A Look At Child Protection Laws & Roleplaying
Note: This is US-centric as it was a very hard issue to research and there is not a lot written about it. I did look into sources covering regions outside of the U.S. and there seems to be the same level of uncertainty about the issue.
The issue of age has been brought up a lot in the community lately. Those underage find it unfair to be judged by their age rather than their abilities to write and be creative while adults are defensive about not wanting to get into legal trouble. I would like to make it very clear that no one should have their writing judged by their age. Your writing should be able to stand on its own — after all, you aren’t going to be sitting there when a reader picks up your first novel. What this issue really comes down to is legality and comfort.
As an older roleplayer (i.e. a legal adult), I do not want to smut with a minor. Not only do I not want to get dragged into a sticky legal situation, but it makes me uncomfortable. I am highly conscious of the fact that I am an adult and find it disturbing to even consider writing out a sexually explicit scene with someone who is under the age of consent. “Fade to Black” never seemed so enticing until I turn 18. When an older (note that I didn’t use the word mature) roleplayer tells you they do not want to smut with you or you do not meet the age requirements for a roleplay, do not be offended. Isn’t comfort and respect a key part of roleplaying? In the end, roleplayers should be looking out for each other rather then fanning the fire because of their selfish desires.
Is Underage Smut Child Pornography?
What makes this issue tricky is the relative infancy of the actual issue. The government at both the state and federal level is more than clear on laws surrounding images of child pornography, but with written material it is much murkier. One thing is certain, irregardless of what state you live in, it does not matter what the age of consent in — “any depiction of a minor under 18 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct is illegal” [1].
The hardest part about this issue is that child pornography is defined as visual in nearly all of the state and federal laws. Sure, there are variations of this, but after reading “Internet Crimes Against Children: A Matrix of Federal and Select State Laws,” a report on laws regarding the internet and child exploitation by the U.S. Department of Justice, it seems that this is an area yet to fully be fleshed out legally [2]. There is no precedent set in court for this issue — yet. A case could easily be made by a parent that it constitutes as child pornography and it could be taken through the Court system to level in a push for a new law to cover this issue. Do you really want to be the poster child for underage smut?
Child Sexual Exploitation
Whether or not underage smut is currently seen as child pornography, it could fall under the broader banner of child sexual exploitation. A roleplayers main concern would be the category of solicitation, or the online enticement of children for sexual acts. Throughout my research I found that there is a considerable amount of grey area when it comes to this. What every source I found did say, is that sexual exploitation, and even abuse, is not limited to physical contact. I do not entertain any ideas of myself being a legal expert, but there appears to be enough leeway here for a case against underage smut to be made.
Child Online Protection Act
In 1998, the Child Online Protection Act, or COPA, was passed to protect minors from interacting with pornographic materials through restricting their access to such sites. However, the law quickly got into trouble with the Free Speech Amendment and soon went through the court system where it eventually made its way to the Supreme Court. This law is the closest I was able to find that applied to roleplaying though its views were so extreme that it was turned down and every revival has failed (the last was in 2009).
I believe that the fervor behind this law shows us how part of the public will react if there is ever an issue of consent when roleplaying smut with an underage minor. While COPA may have been far too broad for it to applied legally under the Constitution, a law could be crafted following the already accepted laws surrounding child pornography and child exploitation.
Respecting Your Fellow Roleplayers
This issue does not need to be forced into the legal world though. As roleplayers, we can control the environment in which we choose to roleplay as long as we respect each other. This means, not lying about your age, making sure your partner is okay with what you are roleplaying, and understanding that a roleplayer may not be comfortable with underage smut.
If you have any further information on this topic, please contact me.
Citizen’s Guide to U.S. Federal Law on Child Pornography [x]
Internet Crimes Against Children: A Matrix of Federal and Select State Laws [x]
Understanding Child Sexual Abuse [x]
Wyoming’s Child Sexual Exploitation Laws [x]
Court Says Anti-Smut Law Illegal [x]
Supreme Court debates online smut law [x]
Child Online Protection Act [x]
Oral Arguments in Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union [x, x]
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