Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shota? What is it? What does it mean? I know that there is a thread that asks if you like this or not. I'm confused about what it is. There are people who say that it is underage boy with underage boy, underage boy with adult man, and teacher with student.

From the definition that I have found it is most just underage boy with underage boy and underage boy with adult man or even underage boy with adult woman. How does the teacher with student come into this? Isn't that just yaoi/shounen-ai? In the teacher with student there is no underage boy in them unless stated other wise. So the example of say Junjou Romantica as a shota in wrong.

There is nothing said about a certain age gap other then underage and adult. Are the people out there getting things wrong?

"underage = prepubescent"

Definition of shota:
Shotacon (ショタコン, Shotacon?), sometimes shortened to shota (ショタ, shota?), is a Japanese term for a sexual complex where a person is sexually attracted towards a young and/or underage boy. In the Western world, it refers specifically to artwork or manga depicting pre-pubescent or pubescent boys in sexual situations. Shotacon art is often explicit in nature; some common themes include yaoi (homosexual relationships), cross-dressing, and in some cases incest with an older sibling or other family member. The female equivalent to shotacon is lolicon.

Shotacon typically features relationships between young boys and adult women, this related but less common genre is referred to as straight shota. Yaoi shotacon features young boys, but includes men or other young boys. In anime, yaoi shotacon themes are far less common than heterosexual ones. Many prominent series include straight shotacon, notably FLCL and Negima!, these series include scenes where older women press themselves on boys.

That really does help any. There were a few questions that I was wondering about, and they probable wont get answered.

I get the definition but I want to know if people getting the whole teacher x student thong wrong, because I people say that's part of shota. even when there is not underage/prepubescent boy or boys.

But why is it that when I see people talking about shota they always include teacher x student in the meaning of it. It's like they are mixing it up something.

I have seen definitions that say underage boy and underage buy, underage boy and adult man, and teacher and student.

Also with while the term should technically be used only for pre-pubescent and pubescent characters in sexual situations. This would mean boys who have reached puberty and younger. Which in turn would mean that the age of consent wouldn't be a fact.

And yes I understand that something between a college student and a professor would be teacher/student, but it's clearly not shota.

I don't really understand what's so confusing about this, really.

I think we've pretty much spelled out what is and isn't shota in the simplest terms possible.

I think we've answered that question, but you keep asking it, which does get a bit annoying at times and makes it seem as though you don't understand.

Teacher/student is not always shota. It should not be included in the definition except as an example of genre.

The definition is: pre-pubescent, pubescent, or underage characters involved in sexual situations with either characters of the same age or older characters.

What Miss Sushii said is correct. If neither character is "underage" then it is not shota, pure and simple. However, "underage" can be interpreted differently depending on your culture, as I stated in an earlier post.

Yeah, we did answer the "are people getting it wrong" part. We did so by defining the term.

No, age of consent should not be a factor in what is considered shota, but it is used in many definitions despite this. I've stated this before.

If I were to write something where a 14-year-old is involved with someone in, say, their 20s would this be considered shota? Possibly. By 14 a boy could still be going through puberty, but he also might be done, so it isn't clear whether he would fall under the category of 'pubescent' that makes it technically shota. This is why the age of consent is brought into the definition by many, to try and alleviate confusion like this.

Personally I don't consider it shota if both characters are 16 or older (the average age of consent). By then it's fairly certain that a boy would be through puberty. But other people might not think this same way.