As I mentioned yesterday, I’m reading Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey. This post contains minor spoilers for the first part of the book and the world in general.

The book starts when Imriel is twelve, and progresses through the next few years; the post I wrote yesterday occurs on the day of his sixteenth birthday party. In D’Angeline culture (in the Kushiel series), sixteen appears to be the age of consent; until you’re sixteen, you’re not supposed to seriously seek out partners, and until you’re sixteen, the thirteen houses of the Night Court will not allow you to be a patron. There is some reference to the adolescent fumblings that occur before that age, but when Imriel loses his virginity he’s just turned sixteen.

Because it’s internally consistent with the worldbuilding, and because of the time in which the book is set, I think Carey gets away with showing a sixteen-year-old having sex. However, in 2006, which is when the book was released (which means it was probably written in 2004-2005), in the land where Carey lives (she’s American), the age of consent was generally considered to be eighteen. In fact, in the US (and most other places, as far as I know), a twenty-year-old having sex with a sixteen-year-old (for the woman Imriel sleeps with is twenty) is considered statutory rape, even if both parties consent; the law states that anyone under eighteen cannot consent. I’m not particularly upset with the scene for the reasons I listed; at sixteen I too wanted to have sex so it’s relatable.

As a writer of erotica, however, things are a little different. Main characters in erotica cannot be under eighteen. They have to be adults, and for most books to be published (especially on Amazon) they have to be consenting adults. Now, as I noted, Imriel consents to sex with his partner, but he’s still sixteen. The scene is pretty graphic; although not erotica, it skirts the edge. Carey paints a very vivid picture of Imriel’s first time. I’m sure at least one person has used it as masturbatory fodder, which means they masturbated to a scene technically containing a minor (even if, in the culture of the book, Imriel is no longer a minor, he is in most Western cultures of the present day).

I’m not complaining that all of my characters have to be eighteen or older; far from it. I have no desire to write erotica that contains characters under eighteen, unless they are aliens who are of the age of consent on their planet. I guess what I’m saying is: there’s a double-standard. If you’re writing literary fiction, or even literary fantasy (which is what I consider the Kushiel books to be), you can get away with this sort of thing. I do wonder what conversations were had between the editor, publisher, and author regarding this particular scene — or any of the scenes Carey has written where one character is over sixteen but under eighteen.

Even in my non-erotica fiction, I keep my characters who have sex over the age of eighteen (unless, as I said, they’re aliens). Just to be on the safe side. And characters in my non-erotica fiction do have sex — not a ton of it, but there is definitely some. I guess I’ll revisit this post if I ever create a world where sixteen-year-olds are of the age of consent, but I haven’t written one yet.