Eeeeeeey! We're getting HUGE influx of new account registrations lately, which is super awesome! 8D I am excited to meet so many fresh faces!
The downside is that I have also had to ban an unusually frequent amount of NONO CONTENT people. >:[ Pedo content. I don't know if we jumped up in search engine ranks or if we got linked in some unsavory cesspool of degenerates, but I figured a detailed PSA was in order to explain our most important policies and
why they exist the way they do.
I do NOT want anyone to get it twisted and think just because we allow such a freedom of content that it means you can write pedo shit.
WHAT IWAKU ALLOWS AND WHY
We are a
story telling roleplay community. That means our main interest is writing stories. In order to be able to write interesting and fun stories, players need the freedom to be able to explore anything their creative mind comes to. Whether you want to focus on cute little slice of life, fantasy adventure, terrifying horror or sexual exploration. Freedom of Expression is one of Iwaku's core values as a community, so our content rules are designed to allow you to write
almost anything.
Here are a few examples of the content we allow and the context of WHY we allow this content.
- Roleplay is fiction. Writing is fiction. None of this is real. What someone writes DOES NOT mean that's what they do, or want to do, or believe in real life.
If someone is roleplaying as an assassin, does that mean they want to go murder people? No, that's silly. If someone is writing a character that is suicidal, does that means the player wants to kill themselves or is glorifying suicide? No! It's just a story. If a character has a background history of being abused, that doesn't mean the player thinks abuse is okay. People playing as Harry Potter characters at Hogwarts banging in the Room of Requirement, absolutely
does not mean that the player wants to bang real actual teenagers.
Do not blur the lines between the writer, the characters, and the story they are telling.
- Our teenage members need a space that is SAFE for them to write and explore creative content in all of it's forms. Even the sexual.
The internet is huge and full of perverts. Because too many take a puritan view on sexual content and treat teenagers like they are underdeveloped innocent children, teenagers often end up lying about their age to access sites they should NOT be on and become exposed to actually dangerous predators. Another core value of Iwaku is respecting teenagers as growing people that need a place that is safe for them to write content around people that are not going to groom or manipulate them. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. Many of our adult members have horror stories about what happened to themselves when they were teens trying to roleplay in spaces that weren't made safe for them.
- Putting an age limit ban on characters creates a situation where players cannot even do simple plot stories.
They become afraid to even mention kids as NPCs. Or be able for characters to even HAVE kids. A player can't write a story about a Single Dad dating and trying to meet new people. A player couldn't write a coming of age story about teens discovering who they are. A player couldn't write about a bunch of kids finding a baby demogorgan and save Hawkins from the Upside Down.
- Many players write young characters to experience a childhood and teenage life that they didn't get a chance to have.
It's sadly a common thing for many people to have suffered in their youth and were unable to have a normal childhood of their own. Through roleplaying, they are able to live out and experience a childhood that is safe or even adventurous. They can play as a teenager and get to go to a normal highschool and do shit that highschoolers do. If they throw some drama and danger into the mix, that's just storytelling to make things fun and interesting. Roleplaying traumatic and terrible situations with young characters is a healthy and safe form of THERAPY for many people who want to be able to work out those terrible things that happened in a way they can control and change through a narrative.
- Our LGBTQIA+ community needs to be able to write about how they wish their childhood and teenage years could've been for coming out.
This is a really huge theme amongst our queer and trans writers, especially for highschool settings. They were forced to stay in the closet or were tormented during their teen years. Being able to explore their sexual identity again through roleplay and getting to have their queer teen experience in a way they wished could've happened is a healing experience.
- A lot of Neurospicy people often mentally mature at a slower rate or have plateaued in a mindspace that society deems as "childish".
This is a very common thing for neurospicies to play younger characters that reflect who they are OR to simply want to roleplay slice of life wholesome situations that feel safe and comforting. Many cannot seem to connect to "adult things" and don't want anything to do with sexual content at all. They just want to play young, innocent characters and have a good time. They need safe spaces themselves to be able to write freely. This doesn't mean they're trying to fetishize children, groom children, or think of young people in any sort of way that is meant to do harm. Believing that as soon as a person hits 18 makes them a "mature adult that should know better" is an ableist mindset that doesn't take mental development disabilities into account.
- Teenagers have sex in real life. Writing stories about teenagers doing things that teenagers actually do does NOT make someone a pedo.
This directly relates to not blurring the lines between the player and the character. Writing stories about teens, including sex involving teens has NOTHING to do with an attraction or fetishization of teens. How are teenagers supposed to be able to read and view content that is about them, to be able to see themselves in a character or a situation, to learn about what is right and wrong and what can affect them as teenagers if adults never wrote stories about them? Roleplaying as teen characters and telling teen stories is a normal thing.
- Roleplaying and writing stories about Age Gaps, even inappropriate ones, DOES NOT mean the player is advocating or glorifying them.
Again, do not blur the lines between the player and characters. It is fiction. It is a real thing that happens. Writers should be able to explore this dynamic, in all of it's form harmful, dangerous, or romantic. The same way we write about murder and gore. People understand this dynamic is BAD in real life, that does not mean it shouldn't be written about in fiction. People writing about students banging their hot professor does not mean a player thinks that is a good thing, and many people like to explore these dynamics because they ARE a bad thing and they want to write out the hows and whys.
- Sexual Kinks like Age Play have nothing to do with fetishizing children: it's a fantasy about being innocent and being taken care of by another. It often has nothing to do with sexualization.
Kinks and BDSM culture explores a lot of complicated themes, and honestly I am not qualified to give a lesson on it!
This video here is actually a really good introduction to what it is, what Caregiver Fantasy is, what it all actually means.
- People with tiny boobs, slender petite bodies and young features are a REAL THING and they deserve to have themselves represented in stories.
Tiny little 4'5" ladies that looked 14 for 20 years raise your hands now. Skinny ass twink dudes that're a grown ass man but still look fifteen, raise up them hands. Trans people that are going through second-puberty whose bodies are not yet developed exist! You're going to tell real people that they're not to allowed to roleplay characters that look like them? They deserve to have themselves represented, to be able to see their physical selves in sexual situations and not to be treated like they are children or that they are pedos.
SHIT THAT IS NOT ALLOWED ON IWAKU
Sexualizing and fetishizing pre-pubescent children.
Period. End. Stop. Fuck you. Do not do it.
Little kids that have not hit puberty are not mentally or physically ready for sexual interactions or adult romance situations. While we do allow the
mention of child abuse in a character's background history WE DO NOT ALLOW THE EXPLICIT WRITING OF CHILDREN IN SEXUAL SITUATIONS NOR THE ROMANTICIZING OR GLORIFICATION OF THESE ACTS. AT ALL. It is a HARD LIMIT. It will not be done here.
That means if I see "Father and sweet child daughter 18+ roleplay" I'mma fucking yeet your ass right out the door.
If I see someone writing a 13 year old character in an age gap roleplay, but they are fetishizing how young and innocent and childish and pure they are, I'mma kick your ass into the stratosphere.
If I catch someone with a 200 year old vampire character that
looks 9 years old and you're writing how glorious their little child body is during some BDSM bondage kink fest I'mma toss your ass into the sea.
If you're feeding Twilight Sparkle an age regression potion and turning them into a baby so you can do bdsm watersports and fuck them, I'mma kick your ass down the parts of hell that you're NOT gonna fuck.
If you're writing about a bunch of kids crawling into a sewer with a creepy as clown and all of a sudden it's a kid sex orgy, fuck you get the hell out of my house Steven King.
I don't want to even hear a PEEP about that "but I love kids so much, I just want to love and protect and fuck them. It's just fiction why is it okay for everything else but not kid fucking?" BECAUSE FUCK YOU, THAT'S WHY. While I am all about that creative freedom, this is my limit. I won't have it here on this site.
These are, of course, just a few examples.
So while we are place that allows members to explore the limits of their creativity: DON'T TRY TO SEXUALIZE LITTLE KIDS.
Iwaku's moderation staff are trained in reading for context and how to look for red flags and things that are pedophilic, grooming, and child coded.
I cannot make that any clearer. <3
I HOPE THAT THIS GIVES NEW MEMBERS INSIGHT ON WHAT SORT OF CONTENT IS ALLOWED IN OUR COMMUNINTY AND EDUCATES SOME OF OUR OLDER MEMBERS IF THEY WEREN'T SURE WHY OUR POLICIES ARE AS FLEXIBLE THE WAY THEY ARE!
Remember that consent is key. If a member does not want to roleplay a certain kind of content because it conflicts with their morals, triggers, or comfort then do not try to convince otherwise. It is THEIR CHOICE and they are allowed to decide what is most comfortable for them.
If you have any further questions, I am more than happy to answer them to the best of my abilities or to clarify scenarios of potential what ifs! It's very important to me as your admin to cultivate a community that is safe for everyone and respects everyone's level of comfort.
