History Main / TotallyEighteen

** In one episode, the sex is consensual acts between two adults who love each other and are both fully mature in every mental, emotional and legal way. It's just that she happen to have a medical condition that make her [[OlderThanTheyLook look like she's ten]]. The detectives consider her chronological, mental and emotional maturity to be an annoying technicality, one that they try to find ways around so they'll be able to lock up her current lover and any lover she may get in the future. Instead of taking the actual person into account, they put all their focus on how grossed out they personally was over imagining anyone being turned on by her. So they basically wanted to follow this adult woman around for the rest of her life to harass her and anyone she might fall in love with, simply because of her looks.

* This is part of the reason why R. P. [=MacMurphy=] in ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is locked in a mental institution; he had sex with an underage girl who he thought was eighteen.

* Spooky from ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'' inverts this trope, and plays it straight. When she's in her real form, she's clearly so clearly underage that even her girlfriend (who seems to be in her late-teens) expresses guilt about being attracted to her. But when she's in her demon-deal body (which seems to be 20ish)anything goes, despite the fact that she's clearly not any more psychologically mature than she is in her true form. Whenever anybody comments how creepy it was for her to actively seduce and have sex with Thugboy, they're referring to the fact she was stealing somebody's boyfriend out of bitchiness, rather than how he was roughly 24 while she seems to be around 16 or 17.

* In the ''SlaveWorld'' kingdom of England, you have to be at least eighteen before you can become a slave or own a slave. The first part is merely mentioned (especially in connection with those few slaves who are exactly eighteen - most are significantly older). Non-noble characters younger than eighteen simply doesn't exist in the story. The rule against underage slaveowners eventually does becomes a plot point, however. A prelude to this is given in the second book. It is mentioned that some teenage nobles are frustrated and annoyed over not being allowed to own slaves yet, and a few sixteen years old nobles fondle the protagonist while she happens to be [[BoundAndGagged helpless]]. Around the same time a young adult noblewoman is scolded for being immature and reckless, not taking proper care of her slaves. In the last few books, a young prince join the cast as the LoveInterest of an enslaved journalist. He is sixteen, she is in her thirties, but because of the social power dynamic he's the one with all the power. The queen eventually punish him for covertly taking a slave before he's old enough... by sending him off to France... Where sixteen years old nobles are allowed to own slaves... [[{{Unishment}} And yes, he gets to bring the former journalist with him.]]

* This is part of the reason why R. P. [=MacMurphy=] in ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is locked in a mental institution; he had sex with an underage girl who he thought was eighteen.

** ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''TheLittleMermaid'' also take pains to mention the princess' ages, though in those movies they're eighteen and sixteen respectively.

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* In ''CherryComics'', Cherry has always 'just turned 18'.

* In ''SlaveMaker'', all slaves are at least 18 years old. The main author (who function as a moderator, since the game is developed wiki-style) has a strict policy about this: The characters must be labeled as at least 18, and all drawings of them must be realistically at least 18.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* ''GhastlysGhastlyComic'' does this a few times. [[http://www.ghastlycomic.com/d/20031221.html Here, for instance]]. Also, one of the main characters "Chibi Sue" is a 36 year old woman who just happens to look like a six year old

[[/folder]]

This can be used to add a sexual subtext to an otherwise non-sexual situation, since works with sexual content often use this trope as a disclaimer.

In some cases, but far from always, this trope comes across as a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial of one kind or another. The trope is sometimes connected to tropes such as JailBait and JailbaitWait for the character, or tropes such as MoralGuardians and GettingCrapPastTheRadar for the work itself.

Note that in many countries and states, the age of consent for ''having'' sex is fifteen or sixteen while the age when it becomes legal to be ''portrayed'' as having sex is eighteen. Regardless of laws, many individuals draw a very sharp moral line at eighteen for all things sexual. Also note that while often directly or indirectly sexualized, the trope does not need to have any sexual context or subtext - the driving plot point can also be issues such as the right to vote or to get your driver's license.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

* Passionately averted in ''Comicbook/{{Lucifer}}'', with the female protagonist Elaine. At the beginning of the story she is twelve years old, and as she grow up her age is never mentioned again. She gradually and seamlessly transitions from childhood to becoming a TimeAbyss.
* In one issue of ''[[http://matsjonssonbloggen.blogspot.com/ Mats Jonsson]]'', the protagonist is having a relationshiop with a girl who pretend to be 21. When it's revealed that she's studying at high school rather than the university, she change it to nineteen. When she later confess that she's actually sixteen and beg for forgiveness for her dishonesty, he break all contact with her and spend the rest of the episide angsting over having been with someone so young. The story takes place in Sweden, where the age of consent is fifteen - so his angst is purely emotional, without any JailBait issues.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* It is explicitly mentioned in ''SuckerPunch'' in regards to Baby Doll. She's 20 according to the script.

* ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' could arguably be seen as a non-sexual variation--Rapunzel looks maybe fourteen, but her eighteenth birthday is a plot point, presumably to avoid the issue of her finding her true love as a teenager.
** ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''TheLittleMermaid'' also take pains to mention the princess' ages, though in those movies they're eighteen and sixteen respectively.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* ''LawAndOrderSVU'' sometimes treats the fact that a certain character is over 18 as an annoying technicality that make it harder to arrest people for having sex with them.
** In one episode, the sex is consensual acts between two adults who love each other and are both fully mature in every mental, emotional and legal way. It's just that she happen to have a medical condition that make her [[OlderThanTheyLook look like she's ten]]. The detectives consider her chronological, mental and emotional maturity to be an annoying technicality, one that they try to find ways around so they'll be able to lock up her current lover and any lover she may get in the future. Instead of taking the actual person into account, they put all their focus on how grossed out they personally was over imagining anyone being turned on by her. So they basically wanted to follow this adult woman around for the rest of her life to harass her and anyone she might fall in love with, simply because of her looks.
** In another episode, a girl is raped at gunpoint. She looks very young, and throughout the episode she is is consistently portrayed as a teenager who is not yet fully adult - neither intellectually nor emotionally. This is not held against her, instead it simply underscores how vulnerable she is. However, she happens to be 19, so the prosecution must prove that she didn't consent. And of course, the defense has BlatantLies about the gun as one of their top priorities.

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Those who have very recently turned eighteen (or their country, state, or province's age of majority) will often be very eager to point it out as well as take advantage of the new privileges and rights they have. It's justified because since their becoming of the age of majority, people around them will most likely see them as "just a kid" and they therefore have to do some work to actually remake their images into those of adults.

* ''{{Tangled}}'' could arguably be seen as a non-sexual variation--Rapunzel looks maybe fourteen, but her eighteenth birthday is a plot point, presumably to avoid the issue of her finding her true love as a teenager.
** ''{{Aladdin}}'' and ''TheLittleMermaid'' also take pains to mention the princess' ages, though in those movies they're eighteen and sixteen respectively.

** In one episode the sex is consensual and the woman loves her boyfriend. It's just that she happen to have a medical condition that make her [[OlderThanTheyLook look like she's ten]]. The detectives consider her chronological, mental and emotional maturity to be a technicality. Instead, they put all their focus on how grossed out they personally was over imagining anyone being turned on by her. So they basically wanted to follow this adult woman around for the rest of her life to harass her and anyone she might fall in love with, simply because of her looks.

** In one episode the sex is consensual and the woman loves her boyfriend. It's just that she happen to have a medical condition that make her [[OlderThanTheyLook look like lolicon]]. The detectives consider her chronological, mental and emotional maturity to be a technicality.
*** This is partly because, regardless of her chronological age, her boyfriend is getting turned on by someone ''[[{{Squick}} who looks ten years old]]''.

* It is explicitly mentioned in ''SuckerPunch'' in regards to Baby Doll. [[UnfortunateImplications Perhaps to alleviate concern regarding those who find her wide eyed, childish features attractive]].

* In one issue of ''[[http://matsjonssonbloggen.blogspot.com/ Mats Jonsson]]'', the protagonist is having a relationshiop with a girl who pretend to be 21. When it's revealed that she's studying at high school rather than the university, she change it to nineteen. When she later confess that she's actually sixteen and beg for forgiveness for her dishonesty, he break all contact with her and spend the rest of the episide angsting over having been with someone so young. The story takes place in a country where the age of consent is fifteen - so his angst is purely emotional, without any JailBait issues.

* ItsAWonderfulLife, of all places. When Mary tells George she is 18, the implications weigh heavily on him.

** Some complaints about this achievement made it into the newspapers - some female player who felt like it was sexual harassment - other achievements about putting hats or whatever on other characters was not a problem, but the "level 18" requirement made this one sexualized in her eyes.

* This is part of the reason why R. P. [=MacMurphy=] in ''OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is locked in a mental institution; he had sex with an underage girl whom he thought was eighteen.

* ''LawAndOrderSVU'' sometimes treat the fact that a certain character is over 18 as an annoying technicality that make it harder to arrest people for having sex with them.
** In one episode the sex is consensual and the woman loves her boyfriend. It's just that she happen to have a medical condition that make her [[OlderThanTheyLook look like lolicon]]. The detectives [[WhatTheHellHero consider her chronological, mental and emotional maturity to be a technicality]].

* ''[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitlejwkipb9v Ghastly's Ghastly Comic]]'' does this a few times. [[http://www.ghastlycomic.com/d/20031221.html Here, for instance]]. Also, one of the main characters "Chibi Sue" is a 36 year old woman who just happens to look like a six year old

* Passionately averted in ''{{Lucifer}}'', with the female protagonist Elaine. At the beginning of the story she is twelve years old, and as she grow up her age is never mentioned again. She gradually and seamlessly transitions from childhood to becoming a TimeAbyss.

Compare OlderThanTheyLook and ReallySevenHundredYearsOld as well as YoungerThanTheyLook and ReallySeventeenYearsOld.