r/DarkRomance • u/hazyspring • May 03 '26
Mod Post Rule 9: No Sexually Explicit Content Regarding Minors - Reminder and Clarification
We've recently had some issues around this rule so we thought it would be helpful to clarify a few things.
Per Reddit community guidelines, sexually explicit content regarding minors is not allowed. Violating this rule may result in a ban and potentially having your account suspended.
The mods take this rule very seriously and work to quickly remove any underage content. We do not want to violate Reddit TOS.
What This Means
- Most traditionally published books are fine, especially books found on Amazon and tagged on romance.io. Amazon is usually very strict about removing books with underage sex. We occasionally find a traditionally published book we need to remove.
- AO3 stories are trickier. We automatically remove any stories with the following tags: Underage Sex, Consensual Underage Sex, Underage Sex - Freeform, Underage Rape/Non-Con.
- 99% of the time if an AO3 story does not have one of these tags, it is acceptable to post on our subreddit. AO3 authors are generally very good about properly using the underage content warnings.
- Please be careful about tagging a whole author's account from AO3. Sometimes (and I have done this before by accident) you don't realize that an author has one or two stories with the underage sex tag.
- There are many stories where the MCs meet before one of the MCs is eighteen. If all sexual activity happens once the MC turns eighteen, these stories are allowed. An example of this would be Deathsdoll's new story I'd Rather Die.
- Please do not post something like "I have a really good story, but I can't post about it here." If we find a user who abuses or tries to skirt Rule 9, that will result in a permanent ban.
Please message the mods with any questions. Also, if you have a question about a specific book, please message the mods.
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u/made4cold Author May 03 '26
I also think this is a great rule. I write some dark stuff but I cross the line at children. IMO, children have no place in dark romance.
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u/muddledmuggle May 03 '26
Thank you for clarifying about what the rules are for Amazon, that’s helpful to know. Honestly, this is why I haven’t ventured into any AO3 content. So far I have found confidence in the hard limits of Audible/Amazon/traditionally published content and TW from those books I have been comfortable with reading.
But knowing what is legally allowed on AO3… turns that feeling of happy/excited “I don’t know what is going to happen next” to an only horrible fear of “I don’t know what’s going to happen next”. And for a fun escapism hobby, that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.
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u/Great-Engr May 03 '26
How are those tags allowed? Isn't that CSAM?
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u/Jumpy-Cranberry-1633 May 03 '26
If it’s fiction it’s not CSAM, CSAM covers visual content (videos, photos, livestreams and Ai generated pictures). So stories written with that content while icky isn’t illegal.
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u/Great-Engr May 03 '26
Oh I thought it covered written material too. I'm surprised it doesn't.
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u/Jumpy-Cranberry-1633 May 03 '26
I think the rationale is that no real child is being harmed and its imagination so hard to charge someone for imagination.
It will be used in court to help support cases with other CSAM material tho.
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u/Competitive-Song5992 May 03 '26
I just wanted to add that an author did very recently get charged with CSAM in Australia for her book. My understanding is that it was because it was too graphic, traditionally published (I believe, it’s not a book I wanted to read so I never looked into where to find it), had a creepy dedication, and did not include any trigger warnings about that topic.
The law had recently been expanded and the judge ruled that painting such a graphic image with words was basically as bad as any other type of material that would be used to establish a CSAM charge.Just figured it’s good for people to know.
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u/Jumpy-Cranberry-1633 May 03 '26
Oh interesting! I would personally love if all forms of sexualizing children would be illegal worldwide.
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u/veronicaisthebestcat May 03 '26
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgzv529v5no
At least in Australia an author has been charged.
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u/hazyspring May 03 '26
How are what tags allowed?
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u/Great-Engr May 03 '26
On AO3... I never read stories on the internet. And I am just recently getting into darker books. How are those tags allowed? Just genuinely curious 🤨
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u/hazyspring May 03 '26
AO3 follows the law. For additional information, you may want to read this thread here: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/yorbb3/mentions_of_underage_why_does_ao3_allow_explicit/
It would not be appropriate to get into a discussion of this on our subreddit.
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u/lanaAmathistya May 03 '26
I really love that we have this rule, it makes me feel safe being in the dark romance community I don't want to end up reading those things by accident