Using the word p//edophile for fiction will ALWAYS be a red flag for me UNLESS said fiction is SPECIFICALLY about a character BEING one in their fictional world. For anything else I call it “u//nderage.”

Most of my underage ships don’t actually have p//edophilia at all bc the adult character isn’t into children. Just this ONE character who HAPPENS to be underage. My ships don’t usually involve the adult pursuing or liking the underage chara BECAUSE they’re young

Which is the difference—I focus more on character dynamics and development + the underage part is usually a taboo that shows how dependent and broken the characters are, bc no reasonable, stable adult would want a child/teen otherwise

I just find it weird seeing that tag bc it takes away from the fiction and redirects what the actual relationship is for me. It’d be like tagging the ancient m//agus bride as “pe//dophilia” or even a Disney movie like Snow White—it feels off. Even when a character is un//derage—

That doesn’t mean the relationship dynamic necessarily fits the realism and seriousness of the “p//ediphilia” tag