People are... strange

[morgynleri]

How does "Teen And Up Audiences" equal "coded 'adult'"? And how does "adult" automatically mean sexual content?

This question brought to you by a comment that didn't make sense.

Comments

[nenya_kanadka]

It's a very foolish convention, but one I sometimes use to my advantage when searching the "explicit" category on AO3 does not yield enough porn for my liking. :P

But really this whole thing about "adult" meaning "sex" (or sometimes violence, but that seems less carefully marked, at least in movies) is ridiculous.

What was the comment?

[morgynleri]

Why is this coded "adult" which usually means there's graphic sexual content when, in fact, in this fic there is no sexual content, graphic or otherwise?

Followed by me responding, and them adding that they'd answered themselves and didn't get to the delete button fast enough (because I can at least sometimes be prompt about responding to comments), and things working out for that part.

Though I still don't get how teen=adult or adult=sex.

For my part - yes, most of my "explicit" fics are rated such because they're basically porn, a full third of them are rated more for violence and torture than graphic sex, even when they include sex. And my ones rated "mature" are as likely to be rated that for violence and non-sexual mature themes[1] as for sexual content of a not-very-graphic nature.

*sighs and shrugs* Ah well. I will keep to my reasons and standards for rating (which may sometimes seem somewhat arbitrary, at least for the line between teen and mature for violence).

[1] And by mature themes, I tend to mean things that are likely to provoke awkward questions by those who aren't familiar with them, particularly when those questions are asked by pre-teens (for rating teen) or teens (when rating mature/explicit) of their parents or an adult they're willing to ask those questions of. If, of course, the themes don't just go over their heads.