books - sexually active main characters

[phydaux]

One of the things that pisses me off when reading books is when the characters don't act the way real people would act.

For example, adults have sex.

If you're an adult, you have sex. If you're an unmarried adult and you are in a "relationship" with another adult, or you are "dating" another adult, they what you're really saying is that you are have sex with that other person.

So adults have sex, and most adults start haveing sex long BEFORE they become an adult.

And that's what leads me to my question:

How old does a main character have to be if that character is going to be sexually active?

In the last Harry Potter, Harry was 17 years old. Ron & Hermione were 18 & 17. Ginny & Luna were 16. In real life, these people would be having sex. A lot.

Now Rowling couldn't have Harry & Company banging each other in her books, because her readership included a lot of kids. But what about non-children's books?

If you have a book that's aimed toward adult readership, but still not an ADULT book if you get my meaning, then how young can the main character be, but still be sexually active? What if the character isn't just sexually active, but is in fact sexually adventurous? And would it make a difference if the book were labeled a "romance novel?"

If you were reading a "regular" novel about a modern 16 year-old boy and that boy were sexually active, say he had 2-3 sexual encounters with 16 year old girls, would that be "out of line?"

What if the character were a 16 year old girl? Is it suddenly exploitative? What if she were a 17 year old girl? And what if she were bi-curious?

What if it were a romance novel and the 17 bi-curious heroine had 2-3 sexual "various" encounters? Is this ok for a “main stream” romance novel, or is this limited just to erotica?