Discussion Main / TheJailbaitWait

I had a few issue with the description of the Jail Bait Wait as applied to non-Americans and Non-American media. It's not clear to me that in real life the majority of people in other countries (other then America) where 16 and 17 yo's are above the age of consent (the majority of other countries) view 18 as the ethically appropriate age to wait till for sex/relationships involving a teen & adult (say due to a perceived gray area). It is also not clear that in general non-American media, especially in Europe, depicts 18 as the cutoff age (for moral gray area reason) even though the AOC is 16 (or under) where they are. Yes, this is common in American media and among attitudes of real-life American but I'm not so sure it applies in Europe or Asia in the same way. I think where "The jail bait wait" comes up, 16 is more commonly cutoff. Yes, there may in deed be a significant portion of Europeans or Asian who treat 18 as the "wait age" for personal ethical concerns irregardless of 16 being the actual AOC but I'm not sure its an obvious majority as it is in America. As for the "We say 'most' sentence..." it did not logically jive with the previous sentence IMO. The majority of those that reject the "one should wait till 18 even where the AOC is lower then 18" view do so mostly becuase they feel that claims of certain or likely harm involving adults having sex/relationships with 16/17 yo's is scientifically unproven currently and a "the better safe then sorry" rule is not logically justified in this case (18 being too arbitrary a cutoff in those supposed moral grey area cases). The fact that this "moral gray area sex" is legal and thus you won't face jail time is true but I was unclear how it was relevant to the ethical concerns some or most people (depending on the country/culture) have about such sex/relationships. We say most becuase not everyone shares the "moral gray area sex" ethical concern on debatable scientific/logic grounds in countries/states where the AOC is under 16 (or under) not simply becuase "you won't go to jail" as if the legality alone of it decides the ethics (lawmakers do get it wrong from time to time when criminalizing or failing to do so).

Zero Context Examples commented out:

The following four examples don't say who the two characters involved are or anything about their respective ages, which are a required part of the trope. The last three examples also don't say what happened.

• From SHUFFLE!, "Would you go out with me in about 5 years?"
• Robert A. Heinlein:
  • The Door into Summer uses cryogenic suspension to skip the wait.
  • Time for the Stars uses relativity to accomplish both this and dilute enough genes to avoid incest charges.
• A consistent Ticking Clock^note that's never going to go off in Unreality.

The following example doesn't say who the older character is and violates Weblinks Are Not Examples.

• Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: "Well, I have sort of a boss's daughter fetish, but little Marcy won't be legal for another 7 3/4 years."

The following example doesn't say what the main characters did.

• Done by the main characters in The Time Traveler's Wife. The female lead is a bit impatient about it, but the time traveler wants to avoid any Squick.

The following example says "Lobo starts one of these" but doesn't say what he did and doesn't say who the younger character is.

• In the Lobo - The Authority Jingle Hell crossover, Lobo starts one of these. For a toddler.

Edited by Arivne

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Zap the real life section., started by Ultimatum on May 25th 2011 at 7:38:54 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Needs Help, started by DragonQuestZ on Apr 13th 2012 at 3:23:02 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Misused, started by SeptimusHeap on Aug 14th 2017 at 6:50:39 PM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Cut, because this needs more proof than "Word of God said so" (the only "sources" I could find were other wikis):

• Word of God is that Beetlejuice in the Animated Series is effectively waiting for the 12-year-old Lydia - carefully toned down enough for kids to watch his borderline Stalker with a Crush activities, of course. Granted, he's dead, so time isn't exactly an issue for him.

The following Zero Context Examples have been commented out on the page and copied to here. Please don't uncomment them or add them back to the page unless you add add enough information to show how they fit the trope (or in the first example, the work name).

Comic Books

• This is subverted in a comic, which unfortunately has its title lost. The hero has a crush on a girl who is younger then him, agrees to a jailbait wait...and, when they meet again after she's 18...she's found someone, and plans to get married. He, however, waited for her.

Film

• In Waiting, Monty.
• Big ended with this possibility being mentioned.

Live Action TV

• This describes part of the relationship between Jude and Tommy in Instant Star. Kind of ick.
• There was a guy like this in the The Mentalist episode "Red Tide".

Video Games

• Referenced in two off-hand jokes in Final Fantasy VI, both involving Edgar.

The following examples that violate Weblinks Are Not Examples have been commented out and copied here. Please don't uncomment them or add them back to the page unless you add add enough information to show how they fit the trope.

Live Action TV

• Done with a musical number in Mongrels.

Webcomics

• Ghastly's Ghastly Comic omages us with a particularly disturbing version of this trope here.

Edited by Arivne

Stupid question: if you have a relationship where the two people involved are citizens of countries with different ages of consent, like say France and Brazil◊, which country's juristdiction takes precedence?

Probably should get working on that essay now... Hide / Show Replies

The How I Met Your Mother example is actually a very good one since it points out the difference between legal boundaries and social ones: a thirty year old man sleeping with an eighteen year old is often seen as more acceptable than a seventeen year old partner would be. At least in the U.S.

Wanted to put this under real life example but there is none on the Main Page. My friend, who is a girl, has a chart for when she'll be of legal age because she's been dating her boyfriend for two years. And the chart marks every month for another (well, now it's a year) until she'll be sixteen and can legally have sex with her boyfriend.

Is there a related trope about waiting for, say, a patent to expire?

Hide / Show Replies

Should also mention my larger edit. I cut out quite a bit of irrelevant info about specific age of consent laws both from the description and the examples and turned it into one statement at the top that in fiction it's always eighteen. It was pretty repetitive and largely off-topic.

Support stupid freshness, yo.

Cut:

• Sort of happens in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button.
  • Um, Benjamin Button is - mentally, psychologically, spiritually, whatever - a child, so Benjamin and Daisy are definitely childhood sweethearts. This is more of an example of Victorious Childhood Friend.

Support stupid freshness, yo.