Sex, Ratings, and Fanfic
I would like to discuss reader/author expectations regarding sex in Twilight fanfiction. I know that different hosting sites have different rating systems and even sites that do use the same ratings, have different allownces for each tier of maturity. But this is how I tend to convert things:
K = G
K+ = PG
T = PG-13
M = R
MA = NC-17
I'm bringing up this subject because of a rather startling (to me) review I saw this morning for one of my "R" rated stories on Twilighted:
So do people just lie about an R rating to get people to read? I can't believe after readers put this much time in that you can't even do a complete sex scene. Nothing vulgar but just interesting.
Not bad before now. I am glad that Jacob finally got a "reward" for his faithfulness instead of the usual loss to Edward.
What first irked was that, according to Twilighted Rating Guidelines, R rated stories cannot contain explicit, graphic sexual activity. And then aside from that, I never once said that the story was rated R for sexuality. It's actually rated R for profanity, some graphic violence, AND some heavily implied sexuality. So why does the reader feel entitled to sex? (I won't even get into her statement about sex being a "reward" for Jacob, grrrrrr.)
I think that part of the confusion stems from the fact that people assume M rated stores can contain explicit sexual activity because over on FFnet authors turn a blind eye to the rule which states that they don't host "MA" stories. So people post MA stories with an M rating, and now everyone assumes M rated stories are supposed to contain explicit sexual content even though they shouldn't. (I'm not trying to judge authors who do that, I'm merely pointing out an effect.) So if you say that R is the equivalent to M on Twilighted, I guess they assume R stories should be stuffed full of lemons as well.
So, authors, I was wondering what do you take into consideration when rating your fic (is it just the presence of sex? or other things to?). And, readers, what do you expect when you see a certain rating on fics? Will you even read a fic that's not rated M (MA) or NC-17? Are a lot of readers only out for the sex?
K = G
K+ = PG
T = PG-13
M = R
MA = NC-17
I'm bringing up this subject because of a rather startling (to me) review I saw this morning for one of my "R" rated stories on Twilighted:
So do people just lie about an R rating to get people to read? I can't believe after readers put this much time in that you can't even do a complete sex scene. Nothing vulgar but just interesting.
Not bad before now. I am glad that Jacob finally got a "reward" for his faithfulness instead of the usual loss to Edward.
What first irked was that, according to Twilighted Rating Guidelines, R rated stories cannot contain explicit, graphic sexual activity. And then aside from that, I never once said that the story was rated R for sexuality. It's actually rated R for profanity, some graphic violence, AND some heavily implied sexuality. So why does the reader feel entitled to sex? (I won't even get into her statement about sex being a "reward" for Jacob, grrrrrr.)
I think that part of the confusion stems from the fact that people assume M rated stores can contain explicit sexual activity because over on FFnet authors turn a blind eye to the rule which states that they don't host "MA" stories. So people post MA stories with an M rating, and now everyone assumes M rated stories are supposed to contain explicit sexual content even though they shouldn't. (I'm not trying to judge authors who do that, I'm merely pointing out an effect.) So if you say that R is the equivalent to M on Twilighted, I guess they assume R stories should be stuffed full of lemons as well.
So, authors, I was wondering what do you take into consideration when rating your fic (is it just the presence of sex? or other things to?). And, readers, what do you expect when you see a certain rating on fics? Will you even read a fic that's not rated M (MA) or NC-17? Are a lot of readers only out for the sex?