How much profanity is allowed before you add the mature label?

[charlo]

I'm new to Tapas and have just posted a few chapters of my novel, and after looking through the chapters I have uploaded I have just realised how much swearing there is oops. It's mostly tame swear words like "bastard" and "shit" but I don't know if that's okay for general readers or not?

Espcially because the swearing is more of my main dude's characterisation than just plain swearing, it would be annoying to have to mark all of my chapters as mature because of it. Idk, what do you people think?

Magic Tricks | Tapas

[blackorchid]

Posting, bc I am curious, too.

This is something I have been struggling with.

I've been using the PG-13 movie rating mentally, (which allows 1 use of F); and if it sounds like even that isn't enough, then Mature and I put a disclaimer at the beginning to say it's strong language.

[kmlangleyauthor]

I think the general consensus is that you don’t have to mark swearing as mature unless it’s excessive and directed at someone. So if your character says “what the f*ck,” or “this is sh*t” a lot, it’s fine, but as soon as it’s angry and aggressive (and extreme), that’s when it need to get marked as mature

[charlo]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense! Thank you for your reply!

[blackorchid]

What a great answer that is no where in the guidelines.

Characters likes to use F--! as an exclamation. And they use it for emphasis. I think it starts getting subjective.

See, but even a brief explanation, or dare say an example, would do wonders, b/c I've seen this topic brought up so many times and there still doesn't seem to be a solid answer.

But, I digress

[NickRowler]

You might be fine without a mature label but you could mention that there is some mild profanity.

If your profanity gets more sexual, then you should add a mature label.

[Freemints30]

My novel already has a mature tag in its description. And there's alot of swearing anyway and I don't mark those chapters are mature. I only mark mature for actually mature content like violence and sexual content.

If swearing is that offensive to a reader...they really shouldn't be reading in the first place or are too young.

[Bokyongyo]

Think a curse here and there should be fine but if every panel your cursing like a sailor than yeah... lol mark it mature. But an occasional "What the f is that?" should be fine in the grand scheme of things. My character literally tells someone to "F off" in chapter 1 and haven't had an issue from it, at least not yet lmao

[UrMom]

Uuuh honestly I never tag profanity as mature, in my opinion "naughty words" are super tame compared to the themes of my comic, and I'm really only saving those tags for nudity and really upsetting visuals. Like, I'm in the middle of drawing a scene right now where one of my MCs is cussing up a storm, and I don't plan on tagging it. Lol

My mindset is, if cussing of all things is going to be what makes a reader upset, then they shouldn't be reading my comic. I don't know how it is for you though, if your work is PG-13 or under then maybe use the tag for hard profanity, but if it is for an older crowd than I don't see the issue... although I'm not quite sure how it is for novels. I got uncomfortable visuals to take away from the fact that one of my characters has a sailors mouth, but you can't get that distraction with writing.

[thedude3445]

IMO, you are gonna need some Tarantino-level swearing before it deserves a mature rating for the swears alone. I personally don't put profanity labels on my fictions even when I work in an F-bomb about once every 20 chapters, because I don't think it is the level where people would actually be upset about the story.

[rajillustration]

I would say it depends on the cuss--like anything that may be from a racist character or a sexist character that uses particular racist or sexists words (which I would just avoid using anyway since that could arguably get your story taken off the app)--that experience would be pretty triggering for your audience so it would need a mature filter and a CW, at least in my opinion.

But for generic cussing--no, I don't think it needs a mature tag. Like in other countries outside the US, words like shit isn't even considered a swear word, youknow?

[charlo]

Thank you so much everyone, this is some really good advice you've given me!

[joannekwan]

Yep, like raj said, I wouldn't ever tag for general swears. I only mark mature when there's a slur that's used against certain people or groups since those words can be triggering.

[Pony_wearing_a_hat]

As long as it's not a specific slur, or like a situation where say, a woman is called a bitch with serious weight to it, then I just put a swear warning in the description and then its olly olly oxen free.

[Stargazer31]

I either censor profanity with ****, or I replace it with a similar word (what the hel? Frigg off!), which suits my comic. The only "real" swear is crap, which is fairly mild.