Webtoon says my story would be 16+ because it has uncensored swearing and some sensitive issues

[JoshRaed]

There is a literal PG kids movie with a panic attack, a character who's backstory involves his caretakers trying to drown him to death, and there are two swear words and more implied swear words. But if you put that stuff in a webtoon it will be called 16+.

If children can handle a show centering a teenage boy who had his face burned off by his dad, early teens can handle a comic centering a character who's dad is a bigot. Webtoon's standards are ridiculous honestly. And middle schoolers already know what swearing is.

[kyupol]

This is why webtoons isnt my main site. Tapas is way better

[Rowan_Lane]

Uh, not to be a debby downer, but if you want your book to be friendly to young audiences you have to choose what you include carefully. webtoon forbids excessive swearing in normal books not because kids haven't heard it, because parents won't approve of books for their kids that are vulgar.

If you want to do an in-depth exploration of bigotry and use lots of curse words you might as well write a mature story.

[BoomerZ]

Here is a serious question, what do you lose by having a young adult rating? My comics is young adult rated, and I agree with the rating. "Series may contain moderate violence, profanity, sexual themes, mild nudity, and consumption of alcohol or drugs. May contain themes of self-harm, bullying, and abuse." this is a pretty good description of their baseline in my comics. And according to their rating, all ages can access young adult, teen and all ages, so this changes nothing for your viewership. Mature is the only rating that will change how people can access your work. So it's just a helpful rating for a reader (we can debate if it helps anything, that is another argument.)

PS. only thing I find annoying is no nudity, even partial, is allowed anyway so why have it as a category.

[Calculus_Homework]

It would really depend upon the display of bigotry. That, compounded with swear words (even if little to none and are of the mild variety), it would definitely equate to being a story targeted for teens rather than children.

Bigotry can be shown in a simple way through a character's passive/active discrimination of another character, and that can be "appropriate" for children. But if you're aiming to display it with nuance and complexity, as well as express more active and direct abuse (verbally or otherwise), then it's probably for the best that the story be deemed for teens.

@lanerowan2000 and @BoomerZ make good points.

[JoshRaed]

Nothing, but the story I'm making, if adapted into a film, would be a light PG-13. So the 16+ designation seems wrong. But I don't really get anything out of it.

The nastiest word used is the f-slur, which is also used in heartstopper, a show designated 13 and up.

[Calculus_Homework]

Film ratings and book ratings are very different. They are both weighted by different criteria, and do not share the same system of rating application. Books (and comics) tend to have more ratings to be applied. Films aren't given ratings like 14+ or Mo+, as it is deliberated on a different system (G, PG, PG13, R, X...)

This article has some info on films vs book rating criteria, and shares some opinions on that:

No, Books Should Not Have Content Ratings Like Movies

[NickRowler]

I feel like my story is 13+ but it got the 16+ rating.

I heard that as long as you don't get a M rating, you will be fine. Part of having the higher rating could just be cultural differences. But when I was a 13, I was reading 16+ manga, so if teens want to read the stuff, they will.

[joannekwan]

I got the M rating for Warily Ever After after doing the little placement survey. It's got the same amount of graphic violence as Naruto

But really I barely put any stock into WT and use it only as a mirror.

[kyupol]

Can't also use hammer and sickle or swastikas in webtoons so... the way around it is...

Or just use the red star...

[Leyelle]

Honestly, kids can handle these topics, but they are still sensitive issues that could traumatize people. (I mean, trying to drown people, child abuse, etc.) Now, Tapas only absolutely REQUIRES you to mark sexual content, mature, but you can mark these other topics for people who might be sensitive to them too. (I messaged them since my novel "Damsel in the Red Dress" has a lot of mental health related subjects, like overdose, neglect (which is classified as a form of child abuse) and such. It's really for the sake of your readers. You never know what could trigger some negative experiences someone has had.

[GothickangelStudios]

I just have alt speech bubbles for my censored pages. Tapas gets the censored stuff too besides Webtoons. Even some context is changed within the meaning of them. However I do it like a dub in a way so that the censored version still makes sense.