The Jailbait Wait: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The only reason to wait a month for sex is if she's 17 years 11 months old."''|'''Barney Stinson''', ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]''}}

When a [[Lolicon|anparticular type]] [[Shotacon|of adult]] (almost [[Always Male]]) expectantly waits for the day a minor (almost [[Always Female]]) will reach the age of consent and be fair game for sexual conquest. A key component in any good [[Wife Husbandry]] plan. Can become ''very'' [[Squick]]y ''very'' easily. [[Bonus Points]] if a daily countdown is kept of exactly how long someone has to wait before they can legally deflower their target.

In [[Real Life]], [[w:Age of consent|the age of consent varies from place to place]], but in fiction it is almost always 18, partially due to [[SoCalization]]. (For example, the above quote has it wrong; the age of consent is [[How I Met Your Mother|17 in the state of New York]].) NoteIn a few jurisdictions, it may be perfectly lawful for sixteen year olds (and in some, that despitenumber goes down to ''fourteen'') to engage in sexual activity, but completely illegal for them to be depicted in any form of erotica or porn (whether they're underage in real life or not) - or for them to even buy porn.<ref>There has been at least one case in Canada of a 17-year-old taking a naked selfie and then being charged with possession of child porn — the photo of themself. "Legal to do" does not mean "legal to depict".</ref> Despite the age of consent being under 18 in some[[wikipedia:Age of consent|the majority of places worldwide]], youit canis still possible to get arrested for e.g. contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and there are higher minimum ages if one partner is in a position of trust or control over the other (such as a guardian, a coach or a school teacher) or if money changes hands, so 18 - or 21 - might still be a good age to wait for.

** At first he was very definitely just looking for good fights and they had potential, but after Greed Island where he unabashedly got a (speech-bubble-covered) erection after they found him bathing and ogled their butts, he's apparently equal-op. Especially remarakable in that Gon was probably aware of this (and Killua definitely was) when Gon produced a plan to win at [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|extreme dodgeball]] that involved Killua being driven face-first into Hisoka's crotch. (By Gon and a super-sonic dodgeball, so mostly it's just a matter of ''owch,'', but still.). [[Refuge in Audacity|Hisoka cackled about it.]].

* In ''[[My Wife Is a High School Girl]],'', [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Highhigh-schooler]] Asami marries her physics teacher Kyosuke, but Asami's father forces them to sign a contract that forbids them from having sex until Asami graduates high school or else the marriage is null-and-void. Incidentally, most of the [[Unresolved Sexual Tension]] that results is actually on ''Asami''{{'}}s side.

** There's also a bunch of NPC girls Miroku asks out, and no he didn't stop asking an 11 year old. Interestingly, after 4four years they meet again and she tries to ''take him up on the offer'' noting how she's become much more mature in the time. Miroku is notably shocked (he had forgotten) while Kagome mentally notes how awesome girls in this time period are.

** Then about a decade later, it was retconned into being okay when it was revealed that 13 years on Arisia's home planet was [[Really 700 Years Old|over 200 earth years. She still acted like a kid, though . . .

* After ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'', teenage Supergirl [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|started a flirtatious relationship with]] twenty-something [[Anti-Villain]] Captain Boomerang, with no [[Invoked Trope|invocation]] in sight. Then suddenly enforced with a vengeance when, after a [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] storyline had kept her away for a few months, Boomer, Beast Boy and every other Y-chromosome who so much as glanced at her suddenly went out of their way to confirm that [[False Reassurance|they had no intention of actually acting upon their attraction]] [[Implausible Deniability|to this stunningly hot super-babe]]. Must have been a few letters. That or [[Superman|her cousin]] let everyone know she was off limits, and nobody argues with the Man Of Steel.

* An issue of [[Archie Comics]] takes place a couple of centuries in the future, and Archie helps Betty babysit her young cousin. Among the cool devices they have in the future is a mirror that can show what you'd look like at any age. The cousin uses it to show what she will look like when she is sixteen, and Archie quips that he might just put him selfhimself into cryo-freeze to wait until then.

* In ''[[Incorruptible]]'', Max Damage breaks off his relationship with his sidekick Jailbait after his [[Heel Face Turn]], citing this reason.

== Fan FictionWorks ==

* Lord Archive subverts the ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' trope with mentions in his fic ''Be Careful What You Wish For.'', with the third grader aged up considerably, but not enough. She even mentions they have been trying to get pregnant, even though she's only thirteen.

* This is a point in the ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fic ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120102150428/http://archiveofourown.org/works/164669/chapters/239418 People in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear]''. Zuko hurriedly mentions that he'll be sixteen in two months (sixteen being the age of legal majority in the Fire Nation), and the result is both funny and sad.

* Appears in modified form in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4101650/1/bBackward_b_With_bPurpose_b_Part_I_Always_and_Always Backward With Purpose]'', ana [[Peggy Sue]] AUstory in which Harry, Ron, and Ginny travel back in time to prevent the gruesome deaths of their friends and family. Only their minds travel back in time, so that they wake up as 11-year-olds with adult minds. Harry and Ginny are married and the fact that they have the minds of sexually-active married adults but the bodies of prepubescent children is a source of great tension (and is a recurring issue throughout the story).

* Jenny Agutter's nudity in ''[[Walkabout]]'' was effectively a bait-wait bonus when she turned 16 after delayed production.

* In ''[[Waiting]]'', Monty.

* In ''[[The People Vsvs. Larry Flynt]]'', Flynt meets his future wife Althea at one of his clubs, and asks her to pose for ''Hustler''... even though she's 17 at the time.

* Not explicitly stated, but Magneto in ''[[X-Men: First Class]]'', telling Mystique, after shows up naked in his bed "Maybe in a few years", could be taken to mean this. Since we don't know her actual age (plus she ages at half the speed as everyone else), he could either mean [[Ambiguous Syntax|"Whenwhen you're legal" or "Whenwhen I've killed my mother's murderer and dealt with my serious emotional issues"]].

* In ''[[Hard Candy]]'', it was proposed at one point the character Hailey reveals she's really 18. This was rejected by a few (including actress [[EllenElliot Page]], who played the character), as this would greatly diminish the impact of the movie.

* In "''[[Beautiful Girls]]"'', Marty tells Willie to wait 5 years until she's 18. He actually turns her down, but very sweetly...

* The film ''[[Blank Check]]'' has a bit at the end where the thirteen -year-old protagonist asking the woman he has been pursuing for the film when he might see her again. She says to give her a call in ten years (though he argues her down to six). [[Shotacon|Then she kisses him]] (as in, [[Squick|an actual kiss on the lips]]).

** It should also be pointed out that there were cops on the scene (they were rounding up would-be robbers). One of those officers had to have seen that.

'''Sherry:''' For this. [''kisses him''] }}

'''Jeff''': [[Squick|Finally!]] }}

* In ''[[Kick-Ass (film)|Kick-Ass]]'' Todd, Dave's lanky friend, instantly falls for Hit-Girl after seeing her [[In Love with Your Carnage|slaughter several gangsters]], much to Marty's [[Squick|disgust]].

'''Marty:''' I can see how that would be really difficult for you. }}

* In[[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'': [[Played for Laughs]]

'''Charlotte:''' Well, I've waited this long. }}

* ''[[The Blue Lagoon]]'' knockoff ''[[Paradise]]'' features a 17-year-old [[Phoebe Cates]] in her movie debut, spending most of the film naked. They did use a body double for the sex scenes, but it was Phoebe taking that shower.

* The Italian teen sex drama ''[[Melissa P.]]'' stars Spanish actress Maria Valverde, who appears nude and engages in simulated sex for most of the film. She was 18 when it was released in 2005.

* In [[Teresa Edgerton]]'s second ''[[Celydonn]]'' trilogy, Gwenlliant is married to her cousin when she is twelve; he is more than a decade older and would have preferred to wait at least four years before courting her, but her father forced the issue by setting up an [[Arranged Marriage]] for her with a [[Domestic Abuser]]. A long period of [[Innocent Cohabitation]] follows. At one point Gwenlliant spends about a year longer in the Inner Celydonn than has passed in the real Celydonn, which has two unintended side effects: reducing the wait, and of separating them for so long that a [[Wedding Deadline]] is introduced.

* In the ''Talent'' series by [[Anne McCaffrey]], Sasha (who is in his thirties) is patiently waiting for Tirla (who is approximately 12) to grow up., Itand it seems to be mutual. We get this again with Afra and Damia later in the same series. In the case of the former, definitely mutual. They marry on her sixteenth birthday (the minimum legal age to do so in their society), and it's implied that it was Tirla who was pushing to get married so quickly. In the case of the latter, Afra was waiting not for Damia's legal status, but for her to see him as something more than "Good ol' Afra; [[Squick|Mom's best friend.]]"

** Considering''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''. The teenage wolves who imprint on a 2-year-old and a newborn have the longest Jailbait Waits ever - considering Renesmee will be physically 18 in 7 years, Jacob doesn'tmight have ashave bigto ofwait [[Sarcasm Mode|''that'' long]]. There's also the obvious romance between the 100+ year-old vampire Edward dating a problem17-year-old Bella. Apparently Meyer doesn't understand the difference between physical maturity and mental maturity.

* Brutally subverted in ''[[Lolita]]'', when [[Lolicon|Humbert]] plans to impregnate his already underage Lo so that once she gets ''too'' old for him, there'll be another one on the way.

* In ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]],'' Colonel Aureliano Buendia falls in love with Remedios Moscote when she's only about ten or so, but waits to marry her on her father's prompting until she reaches puberty—when, in fact, she's [[Lolicon|still only about fourteen....]]

* In Meg Cabot's 1-800-[[Where RU]] series, teen psychic Jess falls for older bad boy Rob... who turns her down. Of course, he later explains that he turned her down because he had a criminal record and was on probation until he turned 21 {{spoiler|for trespassing in a swimming pool}}. He didn't want to get in further trouble for dating a minor. However , {{spoiler|it is later revealed that Rob was planning to propose to Jess pretty soon after she turned 18. Except she joined a war instead.}}.

* Justified in the ''Morganville Vampire'' series. Shane insists on waiting the few monthes until Claire is legal, but they're no more than a year apart.

* In the ''[[Black Jewels]]'' series, Daemon and Jaenelle meet when he's 1,700 and she's ''12.'' However, circumstances keep them apart until she's 25 and he's ... [[Mayfly-December Romance|still a hell of a lot older]].

* This was a long-running plot in the ''Emily'' books by [[Lucy Maud Montgomery]] (of ''[[Anne of Green Gables]]'' fame). In the first book, ''[[Emily of New Moon]]'', Emily Starr first meets Dean Priest, a distant relative who went to school with her father, when he is 36 and she 12. On that first meeting he explicitly tells her, "I think I'll wait for you," though Emily doesn't understand what he means. In the second book, ''Emily Climbs'', in which Emily is an adolescent, a local man tells Emily that Dean is "just biding his time till ye get old enough for coorting," an idea Emily finds ridiculous with someone old enough to be her father. In the final book, Emily's Quest, they are engaged when Emily is about 20 or so, though she breaks it up when she realizes her feelings for her childhood friend Teddy.

* With the [[May–DecemberMay-December Romance]] pairing of Tom/Rose in the [[Casson Family Series]], this is something of a given, but McKay handles Rose's [[Precocious Crush]] on Tom delicately and Tom's hints of attraction toward her so subtly, causing their relationship to be one of the least [[Squick]]iesty examples of the trope around. Oddly enough though, this implication doesn't appear in many of the fanfics in the Casson Family Series archive at [[Fanfiction.net]], although it would make a good plot point in story. But then again, the trope is employed so subtly most people probably aren't even aware of its existence in the books.

** Like most marriages in the [[A Song of Ice and Fire|ASoIaF]] series, this one was [[Arranged Marriage|arranged]], with Margaery's hand being the price for the Tyrell's continued support of the throne. The rule regarding marriages in this setting is that they can be set aside so long as they haven't been consummated. So it's the Tyrells who are eagerly counting down the years for the Rose's flower to be plucked, as that would cement Margaery's queenship when Tommen comes of age, while Tommen's mother Cersei is so paranoid about the expanding Tyrell power in the royal court that she spends much of the fourth book searching for and manufacturing evidence of Margaery's infidelity so as to dissolve the marriage. As far as the two lovebirds themselves, they actually seem to get along quite well, with Tommen looking up to Margaery like a [[Cool Big Sis]].

** A vast majority of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' marriages among the nobility assume an age of consent of sixteen, give or take, with the early twenties being looked on as [[Christmas Cake]] and hitting puberty being a good baseline in a pinch. Much angst goes into Sansa Stark having her period at thirteen, as that means she can be wedded and bedded by [[Complete Monster|King Joffrey]]. One off-screen [[Arranged Marriage]] involves a landed knight taking control of a minor house by marrying its sole surviving heiress, who happens to be an infant. When he dies in a later battle, there's a bit of [[Gallows Humor]] about how the little lady is the first bride in the Seven Kingdoms to be wed and widowed before she'd been weaned.

== Live -Action TV ==

* lampshadedLampshaded, or possibly subverted, byon ''[[Lee NelsonsNelson's Well Good Show]]'' by a gag about implied sex, or at least the intention, following a local girl's 16th birthday.. "yesterdayYesterday... pedo!! todayToday... LEGEND!!" Lee's cheerful inanity, sentimentality ( especially about "his nan" ), naivety and imperviousness to ''Squick'' when he is committing it, versus his sensitivity when someone else is the culprit, make him the perfect vehicle for this sort of gag

* ExplictlyExplicitly stated in the episode of [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289830/ Steven Spielberg Presents "Taken"] when Dr. Chet Wakeman and Mary Crawford do it the day she turned 18.

* [[Lampshaded]] by [[Bill Maher]] in a ''Real Time'' segment about [[Emma Watson]] when he said: "Wow, she was just a cute little eleven-year-old girl in that first movie, who would have dreamed that eight short years later, she'd turn out to be nineteen?"

* "Pop Star", a parody of [[Nickelback]]'s song "Rockstar,", has a line that says "my listeners will be people in their 'tweens/and old perverts who can't wait 'til I turn 18."

* A concert promoter once asked Lemmy of [[Motorhead]] if he'd sign an autograph for his daughter. Lemmy asked how old the daughter was. Promoter said "three.". Lemmy [[Refuge in Audacity|wrote]]:

*:* Additionally, [[Motorhead]] has a song calledin "Jailbait", Lemmy sings that "you're jail bait and I just can't wait."