if two men wrote fanfiction about two 16 year old girls having sex, people would be uncomfortable with it. why is it that the second you flip the situation on its head people want to argue that you’re “policing women’s sexual urges”?
pedophilia (a form of paraphilia) is a big word to throw around. it’s defined by “primary or exclusive sexual attraction to children” who are normally prepubescent (13 and under). while pedophilia may be the wrong term in this case, ephebophilia most certainly isn’t. ephebophilia is sexual interest in mid-to-late adolescents, generally ages 15 to 19. teenagers featured multiple explicit sexual scenes between two 16 year olds, with detailed descriptions of every sexual act performed and both parties’ genitalia. it might be fictional, but the sexual interest is still there.
but what about other forms of media? books and tv shows feature teenagers having sex. what’s the difference? the difference is the graphic nature of the content. take riverdale. teenage characters in riverdale have sex but none of what is shown is explicit. you don’t see what they do past making out and maybe stripping off some outer layers of clothing. in the fault in our stars, hazel and gus have sex and the most you read about it is how they have a bit of trouble with their condom. in teenagers, you read EVERYTHING they do, including the kind of sex they have. that’s invasive and unnecessary
writers of shows like riverdale don’t get any sexual gratification from writing sex scenes (if they did, they’d be fired immediately. end of.) and don’t expect their viewers to get any sexual gratification either. the sole point of including a sex scene is to depict a well rounded character and all aspects of the teenage experience. this wasn’t the case with teenagers, as both authors actively encouraged minors to get sexually aroused from reading it to the point of masturbating
if a show like riverdale showed anything explicit, it would no longer be suitable for its core demographic and would consequently lose its primetime slot on television. this is because anything that’s classed as having sexual content immediately becomes only appropriate for viewing by adults. letting under 18s read explicit sexual content is illegal and irresponsible
but teenagers have sex anyway! shouldn’t we normalise writing about it? yes, they do and yes, we should normalise teenagers discovering their own sexualities and having healthy experiences. writing about teenagers having sex multiple times a day sets the precedent that that’s a common and healthy thing to do and only further alienates teenagers from their perceived concept of “normality”.
but it’s fictional! fictional or not, the intent is still there. mens rea (the thought of doing something) is just as important as actus reus (actually doing that thing) in criminal law. and when it comes to subjects such as pedophilia, you’re dealing with criminal law.
but teenagers wasn’t 100% sex! regardless of how much sex there was (which was a scarily high amount), the sex that was included wasn’t appropriate for under 18s to be reading/aspiring to. shock horror, you can write a story about the teenage experience without describing someone’s genitalia!
writing about underage sex, suicide, incest or rape isn’t “pushing boundaries”. it’s quite frankly unacceptable and gross. keep it to yourself.
you can’t have it both ways. you can’t claim your writing is for educational or informative purposes then request that anyone under the age of 18 shouldn’t interact with that writing.
that’s all i can immediately think of. you’re more than welcome to unfollow if you’re sympathetic to anything i’ve mentioned above. you’re also welcome to send asks if you’re confused about anything/want to see evidence. have a nice day
