Age fabrication


Age fabrication occurs when a person deliberately misrepresents his or her true age. This is usually done with the intention to garner privileges or status that would not otherwise be available to that person. It may be done through the use of oral or written statements or through the altering, doctoring or forging of vital records.
On some occasions, age is increased so as to make cut-offs for minimum legal or employable age in showbusiness or professional sports. Sometimes it is not the people themselves who lower their public age, but others around them such as publicists, parents, and other handlers. Most cases involve taking or adding one or two years to their age. However, in more extreme cases such as with Al Lewis and Charo, a decade has been added or subtracted. Official state documents typically provide the correct date.
Although uncommon in modern Western society, it is still possible for a person not to know their exact date of birth. Such a person may arbitrarily choose a date of birth which after later research is found to be false. This situation should not be considered age fabrication as there is no obvious intent to deceive on the part of the individual.
Subtracting time from one's age is often known in English as "shaving", while adding time to one's age may be referred to as "napping".

Sports

In sports, people may falsify their age to make themselves appear younger thus enabling them to compete in world-level junior events. In gymnastics, diving, and figure skating, competitors may claim to be older in order to bring themselves over the age minimums for senior competition or below an age limit for junior competition. A female pair skater may be aged up while her male partner may be aged down to allow them to compete together. In some cases, they may feel pressure to change their ages. As these fabrications have an effect upon a person's performance, the practice is known as age cheating in the field of sports.
Age fabrication is common in the entertainment industry. Many actresses subtract at least one year from their actual age so that producers and casting directors will be more likely to hire them for roles, or for publicity purposes. Time joked in 1949:

Actors

Many websites and online services ban children under 13-years-old from joining their platforms in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a U.S. federal law which prohibits website operators under U.S. jurisdiction from collecting personal information about children under age 13 without parental consent. To avoid the ban, many children under 13 falsify their age in order to sign-up to use those websites, many with the help of an adult. It is estimated that around 5 million Facebook users are under the age of 13.

In law and politics

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