# What is the distinction between mature and adult content?



## _wanderlustee_ (Dec 12, 2017)

Okay, thanks so much for all the replies on my last post (forums.furaffinity.net: Can 13-year-olds view mature content? but someone closed before I could reply. Oh well. 
What I was going to reply: I'll be telling my sister all of things things, and hopefully she'll listen but she might not. With being very mature, she's also very smart and knows how to get away with things easily, and I'm afraid that she'll make an account anyways even if I let our parents know. Are there any other good sites similar to FA that is okay for her that she can use until she's old enough?

Another problem I have is that I thought there would be a clear distinction between mature adult content, so for example something considered mature would be no sexual content, but there would still be non-sexual nudity for artistic reasons, or the character(s) in the artwork would have to have their 'sexual parts' (breasts, genitalia, anus....) completely covered and not doing any sexual activity. "Mature" would be in between general and adult; not general but not totally adult.
Because that was my interpretation of "mature", I thought that was allowed for teens to view (My family considers thirTEEN to be teenage). But oh boy was I wrong about what stuff was to be considered mature. When I actually unchecked the adult button,(I know, I should have done this earlier) some things got removed but I was still seeing lots of stuff that I would totally consider adult content: fetishes and sexual content. So, what is the definition of "mature" on FA? Am I being dumb and ignorant here? Or are others experiencing the same issue?


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## Crimcyan (Dec 12, 2017)

Mature:
ma·ture
məˈCHo͝or,məˈto͝or/
_adjective_

*1*.
fully developed physically; full-grown.
"she was now a mature woman"
synonyms: adult, grown-up, grown, fully grown, full-grown, of age, fully developed, in one's prime, middle-aged
"a mature woman"
I think on FA it's 18+, mature and adult content is pretty much the same, unless they mean adult to be 21+


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (Dec 12, 2017)

Fur Affinity's definitions of General, Mature, and Adult can be found at the top of the Acceptable Upload Policy:  Acceptable Upload Policy -- Fur Affinity [dot] net


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## Uluri (Dec 13, 2017)

Hello Hello,
I'd like to input that with a general FA account, she can still see all SFW/General content. What Mature/Adult content is is usually pretty much the same flat across the board on all art sites. She can still participate in the furry fandom on FA, but her account will be set to SFW/General content only until it is at the correct age. This is basically how ALL art sites, specifically the furry ones, work as far as I know. DA's allows mature content behind a button wall, but is not a furry specific site.

I have my own question out of curiosity, *does FA have a different age restriction for Mature content than they do Adult Content* like DeviantArt has? I know FA's adult Filter is specifically set to 18+, but I don't know if the Mature FIlter is set at a certain age separate from that either. DA's Mature filter also consists of Violence/gore/artistic nudity behind a button that says "Yeah, I'm sure I want to see this", but it is not behind an 18+ lock like its Extreme rated content on DA. (Adult Content Policy does not specify 18+ accounts only, and Mature Content policy also does not specify what age it applies to in any of the Policies. This is info I would like to know and think is very important for others to know, and should probably be specified in your policies.) 

Personal Opinion: Mature content is the field of content that tends to be determined available depending on if their guardian thinks it'd be okay. Example Like how Some families being okay with gorey movies, and other families who don't allow their teens to watch gorey movies. That sort of thing. I do think that if mature content is also set to 18+, that it is not right to be set that high. I think that's incredibly ridiculous minimum age to be able to view or submit gore art. If it has a set, I'd like that to be lower than 18+, like 16+. On another note and speaking as an example, It would absolutely suck to be someone who likes to draw mature (Gore or nudes), but then always have it shoved into a filter you can't access until years later. Especially when I can post the same mature on DA and not lose access to my own content.


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## BahgDaddy (Dec 13, 2017)

Crimcyan said:


> Mature:
> ma·ture
> məˈCHo͝or,məˈto͝or/
> _adjective_
> ...


I don't know about Canada, but in US you just have to be 18 to view any porn, or even to be in a porno.


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## quoting_mungo (Dec 13, 2017)

Uluri said:


> I have my own question out of curiosity, *does FA have a different age restriction for Mature content than they do Adult Content* like DeviantArt has? I know FA's adult Filter is specifically set to 18+, but I don't know if the Mature FIlter is set at a certain age separate from that either. DA's Mature filter also consists of Violence/gore/artistic nudity behind a button that says "Yeah, I'm sure I want to see this", but it is not behind an 18+ lock like its Extreme rated content on DA. (Adult Content Policy does not specify 18+ accounts only, and Mature Content policy also does not specify what age it applies to in any of the Policies. This is info I would like to know and think is very important for others to know, and should probably be specified in your policies.)


It's in TOS; I can't offhand recall which section. You do have to be 18+ to access either Mature or Adult content on FA.



Uluri said:


> On another note and speaking as an example, It would absolutely suck to be someone who likes to draw mature (Gore or nudes), but then always have it shoved into a filter you can't access until years later. Especially when I can post the same mature on DA and not lose access to my own content.


Users under 18 may not submit Mature/Adult content to the site at all.


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## Uluri (Dec 13, 2017)

I hope you don't mind a back and forth like this, Mungo. I apologize for having to take up so much time answering my questions. This is personally an important topic for me.



quoting_mungo said:


> Users under 18 may not submit Mature/Adult content to the site at all.


Then it shouldn't even be a select-able feature when submitting. I remember way back when, when posting gore some folks wondered why they couldn't see their own content. Is that still a thing? However, I still think having Mature content 18+ is unreasonably strict. What is the reasoning behind Mature being so... Locked up, if it's view-able content that is determined more through personal household acceptances anyways? Especially since you guys start all accounts in General mode AND have a sfw button? What 100% prohibits Mature content, specifically, from being viewed from people under 18, because I don't know this? (DA's definitions of Mature are practically the same as yours, so I don't understand the reasoning.)



quoting_mungo said:


> It's in TOS;


Decided to look tos up myself. The TOS first states that Adult Content is not allowed for users under 18. Then says the punishment for finding out you are viewing Adult Content underage is to take away Mature and Adult content. It doesn't initially say anything about Mature content. Mature content is not the same as Adult content as stated in your own Upload Policy, and just as movie ratings differ for Pg13, Mature, R rated, etc. I would call that a bit of a hole in your policies. 

*4. Data Use, User Created Content, and Privacy*
"4.3 Although Fur Affinity can display artistic renditions of adult content, the feature is disabled by default and may only be enabled via your account settings if you are legally allowed to view it in the United States (18 years of age) If we determine that you may not be legally allowed to access this content, we will restrict your access to mature and adult content ..."


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (Dec 13, 2017)

Uluri said:


> Then it shouldn't even be a select-able feature when submitting. I remember way back when, when posting gore some folks wondered why they couldn't see their own content. Is that still a thing? However, I still think having Mature content 18+ is unreasonably strict. What is the reasoning behind Mature being so... Locked up, if it's view-able content that is determined more through personal household acceptances anyways? Especially since you guys start all accounts in General mode AND have a sfw button? What 100% prohibits Mature content, specifically, from being viewed from people under 18, because I don't know this? (DA's definitions of Mature are practically the same as yours, so I don't understand the reasoning.)



This comes down to some of the finer points of US law.  But the long and short of it is that no, we cannot allow Mature material to be displayed to those under 18 years old.  We do want to allow users a bit of fine tuning in their searches and advance warning for what they are clicking on if they are of legal age.  But because Mature content can include things such as casual nudity it cannot be displayed to those below the age of 18.



Uluri said:


> Decided to look tos up myself. The TOS first states that Adult Content is not allowed for users under 18. Then says the punishment for finding out you are viewing Adult Content underage is to take away Mature and Adult content.



This means that staff will lock the account from being able to view both Mature and Adult content, and that lock will not be removed until a user who has been locked has verified (via trouble ticket on the main site) that they are 18 years old, or older.


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## BahgDaddy (Dec 14, 2017)

SSJ3Mewtwo said:


> This comes down to some of the finer points of US law.  But the long and short of it is that no, we cannot allow Mature material to be displayed to those under 18 years old.  We do want to allow users a bit of fine tuning in their searches and advance warning for what they are clicking on if they are of legal age.  But because Mature content can include things such as casual nudity it cannot be displayed to those below the age of 18.
> 
> 
> 
> This means that staff will lock the account from being able to view both Mature and Adult content, and that lock will not be removed until a user who has been locked has verified (via trouble ticket on the main site) that they are 18 years old, or older.



How is e621 getting away with what they do? They don't have filters on anything.

And on another note, I notice a lot of websites with explicit content no longer requiring you to click the "I'm 18" page anymore. Pornhub doesn't even do it. Did something change?


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (Dec 14, 2017)

BahgDaddy said:


> How is e621 getting away with what they do? They don't have filters on anything.
> 
> And on another note, I notice a lot of websites with explicit content no longer requiring you to click the "I'm 18" page anymore. Pornhub doesn't even do it. Did something change?



I have no idea what policies other sites operate on, or what they get away with.  I've never worked on any other sites with a focus on art-creation that had similar maturity concerns.


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## ThunderSnowolf (Jun 28, 2018)

Uluri said:


> I hope you don't mind a back and forth like this, Mungo. I apologize for having to take up so much time answering my questions. This is personally an important topic for me.
> 
> 
> Then it shouldn't even be a select-able feature when submitting. I remember way back when, when posting gore some folks wondered why they couldn't see their own content. Is that still a thing? However, I still think having Mature content 18+ is unreasonably strict. What is the reasoning behind Mature being so... Locked up, if it's view-able content that is determined more through personal household acceptances anyways? Especially since you guys start all accounts in General mode AND have a sfw button? What 100% prohibits Mature content, specifically, from being viewed from people under 18, because I don't know this? (DA's definitions of Mature are practically the same as yours, so I don't understand the reasoning.)
> ...



Yeah, DeviantART lets people under the age of 18 see violence so it's really stupid that FA doesn't, yet allows them to post it, but not see it when it's THEIR art. Though there's a solution, just go to your documents and view the folder you have it written in.



BahgDaddy said:


> How is e621 getting away with what they do? They don't have filters on anything.
> 
> And on another note, I notice a lot of websites with explicit content no longer requiring you to click the "I'm 18" page anymore. Pornhub doesn't even do it. Did something change?



This I definitely agree with; it's especially ironic how FA disallows children from seeing mature content when they can go to e621 and view the same picture there with no filters to block it. But then again, this is a site that allows bestiality and cub porn art sooooo, not much else to expect from them, really.


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## quoting_mungo (Jun 30, 2018)

ThunderSnowolf said:


> it's really stupid that FA doesn't, yet allows them to post it, but not see it when it's THEIR art


Except FA _doesn't_ allow minors to post Mature content, regardless of why it's Mature. People not following rules and slipping under the radar doesn't indicate their behavior is permitted.


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## ThunderSnowolf (Jun 30, 2018)

quoting_mungo said:


> Except FA _doesn't_ allow minors to post Mature content, regardless of why it's Mature. People not following rules and slipping under the radar doesn't indicate their behavior is permitted.


I mean that the website itself allows them to post it. The staff take it down when it's seen. I would explain more if I weren't so sketchy on who's seeing it.


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## SSJ3Mewtwo (Jul 1, 2018)

Closing this due to a 6+ month necro.


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