[heidegger]

Sometimes you have to explain. perhaps it is more likely for me as a fairly high profile member of the AR community. Years ago the AR Archive was spotlighted by Something Awful as some sort of pedophilia haven. I knew there would be possibly thousands of people coming by to gawk and look down on the site and its supporters and probably troll while they were there.

I wrote a message and put it on the front page that basically said that the archive was a site for people who were fascinated by aging or youthening and that far from being a "fringe" interest, and before they decide this is just "sick" that people should think about the legend of the fountain of youth and how many movies and TV shows there have been about it. Virtually every cartoon ever has had a "characters turned into kids" or "aging out of control" episode. I don't remember the rest off the top of my head.

It didn't stop all of the trolls, but a look at the discussion area in Something Awful showed that a significant percentage of people commenting on the Archive were supportive and disagreed with the premise that it was so "awful" or out of the mainstream. I only mention it to point out that if you don't have an answer and it ever comes up, being silent looks like guilt and can affirm the worst someone can think about any fetish.

Frankly, I don't think most people would respond badly if you say that you like stories or movies or comics where people suddenly get older or younger. If you met your significant other in your twenties and you suggested they imagine what it would be like if you both could be temporarily 16 again or 10 years younger or whatever age you liked for a night together - many people would find that idea... exciting and possibly sexy. So unless your thing is having inappropriate activities with kids or old people, indicating an interest in AR/AP isn't as fringe-y as you might think. Obviously my spouse knows about the AR Archive and is fine with it. I couldn't not tell her.