A PSA on our Sexual Content Rules - Especially handy for new members!

[Diana]

GREETINGS! Ò◇Ó Due to a recent ban or two and our increasing new membership I thought it'd be useful for a refresher course on one of our most important rules!

We are a site that allows full creative freedom to your writing content, but specifically the sexual content is something we have very strict rules for. Iwaku stands out from other roleplay sites in the fact we allow members as young as 13 to register and roleplay here, including the sexual content.

But remember, there are very strict rules to this! Here is the fast and simple version on the WHY and HOW.

Our sexual content rules allow for characters ages 13+.

• We chose 13 so our teenager members can write characters their own age.
• We chose 13 also because this is the post-puberty, going into High School age, where teens start exploring their own sexuality.

As writers it's important that we're able to write stories that reflect real life - and teenagers have sex. I know that's uncomfortable for a lot of adults (especially parents), but teenagers are not children and they DO have sex. We want our Teen Members to be able to explore their stories in a place that cares about their safety and makes sure they're not getting taken advantage of by gross predators. And we want our Adult Members to have the freedom to write stories that reflect real life just as much as fantasy.


We DO NOT allow Teen Members and Adult Members to write sex scenes together.

• This rule is strictly enforced and those caught breaking this rule are immediately banned for life. Teen or Adult.
• Those who are knowingly allowing their friends to break this rule will also be banned. This rule is too important for you to just ignore.

Again, in order for us to allow people the freedom to write the kind of stories they want to explore, we have to make sure it's done in a safe and legal way. For both our Teen members and our Adult Members. Adults or Teens roleplaying outside their age group get banned on the spot. And if we suspect someone is lying about their age to write sexual content with others outside of their age group, we request to see an I.D. If one can't (or won't) be provided, we have to ban that person regardless of whether or not they are actually the correct age. We HAVE to see an I.D. if there are suspicions. (Yes it IS legal for us to request an I.D. Just as it is your right to refuse to show it to us.)


Content on Iwaku is heavily moderated. Staff are trained to spot writing and language that is trying to disguise children characters as "old enough" to meet the bare minimums of our rules.

• We enforce the SPIRIT OF THE RULE not the Technicality. If your character age states they are 13, but you are sexualizing all of their child-like, innocent features, infantilizing them, and otherwise writing a scene that reads as pedophilic - that will get you banned. "But I specifically wrote the character is 13!" Don't care. Banned.
• We do understand that inexperienced writers can make mistakes - again, the staff is very well trained. When we get a report we review a member's entire account worth of content and we make an educated decision.

To help protect our adults even further we have a Verified Age Marker you can request!

• This is optional to anyone who wants to send in their I.D. to prove they are the age their account states. (We don't keep the copy of I.D. once you are verified.)
• It is a good way to feel secure in knowing the member you're roleplaying with did not lie about their age.

Here are a few frequently asked questions and misconceptions about writing sex scenes and Iwaku!

Isn't it illegal to write about teenagers having sex?
It is not illegal. This is a HUGE misconception a lot of roleplay sites keep perpetuating either because of moral values or because most roleplay sites don't wish to go through the trouble it takes to moderate this. It is 100% valid to not be comfortable with teen characters or teen members writing about sex. And it's totally valid not wanting to have to moderate it. But it is still legal as long as you follow respectful precautions. You see this in Books, TV, and Movies. Iwaku feels the extra trouble is worth the price of our writing freedom.

You can READ THIS AMAZING RESOURCE ABOUT WRITTEN SEXUAL CONTENT LAWS to gain more of an insight!

I see someone requesting characters at age 13 for sexual content... do I just ignore it?
No! If the request gives you weird vibes, go ahead and report it. Sometimes people do try to label characters as 13 and then play them younger. Staff will look into ALL reports and make an education decision on whether or not they feel someone is trying to skirt around the spirit of our rules. No one ever gets in trouble for making reports "just in case" and reported people don't get in trouble unless there is actually something to worry about.

Is it okay to mention child abuse in my character's background history?
Yes! If being abused is in your characters back history, we have no problems with the mentions of it. We only advise against writing any flash back scenes, etc, involving it.

Can someone write a pedophilic character as long as they don't write the sex scenes?
This is a complicated question that I don't have a simple answer for. We're not going to have an issue with abusers and villains making an appearance in stories, but we do take issue with the glorification of "child love" and other pro-pedophilic content. We would review a roleplay and the members involved and then make the decision on whether or not this breaks the spirit of our rules.

Can't people just hide and roleplay this stuff in Private Conversations where you can't see it?
Yes. I know someone is probably doing that right now and it pisses me off. Just know we do eventually find out. All it takes is ONE report, and then you and every single person you roleplay this content with, and every single person that knew you roleplay this content will all get banned. And we do retroactively ban people even if this content is years old. If you've ever seen like 20 people banned in one day - that is what happened. Please respect our rules and don't do this.

"If you allow teen characters in sex scenes that means YOU'RE A PEDO AND THIS IS CHILD ENDANGERMENT."
THIS IS FALSE. Teens are not children. Someone into teens would be an ephebophile. And it's very clear by our rules and how seriously we take them that we actually do care about the safety and well being of our teen members, and that we spend a lot of time in research and moderation to make sure it stays safe. YOU do not need to roleplay teens in sex scenes, and you do not need to stay in Iwaku if it makes you uncomfortable. There are plenty of amazing roleplay sites out there that reflect your values!

If you are all about creative freedom and giving people a safe place to write content, then why aren't you allowing people to write sex scenes with children so they won't go out and do it for real?
I'mma be real blunt and honest: Fuck you. I have never seen someone ask this question in good faith who wasn't being shitty and trying to get unbanned. >:[ Where we completely understand the complex issues around mental illnesses like pedophilia, that does not mean we are obligated to make a space for it. This is OUR limit and we expect all members to respect it, just the same way we respect the limits of other roleplay sites.

I heard the FBI raids Iwaku all the time!
That has literally never happened. One time before Iwaku was even born I worked with an undercover police officer who was doing an investigation on someone who was stalking one of my members, as they needed a fake-aged account and didn't want to get banned during their investigation. And one time I talked to an FBI agent because a girl posted on her Iwaku blog that she was going to take a gun to her school to shoot other students and kill herself. Both of these incidents happened well over 10 years ago. We've never been raided or investigated or anything like that. We have, however, sent in logs and information about sexual predators we've banned from this site when we've discovered disturbing content or found out they were trying to lure young members to meet them in person, just in case.

If you have any questions about our content policies I am happy to answer them!​

 

[Inugami]

Very helpful and insightful read.

I absolutely love how seriously this website takes the safety of minors (and worries of adults too)! I remember in the days of Wild West Tumblr where it wasn't uncommon for a minor to write smut with an adult on my dashboard and the community I was in at the time refused to take a stand on it or even acknowledge it. It's nice to have somewhere that I don't have to worry about writing, well, anything at all with anyone who is underage. Or that doesn't take a nuclear stance on outright banning smut altogether.

Out of curiosity, where does Iwaku stand on "shota" and "loli" characters (typically characters that look and often act like children, but are supposedly thousands of years old or whatever)? Are those worth a report if we come across them? I've never been comfortable with them, but they seem fairly common in Roleplaying communities from my experience.

 

[Diana]

Out of curiosity, where does Iwaku stand on "shota" and "loli" characters (typically characters that look and often act like children, but are supposedly thousands of years old or whatever)? Are those worth a report if we come across them?

It's one of those we gotta see and make an educated choice sort of things. Because sometimes people label things as shota/loli but that's not actually what they're writing. And sometimes people use these tropes as way to be sneaky. So just go with your gut and if reads as sketchy, give it a report! Staff will sort it out.

 

[Inugami]

Out of curiosity, where does Iwaku stand on "shota" and "loli" characters (typically characters that look and often act like children, but are supposedly thousands of years old or whatever)? Are those worth a report if we come across them?

It's one of those we gotta see and make an educated choice sort of things. Because sometimes people label things as shota/loli but that's not actually what they're writing. And sometimes people use these tropes as way to be sneaky. So just go with your gut and if reads as sketchy, give it a report! Staff will sort it out.

Yeah, that's what I was referring to. I've seen people legitimately write these characters and also people be "sneaky" as you put it. Okay, thank you for the response. If I find anything that comes across as sketchy or edging on borderline of it, I'll be sure to send a report your folks's way.

 

[Dusk]

I just want to take a moment to praise Iwaku's policies, because I think despite all the extra work it takes, it is very important for teens to have a well-moderated place to explore these themes. As someone who roleplayed sexual content at a young age, telling me no wouldn't have stopped me – I would've just gone somewhere else. I didn't know about Iwaku at that age, however, and instead I roleplayed (occasionally with other teens, mostly with adults) on a website that was an un-moderated hellhole. I wasn't even lying - my age was blatantly on my profile for much of that time. And one of the adults I ended up roleplaying with was creepy as fuck. The thing is, I had no idea how predatory any of his behavior was and the website was based around anime so it was common to see people saying their favourite ships were "underage x 20-to-30-something."

Basically, I think Iwaku is great and it does a lot more for protecting teens than most websites who just tell them not to do that at all.

 

[PavellumPendulum]

I just want to take a moment to praise Iwaku's policies, because I think despite all the extra work it takes, it is very important for teens to have a well-moderated place to explore these themes. As someone who roleplayed sexual content at a young age, telling me no wouldn't have stopped me – I would've just gone somewhere else. I didn't know about Iwaku at that age, however, and instead I roleplayed (occasionally with other teens, mostly with adults) on a website that was an un-moderated hellhole. I wasn't even lying - my age was blatantly on my profile for much of that time. And one of the adults I ended up roleplaying with was creepy as fuck. The thing is, I had no idea how predatory any of his behavior was and the website was based around anime so it was common to see people saying their favourite ships were "underage x 20-to-30-something."

Basically, I think Iwaku is great and it does a lot more for protecting teens than most websites who just tell them not to do that at all.

I absolutely agree. I've been roleplaying since I was 12. Teenagers get curious. It's not like they live in a world separate from ours where everything is squeaky clean and they never get exposed to that kind of stuff. Dusk is absolutely right in that saying 'no' really just tells them to try it again elsewhere.

It was only once I became an adult that I realized how weird it was that my adult roleplaying partners wanted to write smut with me, when I was both inexperienced and didn't understand what kind of dynamic that created between them and I. Opening up those conversations about sex/kink through the medium of roleplay is super inappropriate for minors to be doing with adults. Especially ones that are strangers.

 

[Lady Aura]

Yeah, I glad this actually came up. I was minor when I first started to rp and I had people made me so uncomfortable. Kids these days are bound to rp and explore their sexuality but one thing shouldn't be allow is sick twisted minds who think it's okay for older characters have smut content with younger people. Especially I rper itself was minor once. Looking back I wish someone would've stood up for me and protected me during in roleplay community first time I was 12 or 13 started on Facebook before looks like it is now. I'm in 20s now and tell others if anyone being creepy you come me so they don't go through what I did.

 

[PaulaVonMalotki]

Just as a further going question.. it is ok for me to have a RP with the Blue Members.. just no sexual content in the plays, right?

Or to make it a bit more obvious for me to understand: Gory Horror RP is ok as long the chars don't have sex with each other?

 

[Diana]

Just as a further going question.. it is ok for me to have a RP with the Blue Members.. just no sexual content in the plays, right?

Or to make it a bit more obvious for me to understand: Gory Horror RP is ok as long the chars don't have sex with each other?

Yep! :D Nothing wrong with writing gory horror with teens, or writing in general! Writing with more experienced people is the best way to practice skills after all.