Mmm, 'Cesty: Incest and the Adolescent Fantasy

[alixtii]

Consider some texts, all of which count as fannish on my flist (if nowhere else):

• Veronica Mars: A sixteen-year-old girl defies parental authority in many ways including, but not limited to, having sexual relations with three different individuals. (Admittedly this behavior led to her death, but the show consistently portrayed Lilly Kane in a

Comments

[musesfool]

Oddly enough, I was literally *just* having a conversation about this kind of thing in a story I'm writing, in which a 16yo girl is very definitely not freaked out (as she probably would [should?] be in 'the real world') by the idea of having sex with her older brother (who, it should be noted, was likely her primary caregiver growing up), trying to figure out why she wouldn't be freaked, and you're onto something, I think, with the idea that Of course [the girls] are capable of consent--the very nature of the fantastic world in which they exist assures they are capable of anything.

*nods*

Otoh, I'd be interested in what you think of River, as someone of age, and obviously special, but so damaged as to make consent a serious issue for a long, long time.

[alixtii]

I've been thinking of the problematic cases ever since I wrote this post, particularly Simon/River and Peter/Valentine. These are cases, it seems, in which while we do have a protagonist who has many of the signs of being radically autonomous--both River and Val are brilliant geniuses--this autonomy is undercut and the other member of the pairing is placed in a position of authority. River is insane and Simon is her doctor; Peter is just as bright as Val, plus beyond good and evil when she isn't

[phantomas]

much of the best fics make use of the ambiguity to great effect, and one can't quite decide if what one is reading is wonderfully beautiful or tragically horrible.

Had to comment on this, just to say: yes. Those are the stories that makes you go back and read them, the stories that stay with you. The ambiguity is what makes the difference, and the shades-of-grey bridge between fictional fantasies and reality horrors.

[phantomas]

here via metafandom :)

I find your argument very interesting, and it makes a lot of sense to me. I arrived to incest/cross-gen writing&reading mostly because I 'saw' it as a fictional possibility in the relationship that was offered to me on-screen, and a great part of that relationship is exactly what you discussed above: a pre/teen character that doesn't behave as such, that has autonomy in ways other teens don't have. (you said it better, I'm just thinking about it as I type). The road of the teen I have in mind is somewhat different from those you quote, but the main point is the same, I think.

Sorry if I'm not making much sense, as I said, I'm thinking :D
Thanks for sharing this. Hope it's okay if I link it around.

[sailorptah]

"Of course [the girls] are capable of consent--the very nature of the fantastic world in which they exist assures they are capable of anything."

This makes a surprising amount of sense. I don't ship any incest pairings, but the idea of incest in fic has never in itself squicked me. And now I understand why.

Meta Discussion Rec

[pingback_bot]

User alixtii referenced to your post from Meta Discussion Rec saying: [...] This poll is priceless, not only because it relates so directly to the thoughts in my Mmm, 'Cesty: Incest and the Adolescent Fantasyessay, but because it has so many people (including me!) going, "Well, in real life, it'd be bad for a ... [...]