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This kind of goes along with the thread on explicit content in YA books thread....

I was plotting out a potential idea for a story last night which revolves around characters who were still at school, one of whom was already sexually active though, not shall we say, overly experienced (despite what he might think in his own mind!) .... I’d initially got this character down at 16, but was then catching up on blogs and various web sites and started thinking, hang on, all these have over 18 warnings on them etc... is it right to have my main character under 18 if he is sexually active?

The story would be set in England, where the age of consent is 16 for both gay and straight sex (which includes all types of sexual activity).... there is an exception, which when one of the parties is a figure of authority (ie teacher, doctor etc) then the age rises to 18.... so technically it would be legal, but would it be suitable for a YA audience?.... I wasn’t going to include anything graphic, though some things would be implied, talked about or faded out, but I wondered how comfortably the idea would sit with readers?

As an aside � in England and Wales same sex couples can enter into a Civil Partnership at the age of 16 with the written permission of their parent/guardian.

Can I have some thoughts/comments please - and it might be useful if people could put details of the age of consent where they are for comparisons sake (because the net is not always right about these things!)

Thanks
K

That is a tough one---I mean--look at Nabakov's Lolita--age of consent varies greatly. Here in the states you can be legally married at the age of 18--19 for Nebraska. And yet K--I went to school in a small town conservative high school and 3 girls were pregnant by junior year.

I think the rule of thumb for YA seems to be age 18 and up--however, I have noticed that some YA has kids sexually active as juniors in high school. It may be with a 16 year old character who is sexually active the novel may need to carry and Explicit Sex" label warning. I would check with your publisher. Also--Ralph over at featherweight might be a really good source for the answer to this one.

It is perfectly acceptable to have a sexually active teenager star in a YA story. The only thing I advise against is having any on-screen or explicit sex scenes. Once you have on-screen sex, most publishers will shy away from it.

What Ralph said. A novel I read almost 30 years ago, which would be categorized as YA today, was about a 14-year-old girl who was sexually active; if I recall correctly, the first sentence (or nearly the first) of the book was "I was in the bathtub f***ing Joshua." Only the F word was spelled out.

The "age of consent" thing and over-18 warnings are mainly so that teenagers don't pick up erotic romance novels. The difference is generally considered to be that if a YA novel contains sexual content--even somewhat explicit content--it may be acceptable as long as it serves a purpose in the plot or the characterization. If the story contains explicit sex that's clearly there for no real purpose, or is there to arouse the reader (as it is in erotic romance) then it isn't acceptable.

Some publishers, like Featherweight, prefer no on-screen sex, or allow some sexual content but not intercourse to be on-screen. Others don't bar anything, as long as it's there for a very good, plot-related reason.

I read a fair number of YA books where characters under 18 have off-screen sex. Think of all the teen-pregnancy story lines out there. As Ralph & Jo said, the main thing would be to go no more explicit than is needed for the thread of the story to be clear. If the plot requires knowing whether the sex was oral or whatever, then it should be fine to put in just enough to cover that info. Look at a host of mainstream YA authors and you'll find that's generally how it's treated.

Woah, I didn't know there was another Kit in this group! Sorry to intrude, but Hi!!!

2 Kits? You guys are trying to confuse me!

I don't have a problem with some description with 16 and up, under that is not appropriate in my book. The legal age of consent in the US should be 16. If they are mature enough to drive a vehicle that can kill if handled incorectly, hey are old enough to decide who they can have sex with. IMHO

Randy

I've read plenty of YA books where characters are sexually active much younger than the age of consent, varying in the level of explicit content. If you're writing to teenagers, however, I don't think having a sexually active teenage character is inherently explicit. Now, it would be different if you were writing for adults...

But how kosher is it for aadults reading about under age tens having sex? I've always worried people would consider it being akin to being a pedophile if you read that kind of thing so I worry about what I order online.

In this age of Government watching our every move and taking a look at our purchase history from Amazon and othrs how safe are we from Mr. FederalProsecutor deciding we are a danger to society because we read a story about an 18 year old boy sucking off a 16 year old boy.
Land of the fre? Not anymore...

Randy

Randy, that's the key to what I said before: The purpose of the scene.

If the purpose of the scene in which the 18-year-old is sucking off the 16-year-old is to turn on the reader, then yeah, that's sketchy. But if the purpose of the scene is to show something about the character or to move the plot along, it isn't a problem. I read a scene in an adult novel (not XXXadult, but written for adults as opposed to teens or kids), Clara's Heart, in which the protagonist at age 9 is given oral sex by a 9-year-old girl who's mimicking what she's seen her parents doing.

There was nothing arousing about the scene; the author focused on the confusion the boy experiences, that it felt nice but he didn't really understand why the girl wanted to do it. The action wasn't described in graphic terms at all, but it's still obvious what's happening. There's nothing pornographic or pedophilic about the scene, though I did as a reader question why it needed to be there, so it might have been a bit gratuitous. (I haven't read the book in a while and don't seem to have it anymore, so I can't recall for sure.)

If you purchase a story about an 18-year-old sucking off a 16-year-old, and it's written pornographically and the sole purpose of the story is the sexual content, then that's a very sketchy area and it could be considered child porn. But if it's a scene in a YA novel, written non-graphically, for a specific purpose in a larger plot, then no. I don't think I've heard about any cases where an adult's been thwapped for child porn because they've read (or written) a sex scene in a YA novel.

If the book is written for teens, then it might depict teen sex. Teens have sex (not all teens, but some); it's part of growing up for some kids. But I don't know of anyone who's writing porn or erotica for teens. And adults are allowed to read YA books. It isn't a crime.

As an aside, there is no federal age of consent in the US. Each state decides their own. The 18-and-over designation for porn doesn't have anything to do with how old someone has to be to legally consent to sexual activity. .

Thank you everyone, I think I shall go with it for now and see how it pans out
K

I'm in Canada and our consent is the same as your's. 16 (was 14 until about 2 years ago) unless in a position of authority. And I think for under 16 if they are within 4 or 5 years of each other there is no problem. You don't want some 15 year old arrested for having sex with her 15 year old boyfriend. So a 13 year old can legally have sex with someone who is 17 or 18. Personally, as a parent I wouldn't want my 13 year old dating an 18 year old, but legally, yeah.

I don't have a problem with it, within reason. I don't want to read about a 14 year old having sex, but I did read a 16 and 17 year old and it was perfectly fine and fit the story. Kids do have sex, whether we as adults like it or not. The constant mention of "he was 18, he was 18" gets really eye-rolly after awhile. Yeah, I get it, he's legal and you have met all the standards of whatever you're publisher set. Stop smacking me over the head with it.

If the sexual content is not explicit, then I don't think it's a problem. I've read many books where characters under 18, even under 16, are sexually active. In my own book, the characters are 17 and it is heavily implied that they're both sexually active to some degree.

Besides this, a lot of YA novels have even stronger content in them now and while edgy, they're acceptable (drug use, runaways, etc). If the characters shy away from it, sometimes it doesn't seem realistic depending on the character. I don't approve of the idea of younger teens having sex - I am a teacher - but unfortunately it happens.