too hungover to remember that perhaps they should run things by an actual lawyer.
That's part of the hilarity! One of the staff members is making legal pronouncements that don't seem to be backed up very well, and there are a couple of other posts that are supposedly *by* their legal counsel. Do they not realize that other lawyers are on the internet?
Connie, in brief, the issue is LJ's policy regarding what kind of material is grounds for suspension, generally of concern to the fanfic community.
They are saying you can depict underage people in sexual situations, Romeo and Juliet is okay, teens talking about sex is okay, but writing smut about underage kids is not.
Several people have pointed out that Juliet was underage.
Several people have pointed out that Juliet was underage
They do know that Juliet's fictional, right? Good lord, are they going to apply the current age of consent/underage rules to all of history?? God help the person writing fiction about historical people.
I see the fuss, now.
oh, crap. My story "Nessuno" specifically says Alexander is 17. Jeez, in Renaissance Italy, he could likely be a dad by then!
Here's the money quote:
This includes...child pornography (photos or videos), or other material -- including drawings and text -- that explicitly depicts minors under the age of 18 (real or not) in a graphic sexual context. Or, in other words: Romeo and Juliet is okay. Teens talking about their experiences with sex is okay. Smut focused on a twelve year old is not okay.
Frankly, the way I read that, I don't see that teens talking about their experience are okay at all, if they're at all frank. And Romeo and Juliet may be fine, but half of freaking
Judy Blume's
oeuvre could be right out.
It also wipes out most of Smallville fandom, half of Harry Potter fandom, some of Buffy fandom...
I want to see their definition of "explicit" and "graphic".
"If you call it a dick that's explicit, please call it a penis. We prefer pee-pee. Throbbing manroot is also acceptable."
Their explanations made vague references to "fluids". Basically it seems to come down to "makes us go ewww."
LJ has made a "clarification" of their previous statements -- [link] and it's not exactly clear.
