PSA to Writers About Lemons

Alright, normally I don't sit around writing journals, but I really feel like this needs to be said and clarified. 

Very recently, I found a fanfiction that I enjoy immensely. It has multiple endings, and several of those endings are what fanfiction writers and readers refer to as "lemons." Basically, that means porn. 

Anyway, the writer of this fanfiction, who I'm not going to state because calling them out on a journal is plain rude, posted one of the lemons as a moderate Mature Content, which is better than nothing, and it didn't get removed. That's cool. However, the next lemon they posted, apparently using the same MC setting, was removed. Now they're simply uploading little bits of text with links to the story elsewhere. 

I don't mean to offend anyone, but there is a legitimate reason why this happened. 

First, watch the video below. It covers another important and related topic, and will help me make my point. 

 

Alright, you watched it, right? 

Well, if you just skipped over it, whatever. The point in the video is that REGARDLESS of the Age of Consent where you live (at least in the US, this may not be true in other countries, but I would tread very lightly on this subject), you should not be roleplaying smut until you are 18. Roleplaying porn is effectively being in porn, in the eyes of the law. I had a friend get in major trouble for this. He was 18, his girlfriend was not, she got caught, blah blah blah. He didn't get labeled as a sex offender, and he is DAMN LUCKY that he didn't. 

So how is that related to fanfiction and the MC tag? 

Guys, if you're writing lemons, you need to be mindful about what exactly you're writing and posting. Lemons are porn. Limes are much more light and don't need to be Mature Content tagged (unless they almost cross into the lemons category, then I'd tread carefully), but lemons are porn.  You should not be viewing porn until you are 18 years of age. It does not matter what medium that porn comes in, whether fanfiction, original fiction, videos, pictures, it literally does not matter. The medium does not change the fact that the content is pornographic, and therefore illegal for people under 18. 

That is why dA took down that particular fanfiction's lemon: it was not properly tagged in accordance with FAQ #220: What is Mature Content? or dA's Terms of Service, which I am 99% sure very few of you actually read. Posting smut alone is already technically a violation of the Terms, however, the lines have been severely blurred with literature, and as a general rule of conduct, lemons can pass through with an 18+ (strict) tag. Plenty of lemons also pass through with only a moderate tag, which makes me cringe. 

Okay, here's the TL;DR: by improperly mature content marking lemons, you are effectively providing pornography to minors. That is >ILLEGAL<. There is nothing stopping you from making an account that will get you through the filter, however, keep in mind that you are endangering the writer AND YOURSELF if ANYONE who has some sort of authority finds out about the minor reading the lemon. dA polices visual and literary art as best as they can to try and prevent this distribution of pornographic material to improper audiences, but not everything gets caught.

Please, guys, think before you post or read a lemon. 

This has been a Public Service Announcement for Writers. Thank you for reading. 

~Crowlita, author of various reader insert fanfictions.