sibling incest poll

[schmerica]

So the other day dsudis and I were talking about incest fic, because ... well, we're both perverts, mostly. Fans' reactions to the topic can be really interesting -- the range from kink to squick to "it's morally wrong and sick" to "not my thing, but whatever" to "normally wrong, but in this one specific case it's okay, because I like it."

I find myself curious. Thus, poll.

[Poll #476743]

Please feel free to comment with any other considerations. (Obviously, if you read my journal, you know I fall into the category that finds incest fic to be pretty interesting under certain conditions, so you might want to keep that under consideration if you're more in the "SICK SICK SICK WRONG" camp.)

Comments

[mosca.livejournal.com]

I said that I do read incest sometimes, because I have before and probably will again, but it's not something I read very often. Pretty much, I'll only read it when it's written by an author I know and trust.

[quincykat.livejournal.com]

Hmm. The only incest fics I've read, and am even interested in reading, are the Faramir/Boromir fics from the Lord of the Rings universe. But I don't have anything against other incest fics.

[sophia-helix.livejournal.com]

Hm. I think the appeal is "grew up together," whether or not there's actual blood relations. Which makes no sense, given that I was totally creeped out that my (four years younger) stepbrother kind of had a crush on me until he was a teenager. *g*

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

When I say "never", I mean "never if there's a warning or paring note that makes it clear it's incest". I've read part of some fics that didn't have such a warning, and click the back button as soon as I see it's an incest fic.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes. That was basically the intent of the question -- whether or not it's something you read on your own, not so much whether you have ever been exposed to it at all.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

It's not that weird, I don't think -- it's another part of what interests us in fiction has nothing to do with real life, yeah?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*nod* Duly noted. I think that's actually a fairly common reaction, actually; it's definitely one of those topics that one is disinclined to read blindly.

[norah.livejournal.com]

I read it, but I don't seek it out, and the rec has to be pretty strong for me to touch it in the first place. I think there have only been a few fics of that nature I've actually enjoyed. My theory is that I can love almost anything (except foodsex and maybe a few other ultra-icks) if it's done really well.

[cereta.livejournal.com]

Answering here instead of the poll: I have a serious personal squick with the first type. I'm adopted, and not related by blood to any of my siblings, and every time I see something like a V.C. Andrews novel or a soap* having a man and woman/boy and girl who thought they were siblings find out they're not and immediately decided they should sleep together (or decide it ever. at all.), I shudder and go "eeewwwwwww." Oddly, incest between blood relatives doesn't bother me per se, but I think that's because there's usually a sense in the story that it's twisty and bad, whereas the stories about siblings who aren't blood related often convey a sense that this is just fine and a perfectly natural response. And dude: so not.

*my personal fav is the one where a guy got involved with a girl he thought was his daughter for the first five years of her life, and his half-sister for the ten or so years after.

[byob-kenobi.livejournal.com]

Incest is one of those black-and-white total squicks for me: I don't care who wrote it, or what the scenario is, I won't read it. I have very few taboos, but that's one of the strongest ones.

Plus, besides all the squickiness, it nullifies the "feeling of discovery" that I love and look for in fanfic. As someone who's been in a committed relationship for years, part of the "thrill" of reading first-times is recapturing that feeling of excitement. Incest pretty much guarantees that the two people already know each other VERY well.

[runpunkrun]

I generally stay away from incest because I don't find it interesting, but I cannot help my unholy love for The Royal Tenenbaums' Ritchie and Margo. I've also been known to read SV AUs where Clark and Lex were raised as brothers and may or may not have grown up together, but those have varying level of success and squick with me.

Wait, maybe I lied about not finding incest interesting. I read my fair share of VC Andrews in high school, also this book, This Body which I *did* find interesting. So maybe it's just incest in fanfic.

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

I'll be honest. I haven't read much of it outside of HP fandom. I don't like Malfoy-cest, but I love me some Fred/George or various Weasley fics. I've even written a couple of twincest fics. But outside of it the HP fandom, I'm not so much about it.

dayse and I were just talking the other day about what gets written in HP and is considered almost mainstream but is considered serious kink in other fandoms. You can go waaaay out there in HP and very few will blink an eye. But in other fandoms, you'll get shot down *fast*.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Incest is one of those black-and-white total squicks for me: I don't care who wrote it, or what the scenario is, I won't read it. I have very few taboos, but that's one of the strongest ones.

*nod* Which is totally fair; a squick is a squick. My own squicks tend be random and inexplicable, but I have much respect of those of others.

Plus, besides all the squickiness, it nullifies the "feeling of discovery" that I love and look for in fanfic. As someone who's been in a committed relationship for years, part of the "thrill" of reading first-times is recapturing that feeling of excitement. Incest pretty much guarantees that the two people already know each other VERY well.

And see, that's really fascinating -- it's not a point I've ever heard before, actually. Though I do wonder how the "blood relations who didn't grow up together" fits into that idea?

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins* Ew, foodsex. (I'm assuming we mean sex involving play with food, not actually having sex with a piece of food. Although the latter would be disturbing, as well.)

[lalejandra.livejournal.com]

Because I am a true perv, I really don't find any incest scenarios to be taboo personally; surely if looking at te piece of society I am involved with/in, I could answer those questions, but as for myself? I don't consider too much taboo.

[speshope.livejournal.com]

It definitely depends on the author, fic and pairing for me. But I can say that for all fic I read.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Yes. Chocolate sauce, strawberries, jam, whipped cream, etc - even if it's just feeding each other (unless it's D/s handfeeding, which I find somehow different) it ICKS me no end.

Sex WITH food, oddly, does not. Zucchini and carrots are natural experimentation items and as long as it's written safely and nobody eats it after, I can cope.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

That's actually one of the things I find most interesting in the results to this poll so far -- while I'm writing this comment, two-thirds of the respondents find "grew up together but not blood related" more taboo than "grew up seperate but blood related". And that's the opposite of how I actually responded. Psychologically, at least, the last is a latter more likely to happen, I think; the taboo isn't a physiological response, after all, but one formed by the relationships. Hm.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Huh, that book *does* look interesting. *makes note*

[norah.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! Your icon. So perfect.

I've read a few of those AUs that were okay, but yeah, not blown away by them. I don't think I've ever read an incest story that just wowed me completely.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Heh. That seems to be the going statement about HP fandom. Well, also that everyone's crazy. But mostly the pervert thing.

I was going to say that it does seem like fandom in general is slowly becoming more open to stuff, but then I realized I really have no basis for saying that. Really, all I know is that my specific circle seems to be all for it, which really doesn't equal the same thing at all. I mean, Dira's story "Wept" got almost no feedback, despite the fact it's a sweet, hot, incredibly well-written story by a popular author, and it's almost certain it's because she used the phrase that "Fraser has an unusual kink" in the summary.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*grins* Fair enough.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Hee. True.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Well, for the "sex with food", I was flashing to BLG's really disturbing stories of the gay porn with the baguettes and salami.

Actually, though, for the vegetable thing -- I can see Fraser with a cucumber, taking the advice of those sites for figuring out the right size dildo to buy.

[obsessivemuch.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to clarify my own position on incest and running into strange preferences and walls. I truly love the fic dependent on the pairing more than anything else (i.e. the taboo issue). There is just something absolutely compelling to me in certain situations. For example, I'll read Violet/Klaus and Simon/River because in their circumstances, they're the only ones that can be depended on (I guess "The Flowers in the Attic" kind of circumstances) and they just become absolutely essential to each other.

And I enjoy Margot/Ritchie because it's dysfunctional yet compelling in its dysfunction. I was a huge Boone/Shannon person to begin with, but I'm less fond now that the stepsibling issue was introduced. I'll still read it because it can be beautifully done, but I'm less inclined to read everything that I come across (possibly because it's not nearly as taboo as it once was). For Veronica Mars, I prefer reading Duncan/Lilly if it's in some larger context, Lilly/Duncan/Veronica/Logan or Lilly/Duncan/Logan yet I don't particularly enjoy just Lilly/Duncan or even Duncan/Veronica. And in HP, the only kind of incest I read is Weasley siblingcest and only in the hands of an author I trust implicitly (so basically one or two authors).

I suppose the one thing that ties them all together is that it's all related to a brother-sister or brother-brother situations whether they're actually related or not. I can't say that I wouldn't ever read mother-son or father-daughter or uncle-child, but it's not a fic relationship I would seek out on my own.