MESSAGE BOARD TOPIC #19

[Comicality]

As incredible and as enjoyable as these love stories are, it's common for most people to want to have a fairy tale like this take place in their everyday lives. Hell, I know I certainly do! There's love, romance, chance encounters, and truly heartwarming moments that most people long for when it comes to finding that someone special. Then of course...there's the SEX! Which can highlight any love affair or infatuation in these stories, making them all the more satisfying. However, there is a difference between real life and fiction. And that is a responsible need for safety. Yes, in the real world, you can never be too careful. And since art should imitate life and vice versa...the question is...

 

=Do you think that the subject of 'protection' should be brought up in fictitious stories online?=

 

Condoms, knowing your partners history, getting tested for various diseases and infections...basically being 'careful'. Even for teenage boys and supposed virgins. Should this be an issue that we, as writers, should incorporate into the stories we write? Or is fiction just fiction, and should be taken as a magical moment where such precautions aren't neccessary?

 

I'll admit to not making this an issue in my own stories, but for those reading...SHOULD it be? Afterall, there is a certain level of responsibility involved to our readers too.

 

Let me know your thoughts! The board is open!

[Myr]

One reason I always write fantasies or Sci-Fi. It is probably wise to put a disclamior on top reminding people that in the real world, it is wise to use protection.

 

But then, as a young teen, it is often difficult (or embarassing) to come by condoms and proper lube.

 

It is something that people need to be aware of, but putting in the story, especially if it sounds preachy, could really ruin the story.

[Guest FlexCut]

As incredible and as enjoyable as these love stories are, it's common for most people to want to have a fairy tale like this take place in their everyday lives. Hell, I know I certainly do! There's love, romance, chance encounters, and truly heartwarming moments that most people long for when it comes to finding that someone special. Then of course...there's the SEX! Which can highlight any love affair or infatuation in these stories, making them all the more satisfying. However, there is a difference between real life and fiction. And that is a responsible need for safety. Yes, in the real world, you can never be too careful. And since art should imitate life and vice versa...the question is...

 

=Do you think that the subject of 'protection' should be brought up in fictitious stories online?=

 

Condoms, knowing your partners history, getting tested for various diseases and infections...basically being 'careful'. Even for teenage boys and supposed virgins. Should this be an issue that we, as writers, should incorporate into the stories we write? Or is fiction just fiction, and should be taken as a magical moment where such precautions aren't neccessary?

 

I'll admit to not making this an issue in my own stories, but for those reading...SHOULD it be? Afterall, there is a certain level of responsibility involved to our readers too.

 

Let me know your thoughts! The board is open!

Dear Comsie,

 

No I don't think it's necessary to talk about protection. We all know it's required in this day and age.

 

I think it might interfere in the innocence of the story line.

 

It might be ok, if your caracters mentioned it. Like, the reason why they feel they don't need it, is because they are loyal to each other.

 

I personally would rather not read about two boys in love stopping to put on condoms - it would somehow demean the love they feel for each other and kind of say they don't trust each other... if you know what I mean.

 

But I trust your judgment... You are after all The Author (caps intended).

 

Love Lenny

[Guest FlexCut]

Comsie, oops should just have done an add reply not a guote ::blushes::

Lenny

[Gentim]

I would like to think that most of us don't need a warning about "protected sex", AIDS and other STDs. However, it probably wouldn't hurt to write a disclaimer once and copy it to any chapter posted out there. I know that in the Nifty Archives, it is a rare chapter that doesn't have a disclaimer attached.

[gpaulbishop]

Hello All!

 

I just know that I am going to catch some heat for this, but as an editor, I would be doing a grave disservice to those of you who are writers/readers.

 

Okay, point blank, Folks, IT IS A GIVEN, that you are writing/reading a fictional tale. Thus I really think that it is completely ludicrous to stop in the middle of the action to give a blow by blow of proper sexual etiquette and condom usage.

 

Oh and a disclaimer? Common sense applies too here, the truth is, from the comments and e-mails that I receive, that a majority of people who have decided that they desire more substance to their reading diet than what they are currently receiving on Nifty.org, do not desire to have the cookie-cutter sex & protection clause stamped all over the fiction they desire to read. This is why they have migrated to all of these other sites.

 

Realistic, folks, real life is not pretty, nor should fiction be construed as such, however, the caveat is to NOT patronize and insult the reader's intelligence. Yes protection is a real world issue, but in this world, be very careful how you write it in.

 

 

Paul

[Comicality]

In all honesty, is the subject of protection something I worry about? Yeah...sometimes I do. That's the honest truth. I don't add that concern into my stories really, because most of them have been about the kind of virgin experiences and young love that I experienced when I was growing up. Protection has always been an issue that I thought about, but I never put it into the stories I've written. I suppose it's always been the suspension of disbelief that has made it ok to do so. Much like seeing a big shoot out in an action movie where no one has to aim their gun or reload for more bullets.

 

There HAVE been times, however, when I wondered what kind of effect it might have on more impressionable readers. And not just unprotected sex, but underage drinking, or drug use, or suicide. Some of the things I've dealt with in my stories can be seriously misunderstood or misread, and I would never want anyone thinking that the content of the stories advocates any kind of irresponsibility. You know?

 

Should it be added to the stories? I don't think so. I really do have more faith in my readers than that, to know the difference between being safe and taking an unneccesary risk. But I DO think about it, and I would hope that everyone reading out there would think about it too.

 

As always, thank you SO much for the replies! I relly love hearing what you guys have to say about each topic! You give me a totally different perspective, and to those others who are reading, I'm sure they're learning a lot too! Thanks guys!

[Agincourt]

I think it depends on the story and on the time period the story is set in. Also, some stories are so clearly fantasy that the issue of protection would seem fairly absurd in the overall context.

 

Interestingly, Bill W's massive Castaway Hotel confronts this issue pretty much head-on, although he's a little inconsistent with it. At one point, one of the teenagers (high school age) living with the protagonist/father figure (Josh) goes off to Brazil as an exchange student. This teenager already has a reputation of trying to get into the pants of every boy he encounters. In the story, Josh cautions him strongly to use protection. Of course, he gets careless, and on his return, at Josh's insistence, he is tested for STDs. Bingo -- he has genital warts AND chlamydia. In the story, this young character learns some significant lessons from this development that cause him to change his outlook on things.

 

In other stories, the unreality of everything else that's happening makes me think that introducing the idea of condoms would seem bizarre. In countless stories, for example, people who are pretty much complete beginners have anal sex without lube, or supposedly only with precum or spit as lube. This certainly defies my experience. I can relax pretty well nowadays, but lube is still pretty much essential. Someone with little or no anal experience is unlikely to be able to relax that much, and having anal sex without lube would be virtually impossible (and quite uncomfortable). But then it's no more fantastic than the occasional reference to a guy f*cking another guy in missionary position, and then supposedly bending down and taking the f*ckee's cock in his mouth at the same time. Unless it's a Cirque du Soleil contortionist on top, this is physically impossible, but it sounds very sexy in the story. The point is, since (defying all experience) the characters aren't using lube, we're already in the land of fantasy, and introducing condoms while NOT using lube would seem extremely weird.

 

I wouldn't have any objection to weaving in the use of condoms in a story, or to making some kind of story issue out of not using them.

 

A