Interested to know how you (as someone who's been in fandom for a while) feel about the quality of fiction writing, as a trend? Do you think it's something that changes over time as technology makes it increasingly available to a wider range of age-groups/backgrounds? Or does it depend on the particular fandom it's associated with?
SPN is my first fandom, but I know it's not your first, so just curious :)
Actually, speaking as a psychologist, from what I know from research and personal experience with patients, consensual incest between late adolescent or adult siblings is not uncommon and rarely causes the profound trauma of parent child incest. It is, of course, unwise for siblings to have children together, but that isn't likely to happen with Sam and Dean unless someone takes into their head to write a m-preg story.
There are, of course, instances of consensual incest between grown siblings in which one or both parties feel guilty because of the violation of cultural norms. Please note that I'm speaking about fully consensual incest between sibling who are of the age of consent.
*ducks and runs for cover* for fear that I'm going to be jumped on like a trampoline, but I really am speaking about the facts as I know them.
Since I generally have a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that consensual adult sibling incest necessarily causes (or indicates) severe psychological trauma, it is nice to hear that said. Not that I'm proposing (propositioning? *g*) it as a good idea in general, but...
I'm curious now! I heard of the couple in Germany, who're full blood siblings, but were adopted out as infants. They met later in life, knowing they were siblings, but, having not grown up together, they still felt a mutual attraction. They've been together for quite a few years now, and have four children together(all healthy), and are petitioning the government to allow them to be married -- as the brother has been arrested five times now on the basis of incest, even though his sister/lover is fully consenting and is his girlfriend.
Are the cases you're familiar with ones like this? Where the siblings did not grow up together? Or are there ones in which two siblings who grew up together started a consensual sexual relationship? I hadn't heard of the later occurring in the real world, though I didn't doubt that it had to have occurred somewhere/sometime, just that I'd never heard of cases.
That actually makes perfect sense to me (and I'm not a psychologist nor do I play one on TV *g*), since the taboo is largely cultural (an not necessarily universal) and the genetic factors while real, aren't necessarily a threat to first generation offspring only, with continued intrafamilia breeding. I tend to think by an large, most writers in SPN at least give some passing thought to the twisted patterns of guilt and responsiblity that might arise between them, and there could certainly be an argument made for the tendency of fan writers to pursue explorations of a kind of potentially unhealthy level of obsession in some cases as part of the rationale process (or the kink, take your pick
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As a reader who was drawn very gradually into the wincest category of SPN fanfiction, I'd have to say that wincest 'works' (i.e., is or at least can be depicted plausibly) in fiction for a couple of reasons. The main reason is the isolation factor. The way the brothers were raised and the off-the-grid life they led put them in a position where developing relationships, sexual or otherwise, was never a real possibility. Add to that the close bond between them and the war-mentality comaradarie and the potential for a physical relationship was obvious. The question of whether or not the brothers are 'actually' both gay seems largely irrelevant to me, and in fact is either ignored or glossed over in a lot of fanfiction. Human sexuality is hardly a binary proposition--on you're het, off you're gay. In this case, gender is a factor somewhat further down the scale of importance
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SPN is my first fandom, but I know it's not your first, so just curious :)
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There are, of course, instances of consensual incest between grown siblings in which one or both parties feel guilty because of the violation of cultural norms. Please note that I'm speaking about fully consensual incest between sibling who are of the age of consent.
*ducks and runs for cover* for fear that I'm going to be jumped on like a trampoline, but I really am speaking about the facts as I know them.
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Since I generally have a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that consensual adult sibling incest necessarily causes (or indicates) severe psychological trauma, it is nice to hear that said. Not that I'm proposing (propositioning? *g*) it as a good idea in general, but...
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Are the cases you're familiar with ones like this? Where the siblings did not grow up together? Or are there ones in which two siblings who grew up together started a consensual sexual relationship? I hadn't heard of the later occurring in the real world, though I didn't doubt that it had to have occurred somewhere/sometime, just that I'd never heard of cases.
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