Hey. Minors following me. Internet safety is key!! NEVER include these in your bio/byf:
Medical diagnoses - this is nobody's business but yours. You don't owe anyone an explanation for why you are the way that you are
Trauma - same reason as above
Triggers - people can use these against you! Don't give people tools to hurt you. No one has to know what tags you block. Just block tags to stay safe!
Age - age is okay for adults to include but is iffy when you're a teen. Predators want this information, don't give people more than they need. Just state that you're a minor, that's all that anyone needs to know.
In general: stay safe. If you're not comfortable with every stranger out there having access to this information, you shouldn't post it on the internet.
Play devil's advocate and ask yourself about what would happen if someone searched for your information with intent to hurt you. You do NOT owe anyone an explanation!
DISCLAIMER:
I NO LONGER DO THIS AND NEVER WILL AGAIN
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When I joined the fandom in June or July of 2020, I used to ship Tommy and Tubbo.
I mainly fell out of the ship due to the lack of content made by the fandom at the time - luckily for me now, but also due to the bad rep of shipping minors that I was exposed to.
THANK FUCK!!!
Anyways, before I reached the DSMP fandom, I was in and out of fandoms where the characters were fictional, except The Phandom (I shipped Dan and Phil but I was like 12 and didn’t everyone tbh), so joining the fandom was majorly different than I was used to. I was in the minecraft fandom before the drop and sadly left because of fear of bullying so a lot had changed since I was a child and I had never really shipped people at that age.
I’m saying this because I dunno, I just wanted to. You probably didn’t care but if you currently ship Tommy and Tubbo then put yourself in their shoes.
You and your best friend play video games in front of thousands of people, you’ve never even thought of them in any other light than platonic, then suddenly you’re being told by people of all ages telling you both that you should be in a relationship and are drawing/writing stuff about you being together. Keep in mind that you don’t know these people. Stranger danger. How would you feel? Creeped out? Uncomfortable? If you think it’s cute or endearing then possibly think about how you feel towards your friend.
Alright, I need to have a chat with the teenagers that follow me, specifically regarding lying about your age and nsfw content. This isn’t directed at anyone, but I think it’s a convo that needs to be had in general.
I was a teenager once. I get it. Everyone lies about their age online. Maybe not to other people, but I’m sure every minor has clicked a ‘yeah, sure, I’m 18+” button at some point in their lives. I’m not here to shame you for that.
What I am here to say is it is vital that teenagers understand the difference between engaging in sexual content independently (ie, entering a fake birthday to access 18+ content), and lying about your age to engage in sexual activities with others online (joining discord servers/using nsfw channels intended for adults only/lying about your age to talk to nsfw content creators/commissioning nsfw art/etc).
Lying about your age to a website so you can look at porn is one thing. It’s an entirely independent experience, where the only consent that really matters is yours. Nobody has any power over you in this situation, and there’s about no chance of legal consequences.
However, lying about your age to other human beings is extremely different. If you’re engaging in nsfw roleplay with a friend about the same age as you, talking about sex with other teenagers, sharing nsfw fics among friends, that’s one thing. But do not lie about your age to engage in sexual activities/discussions. Not only is something that could have actual legal ramifications, and very serious ones depending on what’ going on, but it’s a violation of the other people’s consent. The moment other real people are involved, you need to be respectful of their boundaries & what is and isn’t appropriate for you to be engaging with. If they say no minors, I don’t care if you’re 17.5, you stay out until you are 18 years old.
Examples of situations where it is never okay to lie or mislead anyone about your age online include:
Joining/accessing nsfw channels or servers on discord.
Yes, I know it’s very easy to just click that little red button on discord that lets you access the channel you’re so curious about. It looks just like the one you see on adult websites that you click without thinking.
Don’t do it.
If channels are 18+ then you stay out of them. There are other real life human beings involved who did not give consent to have a minor in an adult orientated space.
Engaging with nsfw creators/content directly
ie, commissioning nsfw artwork, following or talking to nsfw creators who’ve asked for no interactions from minors/flagged their accounts as 18+ only, subscribing to nsfw creators on patron, nsfw roleplay, etc.
Joining/engaging with adult only communities, like Fetlife or cam sites.
Engaging in romantic and/or sexual online relationships
Any time you are talking with one or more other real human beings, particularly any adults, in a sexual context.
I know that adult websites have basically trained teenagers to just say they’re 18 and move on, but it is vital that teenagers understand that it is never okay to lie about your age when directly engaging in any kind of sexual activity. Knowing people’s age is a vital part of consent, and if an adult is found to have been engaging in sexual activity with a minor, they could face life long legal consequences. Not only that, but a basic facet of consent is clear, honest communication. If you are lying to a partner, then you do not have consent. Lying about your age is a huge violation of consent.
That’s not to say you can never mention sex around adults online. There are times and places where you may be asking for advice, or even just making jokes about sex or whatever. That’s all well and good, so long as everyone is on the same page. It’s on adults to make sure that we are behaving appropriately around minors online, and make sure that we’re setting boundaries in those relationships. But it’s on minors to communicate that they are minors, and respect those boundaries that are set.
So, tl;dr,
Lying about your age to access a porn site is fine. Lying about your age to engage in sexual situations/adult-only spaces where other real human beings are involved is not.