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retiredteabag rant *
I cannot believe I even have to say this but: you are weird if you “age up” minors in a sexual context. It is equally as weird as simply writing smut about a minor.
None of these characters are real to begin with, and I am aware that they do not exist, still, they are not created to be viewed in a sexual manner.
Stop sexualizing a being created to represent a child.
I cannot fathom seeing a character look, think, and behave like a kid and still feel the need to write porn about them.
There is rarely an instance where someone need justify their rightful actions, so if you do need to come up with loopholes to objectify a child, I would recommend rethinking why you are doing it.
At the end of the day, it is wrong to see a character- in high school, and lust after them.
If you need to “age up” a character to the age of 18 simply to have sex with them without any character development I cannot see how you wouldn’t find that unnerving. This should not be normalized.
To some extent, I do understand an argument that it is not “harming anyone” but I don’t believe this is necessarily true. Normalizing the sexualization of a child is never good.
The saying “just let people enjoy things” often ignores valid criticism and shows defensiveness toward something that, by all accounts, is repulsive. Even when reading fanfiction, as silly as it sounds, we should be thinking critically. Do remember that absorbing criticism about something you enjoy does not magically ruin it. (more in-depth article cited below if you are interested)
And at the end of the day, if the author does not canonize the aging of a minor, then they remain a child.
Don’t be a creep.
Wagner, K. (2019, May 9). Don’t Let People Enjoy Things. The Baffler. https://thebaffler.com/latest/dont-let-people-enjoy-things-wagner