Jail Bait: Difference between revisions

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Sometimes they're [[Younger Than They Look]]. It may be [[Distracted by the Sexy|difficult to realize]] this until it is too late, however. Especially if they claim to be [[Totally Eighteen]].

In [[Real Life]], it is a [[No Sex Allowed|serious crime]] for a legal adult to have sex with a minor who is below the age of consent, usually 16-19 in North America and 14-16 in Europe, but in fiction is almost always 18, since that's the legal age in the [[We All Live in America|US state]] of [[SoCalization|California]], with the notable exceptions of ''[[Law and Order]]'' making it clear the age of consent in New York is 17, and Japan where the federal age of consent is 13,<ref>although almost all localities have local laws making it 16 or 18</ref> although that one does cause some [[Values Dissonance]] when things get exported. The term for a person, or provocative pictures of them, who is under that age but looks either old enough or hot enough for onlookers to forget the difference is "'''Jail Bait'''." The "joke" about this was "15 will get you 20", only it isn't a joke — according to the law, a minor can't give proper consent to sex since a naive and hormonal teenager might not make the most sound decisions and an adult could exploit that, hence the term "statutory rape". Other jurisdictions (particularly those in Europe), however, have a different view of underage sex - if the teenager is reproductively capable of having sex, then they can absolutely have sex with anyone to their liking, hormones be damned. The term "rape" is not used, as "rape" is considered to be against the consent of a person who can consent; instead, the offence of having sex with a child below the age of consent is usually called "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|sexual relationships with a child]]."

In [[Real Life]], it is a [[No Sex Allowed|serious crime]] for a legal adult to have sex with a minor who is below the age of consent, usually 16-19 in North America and 14-16 in Europe, but in fiction is almost always 18, since that's the legal age in the [[We All Live in America|US state]] of [[SoCalization|California]], with the notable exceptions of ''[[Law and Order]]'' making it clear the age of consent in New York is 17, and Japan where the federal age of consent is 13,<ref>although almost all localities have local laws making it 16 or 18</ref> although that one does cause some [[Values Dissonance]] when things get exported. The term for a person, or provocative pictures of them, who is under that age but looks either old enough or hot enough for onlookers to forget the difference is "'''Jail Bait'''." The "joke" about this was "15 will get you 20", only it isn't a joke — according to the law, a minor can't give proper consent to sex since a naive and hormonal teenager might not make the most sound decisions and an adult could exploit that, hence the term "statutory rape". Other jurisdictions (particularly those in Europe), however, have a different view of underage sex - if the teenager is reproductively capable of having sex, then they can absolutely have sex with anyone to their liking, hormones be damned. This also explains the somewhat lower ages of consent, and ages of consent that are over 16 are rarely heard of in the developed world outside of America. The term "rape" is not used, as "rape" is considered to be against the consent of a person who can consent; instead, the offence of having sex with a child below the age of consent is usually called "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|sexual relationships with a child]]."

Now, there's a fine line between Jail Bait and [[Ephebophile|ephebophilia]], and [[Accidental Innuendo|it depends on where it takes place]] (as explained above, some countries have a ''vastly'' more loose perception of teenage-adult sex), where the perpetrator is ''from'' (some countries have "sex tourism" laws) and how old the victim is. Generally, sexual interest in anyone under 13 is considered paedophilia.