Underage RPers/cybering

[veronica_rich]

There's a pretty englightening discussion on fandomsecrets about a macro secret involving underage people RPing/cybering with adults. Specifically, this thread (warning: slow loading, image heavy), which has its little share of wank, but is surprisingly conducive to good conversations about the rights of adults versus the needs of teenagers to explore their sexuality in a safe (i.e., NOT skin-to-skin) manner; whether an adult can be charged with a crime if it is learned the RP partner is underage; what can happen to underage people engaging in distribution of pornographic materials to other underage or even overage people online.

We didn't have the Internet back in the cave I grew up in - I'll be 37 later this year. In fact, I didn't even have Internet access until oh, about 11 years ago, and it was a 28.8 KB connection, LOL. I didn't have sex until I was 19 years old. But I read romance novels, sneaked looks into my dad's Hustler and Playboy collection, etc. stuff without a sex partner. My sister, so far as I know, was reading fanfic when she was about 14 or 15, but not getting into doing anything until she was a legal adult. (She'll have to speak for herself if she wishes, beyond that.)

My point is, what do you think of underage people cybering with overage people? Do you think it's OK so long as they don't give their real age and seem mature? Or do you think there should be some measure (such as ...?) requiring they give notice of their age first, to protect a possible conviction against an adult who isn't really a pedophile and doesn't want to have to register as a sex offender for the rest of their life?

Comments

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm really not concerned with the welfare of the child in this case - in this one case, I'm looking more at what could happen to the adult. It doesn't matter so much that you turned out OK and don't feel scarred by the experience - had your parents or an authority found out you were doing such a thing with an overage person, you're not the one whose reputation and life could've been legally and socially ruined over it. You know?

[destrokker.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, I don’t really want to get into the legality of the issue, because there’s no end-all answer. But, honestly, it’s a lose/lose situation for the overage person and is probably never going to be solved. They’re screwed in most outcomes since, to a majority of the population, no one perceives the overage party to ever be innocent, which they most certainly can be in some situations. But, is it really the underage party’s fault? There are plenty of instances when an underage person knows they can get the overage party in trouble, but I think what matters is whether they’re using that knowledge maliciously. Regardless, like you said, the authorities/parents can take matters into their own hands, but that’s how things are when the law is black and white, which, to me, is unfortunate.