Underage, but not chan
Dec. 14th, 2004 03:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotesseI sometimes read Snape/Harry and Snape/Hermione, and yet I don't count myself as a chan reader, even though my fics of choice don't always age them up. Why? Because I think of chan as something that specifically and erotically considers the young characters as children.
In contrast, most of the stuff that I find I prefer treats them as people, if slightly younger ones. In sex scenes they are not focussed on as child-like, and while legal issues may come up, there is not a feeling that they are being taken advantage of by someone, but rather that they are choosing to have a relationship with someone who just happens to be older.
I don't see these fics as being terribly kinky by necessity, even though they feature young characters, because of the focus of the descriptions, dynamics, and sex scenes. I don't think that they would be appealing to pedophiles, because they do not play to prurient interest in children's bodies. The characters are mature, sexual adults, although they may not have lived for so many years as others.
I mean, I became sexually active at fifteen, and many do so even younger. My chosen parter was three years older than myself, but in my circumstances could easily have been older. I never felt comfortable with other children my own age, and was much happier to discuss literature with my mother's friends at galleries than to go to slumber parties and football games. And I don't think that reading about my early sexual exploits would be arousing in a channish way, because I was physically and emotionally quite mature, and the sex was more like adult sex with younger people than child sex.
True chan, such as Lolita, describes in loving, erotic detail the youth of the bodies, the immaturity of the minds. It dwells on slim, undeveloped girls and high-voiced boys who don't shave yet, and dwells mostly on those aspects. Whereas, something like Jane Eyre, with its eighteen-year-old heroine, is not at all similar, in that she is in no way childish or immature. And yes, I know she's legally of age and thus considered okay, but I can't think of another example. But regarless of my inability to find decent examples, there is a distinction, and an important one, although I should expect that it could sometimes be very difficult to find the line.
Then again, part of this for me is also that Snape is about as far from a father-figure as it's possible to get.
In contrast, most of the stuff that I find I prefer treats them as people, if slightly younger ones. In sex scenes they are not focussed on as child-like, and while legal issues may come up, there is not a feeling that they are being taken advantage of by someone, but rather that they are choosing to have a relationship with someone who just happens to be older.
I don't see these fics as being terribly kinky by necessity, even though they feature young characters, because of the focus of the descriptions, dynamics, and sex scenes. I don't think that they would be appealing to pedophiles, because they do not play to prurient interest in children's bodies. The characters are mature, sexual adults, although they may not have lived for so many years as others.
I mean, I became sexually active at fifteen, and many do so even younger. My chosen parter was three years older than myself, but in my circumstances could easily have been older. I never felt comfortable with other children my own age, and was much happier to discuss literature with my mother's friends at galleries than to go to slumber parties and football games. And I don't think that reading about my early sexual exploits would be arousing in a channish way, because I was physically and emotionally quite mature, and the sex was more like adult sex with younger people than child sex.
True chan, such as Lolita, describes in loving, erotic detail the youth of the bodies, the immaturity of the minds. It dwells on slim, undeveloped girls and high-voiced boys who don't shave yet, and dwells mostly on those aspects. Whereas, something like Jane Eyre, with its eighteen-year-old heroine, is not at all similar, in that she is in no way childish or immature. And yes, I know she's legally of age and thus considered okay, but I can't think of another example. But regarless of my inability to find decent examples, there is a distinction, and an important one, although I should expect that it could sometimes be very difficult to find the line.
Then again, part of this for me is also that Snape is about as far from a father-figure as it's possible to get.