I recently had an idea that is about to be incorporated into a script. The exact contents of it isn't relevant and this is not a promotion, but I want to discuss something that I thought about.

In this idea, a woman of indeterminate age is describing one of her first sexual fantasies. She describes being unaware of exactly what she's feeling, and how she is grappling with new sensations as her body comes alive in a way she's not used to. This is not all that happens in the script, it just sets the stage for what happens later.

Now, there's no set age this happens at. Depending on who you are, depending on your medical history or draw in the genetic lottery, there's surely a span of several years, and in some case maybe even more than a decade. And since it's a story, it could just as well be in an alternate universe where this happens to people as they turn 39½.

But I know most people would place this at a particular age, which very likely is below the age of majority, and probably below the age of consent. (Of course this varies by country.)

Again - this is a person reflecting on her own personal development, a personally significant, intense experience and a strong memory. It's not someone twice the age of majority ogling a young girl, it's not even someone having a fantasy of a younger girl, it's her reaching back into her own memory. And it is because she is describing it willingly to someone who is her age, and who knew her when she was that age.

And her age isn't important as such - it would just be a bit unrealistic for her to be 41 at the time. It's about it being one of the first of that kind of experiences. And it's about having known person at a particular point in her life.

Likely as not, I will describe this in the actual script as a period of time with a clear overlap past the age of majority, just to not end up in trouble, and I will flag it as [age] to reflect how people very likely feel about it. But I personally think that framing that as something being primarily about age fetishism is a bit like a picture I saw on Reddit the other day where someone called a man masturbating "gay incest".

I want to hear from other people: am I alone in not really seeing this as a problematic element? If you wrote or performed something like this, would you be comfortable/uncomfortable refering to it with a period of time where this could have happened which was below the age of majority? Let's say it said "ninth grade" - would it be just fine, or does it rub you the wrong way?