/r/writing:"Would it be morally wrong for a character who is of an older mental age to have sexual relations with a teenager?"

Hello, I am currently writing a story focused on reincarnation. My main characters have the ability to be reincarnated with their memories intact as babies and then continue to develop normally (meaning they go from childhood to adolescence and so on).

What happens is that in one of the reincarnations they reach the current time (2000-2023) and one of them mentions that in high school he had many relationships with girls from 16 onwards, since he is technically older mentally (although physically he is still 16 years old) I wouldn't know if this is morally wrong.

I mentioned it to my best friend and she told me that it could be something "creepy", I didn't have a problem at first, as a woman I didn't see anything wrong with it, but now that I think about it again I have my doubts. What do you think?

Look, I may be an 800 year old reincarnating demigod who retains the memories of every life, but I can still go to high school and smash teenage kitty with the best of them.

as a woman

That's right, I'm a WOMAN. What now chuds?

That's just Mushoku Tensei debate brought into r/writing lol

Good, because I hate that Anime for those reasons.

So you hate this anime for those reasons but then write something similar yourself and ask people if it's wrong? I think you have an answer to your question already but for some reason don't want to admit it.

'm 54 years old. Would it wrong of me to have s*x with a 16yo? Heck yeah, it would. What if I could disguise myself so I looked 16? Would it be okay then? Heck no, it wouldn't. Nor would it be okay if I were an 80 of 160 or 250 year old vampire, or a 10,000 year old immortal.

It doesn't matter what you look like. If you're an adult, you don't have s*x with children. That's my morality.

100% it's creepy. We need to stop validating creepy scenarios and trying to justify why someone immortal/OLD can have s*x with a TEENAGER.

Okay but in this made-up fantasy scenario I created myself, can't you agree that there's some nuance to fricking 16 year olds?

If anything vampires would hate being around teens. Except the really perverted ones like the type of wants to write. I feel edward would have much enjoyed the company of an 80 year old who is tired of life and doesn't take life seriously anymore. Sorta like what we do in the shadows

Ok I do want to see a Twilight remake where Edward's a nursing home orderly

you need to have your own thoughts on this fully formulated before you write it so you can reflect these questions in the narrative effectively. no one can tell you what you should think. It isnt even a real situation, so there cannot be a right answer. Your character is also under no obligation to behave morally, and 16yos often dont.

Morality doesn't exist in hypothetical situations. That's why my solution to the trolley problem involves r*pe.

i think the bigger question here is how does retaining past life memories affect a 16yo? If you're 100 and you suddenly become 1 again what does that do to you? If you are 1 with memories of being 100 do you understand them yet? Is a 100yo interested in a 16yo romantically? why? You need to understand your character well enough to understand why he is having these relationships in high school before you can decide if his motivation and thought process in having them is moral.

This sounds like it would require thinking. Unfortunately, I'm an /r/writing user.

IMO this kind of thing really depends on the reader's intended perspective and the purpose of the story. I don't think Twilight is creepy because it's a fantasy for the teenage girl audience. Many romance fantasy scenarios would be messed up if they happened in real life. Now If Twilight were a fantasy for an adult male audience it would read differently.