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

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with finding_neo. I think it that anyone with a brain would have to insist that anyone playing be the legal age. And frankly, so what if someone has to wait until they are eighteen to explore their sexuality? It's not like they can't go into a bookstore and buy plenty of NON-FICTION to satisfy any damn questions they may have. The difference here is this is sexual play. Period. It's having sexual games with minors. I don't care if it's just words. If it's just "acting." I would imagine that practically every predator who tries to hook kids with bullshit plays a "role." And the kids who answer are also playing a role. Sure, I'm 18. I just look young. Because it's a game. And I think that the line between role playing games and predator games is mighty thin.

If you know they are minors and you continue playing, then I think you won't have a leg to stand on if you're caught for being a sexual predator. If you're underage, please be responsible and understand that you are playing with someone's ENTIRE FUTURE. The fact they "sounded" older or "looked" older is not a defense.

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

I'm all for staying away from the underage kiddums - I hope nothing I said implied otherwise for my opinion. (On a side note, I am SO SO glad I didn't have the Internet as a teenager.) The biggest problem I have is with the kiddies who say they're of age - and then the adult on the other end of the pipe getting a horrible surprise from the parents or attorney FOR A CRIME THEY DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE COMMITTING.

I don't cyber. The closest I've gotten is writing NC-17 fanfic with a friend, but both of us have always been overage, and we almost always throw in a considerable amount of plot and characterization too.

Anyway - as for your point of exploration, kids don't even have to stick to nonfiction. Hell, you can get some good written porn at your local Walmart! Just buy the right kind of romance novel. (That's how I got a lot of my jollies when I was a young teenager - especially pirate romances, mmmm.)