Can you write a scene where an underage character is naked? I know that sounds weird, which is why I'm asking. The character in question is thirteen, and the scene is essentially her in a bathhouse with her friend (who is also thirteen). Neither of the characters are sexualized in any way (which would be disgusting), though they do comment on how their bodies are changing (this is one of the major insecurities the main character has, as she's rather small for her age). Other than that, they pretty much just talk about other things while relaxing. I just wanted to know if it's legal to write a scene like this, even if it's clearly not meant to be sexual?
In the U.S., this is legal. Other countries may have their own laws regarding this, but I don't know of any where it is illegal off the top of my head.
As long as the character cannot be linked to a real person, you should be fine. Even if there was a link you would be looking at a civil, not a criminal, lawsuit.
I think that the poster is worried about whether he might be straying into illegal sexual depiction of minors--that is, whether he's anywhere remotely near porn here. I don't think he is remotely near it (not that I have any legal expertise), but I don't quite see the relevance of whether it refers to a real person, or how it would be civil rather than criminal. I don't think he's worried about libel.
Liable is the only relevant topic. Everything else is artistic license. If they are concerned that the description sensationalizes teen sexuality, which it sounds like it doesn't, when in doubt...leave it out.
From what I remember, a lot of coming-of-age type stories will discuss child/young teen characters' bodies when it's applicable, typically from their own perspectives. It's not inherently sexualization. You wouldn't get in trouble.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I had a feeling it wasn't illegal, but I really wanted to make sure before I started. A court case isn't the best way to start a writing career.
You mean libel, not liable. There are a whole lot of countries in the world. The fact that explicit text descriptions of various things may be legal in the US doesn't mean that they're legal everywhere.
Very true, and thank you for the editing help. However, most of us are not writing to a worldwide audience. What's legal in Afghanistan is their problem, not mine.
Oh trust me, what I'm writing will not be legal in Afghanistan. I'm writing out of the USA, just so everyone is clear on that.
Sea of Glass, by Barry Longyear, has a mutual masturbation scene between two teens who are...junior high or high school age? It would be Level 3 here in the workshop. They're in a concentration camp for illegal children, so it's far from the most disturbing moment in the book, but I can't find anything about it being subject to legal action.
If it's within a work of fiction you can pretty much do what you want. And btw, thirteen year old girls think about sex, so why would you draw the line at something every teenager at that age is thinking about? In my WIP I've got three 12 year old girls as protagonists, one (though she doesn't know it yet) will have her first period. I can't wait to write that passage! The second chapter has Rosemarie (12 years of age) talking at ease with a naked woman who's being dressed up for the opera. I handle the scene the way it ought to be, as if it's a natural part of life. Valerie (a French courtesan) teases Rosemarie, "our Rose is starting to blossom"... and it all takes place with Hugo the Tailor, an older gentleman in the room with them. As a writer of fiction you should engage the reader, challenge them, put them on the edge of their seat... not bore them to tears. Take some risks with your writing! “Don’t worry yourself, dear, I’m not the night’s attraction. We’ve all come to see the amazing Claire LeRoux.” Valerie flicked her wrist and took a deep bow. “ If only I could hypnotize the audience like Claire, I’d put all of Paris in a trance and pass through every locked window and door like a phantom. Anyway, who’d recognize me under all this powder?” “Unless someone knows you by that scar, you’re quite safe here.” Hugo said, with an eye on Valerie’s left buttock, and spit the pins into his hand. “What nonsense, to be known by my scar and not for my many accomplishments. Hugo, will you hand me my robe please.” “You’ve grown an inch since my last visit. Our Rose is starting to blossom,” Valerie teased. Rosemarie looked down the front of her blouse. “Nothing much in the way of blossoms just yet. Wouldn’t you know, I’m flat as an ironing board. I do have this though.” She plucked the half-eaten macaroon from her bosom pocket and walked over to the birdcage. “Josephine, look what I brought you. Sing for your supper, pretty bird.” The magpie snatched the offering from her fingertips and dropped it to the bottom of the cage, more interested in the shiny object that glinted at the girl’s midriff. “Oh! You stupid ungrateful bird. ”
This isn't exactly true. In countries like Australia, even cartoon "loli" porn is in a state of kind-of-illegal, and other countries treat cartoon pictures or descriptions of children having sex as "child porn". I'm pretty sure it's 100% fine in the USA, though you'd probably invoke a large amount of controversy for writing and publishing gratuitous child sex scenes. Not that the OP's story is anything like that stuff, of course.
Are you drawing a picture of it? If not, you're good. Young people do get naked from time to time and they'd have a hard job policing each and every time somebody mentioned a thing that happened.
What if you write dystopian sci-fi about people genetically engineered to breed like rabbits, perhaps with some bonobo sprinkled on top, when they’re 10 or even less, and you want to describe the breeding process? What if in the context of this fiction, sex is treated like shaking hands? What if the people remain childlike even when they hit the middle age? Surely, all of you can now picture the idea, does that mean that my question is illegal? What a hopeless issue.
