[ SECRET POST #4198 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4198 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 28 secrets from Secret Submission Post #601.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[osidiano]

It makes me so sad that you have any concerns or weird feelings over this. I cut my teeth in Digimon fandom back in the day, and aging up characters was so normal that I can't even wrap my brain around this kind of thing needing to be a secret. (heck, NOT aging up characters was normal too! Boss Reo existed! HE WAS A BNF!!)

[(Anonymous)]

I agree, but IMO, aging characters up because you ship something has very different connotations to aging characters up specifically because you want to be able to sexualize them (which is how OP comes across).

[(Anonymous)]

Why? If anything, aging them up to sexualize them solves the entire reason that'd be creepy in the first place.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed. I've always wondered why some people have an issue with this. It's only natural for characters to grow older, even if their canon stories finish. They don't stay children forever, and it's better than writing child porn isn't it?

[(Anonymous)]

From what I've read, people take issue with the idea that someone looked at a (fictional) child and their immediate thought was "I want to sexualize them". They assume the actual aging up part is disingenuous, only done to avoid criticism and that they don't really mean it. I've also heard people make the argument that it's too closely related to the whole "countdown to 18" thing people do with underage celebrities.

[(Anonymous)]

From what I've read, people take issue with the idea that someone looked at a (fictional) child and their immediate thought was "I want to sexualize them".

The way I see it, ageing them up is the complete opposite. You do it so you're NOT sexualizing them as children. I mean, sure, there are definitely people out there who do sexualize fictional kids, but I'm pretty sure the majority are more like "This is a cool character, I want to write stories about them", and some of those stories just happen to include the character as an adult, in adult situations.

[(Anonymous)]

Exactly! If you age them up, then who cares? Characters are more than just their ages. Personalities? Experiences? Relationships? Development? Growth? Does all of that go out the window because the character is a child and must be kept "pure" by keyboard warriors? Must all great characters be pigeonholed to how old they are in canon material? Pssh, fuck that! Boooooring.

It's no great stretch of the imagination that children and teenagers grow up. Period.

[osidiano]

So... is the logic here that it's okay to age up to ship as long as no one in the ship is having sex? I'm not trying to start wank, I just don't understand.

Does the sex have to be shown on page to be considered sexualizing the character? Like, OP says an older Misty as a top would be interesting. So, with your caveat, does that mean there's a different connotation to writing her in a non-smutty BDSM lifestyle fic where the focus is on how she's a full-time dom for her partner? Or is it that aging her up and saying "as an adult she would probably, like the majority of people, be a sexual being, and I wonder how her personality/experiences would influence that" has a different connotation than saying "if there were no Pokemon and this was a space opera/coffee shop/historical AU, what kind of woman would she be?" Is it really that different to age up if you pair it with an ace headcanon, as opposed to any other sexual orientation?

I have so many questions about why this has become a thing that people need to keep secret, instead of a writing challenge to see how well you grasp a character and how believably you can craft a scene.