Sam/Dean and RL incest
Jan. 25th, 2015 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kribbanSo recently there was some wank in the Wincest tag over at Tumblr where someone accused Wincest shippers of supporting pedophilia and child abuse. Some of it is understandable; I've seen stories where Sam is as young as thirteen. But most of it seems to boil down to "I personally believe that incest is icky and so you are an icky person for writing it."
A popular argument about kink writing is that you don't have to support something in real life just because you write about it. I think that's true when it comes to porn. But when you write long stories about the world saving, true love of Sam and Dean; I think that's no longer the case. You'd support their love even if they were real people.
People have said before that people who read m/m or f/f and don't support rights or respect for gay or bisexual people are hypocrites. If you read incestuous romance, yet are okay with real life sibling couples being jailed or shamed, does that not make you a hypocrite as well?
One could argue that the difference is that healthy, equal relationships between siblings are incredibly rare and so there's no contradiction in having an incest ship and still condemning real life incest. That still leaves the possibility that there are relationships like that out there, even if they're rare.
I wonder if there are people in fandoms who are, or have been, in consensual relationships with their siblings and who feel uplifted and comforted by reading ship manifestos of fic about siblings?
If the popularity of incest ships (Sam/Dean, Fred/George, Jamie/Cersei) gives them hope and makes them feel safe?
In either case, telling someone they're icky for doing or liking something is wrong.
A popular argument about kink writing is that you don't have to support something in real life just because you write about it. I think that's true when it comes to porn. But when you write long stories about the world saving, true love of Sam and Dean; I think that's no longer the case. You'd support their love even if they were real people.
People have said before that people who read m/m or f/f and don't support rights or respect for gay or bisexual people are hypocrites. If you read incestuous romance, yet are okay with real life sibling couples being jailed or shamed, does that not make you a hypocrite as well?
One could argue that the difference is that healthy, equal relationships between siblings are incredibly rare and so there's no contradiction in having an incest ship and still condemning real life incest. That still leaves the possibility that there are relationships like that out there, even if they're rare.
I wonder if there are people in fandoms who are, or have been, in consensual relationships with their siblings and who feel uplifted and comforted by reading ship manifestos of fic about siblings?
If the popularity of incest ships (Sam/Dean, Fred/George, Jamie/Cersei) gives them hope and makes them feel safe?
In either case, telling someone they're icky for doing or liking something is wrong.
