multiple times), but I did not see an answer to this one.
Can a character allege that she had sex with an adult character when she was under 18? The adult character denies it, but the false allegation forms the basis of a feud that becomes the central conflict in the story. The story picks up years after the event, but is referenced by both as the basis of their feud and the horrible things that happen afterward.
Is this permissible?

Only very obliquely. Any overt mention of under 18 sex is going to get the story rejected. Been there, been rejected. You can work it in obliquely and by veiled references but even then you need to be pretty subtle about it. I usually get around it by working with 18 years old and last year of high school....which is unrealistic but as good as you can get

 

[HeyAll]

One thing you have to remember is that the stories appear to be skimmed... possibly extra scrutiny when red flags are raised... possibly skimming software of filters.

So having something that triggers a ref flag could get the story rejected.

If you absolutely have to use this is a plotline, then I recommend clarifying with a note in the notes area.