December 2, 2007

I try to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brain falls out.
—Unknown

Incest fanfiction makes me sad.

I spend a fair amount of time reading LiveJournals and message boards because I enjoy reading other people's opinions and trying to understand why they think they way they do. Lately a number of Internet acquaintances have been talking in their LJs about their love of fanfiction that pairs two brothers in a sexual relationship.

People have a right to post whatever they want in their LiveJournals (as long as it fits LJ's terms of service*). People also, however, have a right to react to whatever they see on their friends' pages. If you put this stuff in front of my face, I will react. My reaction is generally to state my opinion.

"What's your problem?" some of these people say in response. "It's just fiction. It's not like it matters." Perhaps. But the stories you enjoy reveal a lot about you. If someone enjoys stories that glorify torture, I don't want to be around her, even if she doesn't actually torture people herself. If a guy enjoys stories where men gang-rape women, I sure am not going to date him. And if somebody thinks stories glorifying incest are cool, I'm going to wonder about her, too.

Before I go on, let me clarify that I'm not writing this rant to try to convince anyone who likes this kind of thing to change her mind. That's obviously not going to happen. No, I'm writing it to try to put a little bit of sanity back into this wretched hive of scum and villainy we call the Internet. If even one person who feels similarly disgusted and disheartened by public depictions of her favorite characters happens to read this rant and feels a little better that someone has finally called a spade a spade, then this rant has served its purpose.

I'm sick seeing this kind of thing presented to me, and I'm sick of being treated like the Queen of the Prudes just because I have the audacity to dislike incest "fan" fiction. (It's beyond me how people can call themselves "fans" of characters who, if they were real, would punch such "fans" in the face.) Moreover, I'm unnerved that, on-line, even people who don't like incest stories themselves see it as a lighthearted matter of taste. "Oh, I'm not really into incest fanfic," they will say, as though it's on the same level as, say, not happening to like mint chocolate chip ice cream. But hey, if other people do like that kind of stuff, there's no reason to find it disturbing, huh?

I shouldn't dignify these assertions with a response, but ranting has therapeutic value.

When this recently came up on my friends' list and I commented to express my bewilderment, someone popped up to remind me that incest is merely a social taboo. Oh, how silly and uneducated we masses are, falling for the pointless oppression of society, keeping all those hot brothers in our favorite shows from having sex! (Yes, of course it was incest slash. What other kind would there be? It's not like straight people exist.)

As people on the defensive often do, this person threw out credentials in an attempt to boost the value of her opinion: she was a college student majoring in anthropology, so clearly her rambling about human tribal marriage patterns proved her to be enlightened and validated the fact that she enjoys reading incest fic. She then argued that genetic issues related to incest are "not anywhere near as bad as people think," that "we're smart enough to breed responsibly now...or at least, we have enough people that it doesn't matter if somebody screws up," and that we as an enlightened society should know better than to ban people from LJ for listing "incest" as an interest because of some mere social taboo.

I trust that I don't need to waste time on a response.

I just can't get over people like this who bend (or wholly misrepresent) facts in attempts to cover up that what they're doing is repugnant and they know it. You can look up incest yourself if you need convincing on that point. Be sure to read about the Westermark Effect while you're at it: funny how, for all these people's so-called "educated" ranting, none of them mention this finding. If you want to argue that the rest of us have been brainwashed by anything, you'll have to pick biology, not "artificial social constructs."

But all that doesn't even matter, apparently, to most people who read and write this stuff: the other people with whom I discussed this all clamored to note, "obviously, I don't condone incest in real life!" It just turns them on. In that case, I think they are frighteningly oversexed, and their apparent inability to appreciate loving non-sexual relationships makes me want to be far, far away from them.

Sexuality is not the ultimate form of all relationships.

One off-line friend of mine with whom I have discussed this is a twin who can not stand "twincest." She says that other people simply can not understand the nature of the bond between twins, and that these stories are wholly counter to that bond. As someone who is not a twin but finds such relationships interesting, I'd like to explore what they actually are rather than twisting them into something completely contrary to reality. (And don't try to argue that people are exploring the ramifications of the rare bouts of real-world incest. We all know that's not what these people are after.) In many deep relationships, sexual advances would destroy the bond, not make it stronger. It's frightening how many people have trouble appreciating that. Their poor minds must be drowning in hormones to read these things as sexual attraction.

It is for this reason that the popularity of incest fanfiction, even more than it disgusts me, makes me very, very depressed.

Meanwhile, incest fan writers wrap themselves in bubbles of arrogance for what I can only imagine are issues of self-doubt and shame at liking something that our society, for good reason, deems repugnant.

Know what free speech is before you envoke your right to it.

Even beyond my revulsion, it ticks me off that on the Internet, people seem to think they should be allowed to say whatever they want—and by "allowed," they mean without you having the same right. If they post this schlock in a place you can see, you are expected to politely look away if it bothers you. What's that? You want to express your disgust? GASP! This is the INTERNET! We have FREE SPEECH! We are allowed to say whatever we want and you had better like it or shut up and go away! How dare you pick on the plot of what we are sure is a well written story because other incest fans already said so!

Sorry, guys, but it just doesn't work that way.

Here's a common refrain: "Don't like it? Don't read it!" This is nonsense. Sometimes we come across things completely by accident, and we want to express our horror at doing so. This is free speech, too. Don't want us to respond? Don't post it! Or don't get upset when we remove you from our friends lists. Trust me, I seek this stuff out the same way I seek out lollipops licked by people with stomach flu. Somehow, though, it keeps showing up in front of me, and I really wish it would stop.

Just because you're hiding behind your monitor and your screenname doesn't mean you can keep people from reacting to you. If you were sitting down in the cafeteria with an acquaintance and started talking about how cool you think it would be if siblings (even fictional ones) had sex, you'd better either be sure that person agrees with you or be willing to accept the look of horror and disgust you'd receive.

It makes me sad, it disgusts me, and I don't want to see it. If I see it, I'll react accordingly. Don't tell me it's your right to like it if you don't want to accept my right to be disgusted; don't put it in a place I can see it if you don't want to hear me react; and don't try to act like you're enlightened in a way the rest of us sheep can not understand. Off-line, this is understood; just because you can hide your face on the Internet doesn't mean it's not also true on-line.

If you say it in public, the public has a right to respond. Even on the Internet.

* Regarding terms of service, this became an issue recently when SixApart (LiveJournal's parent company) decided to ban users who listed rape or incest as an "interest." Frankly, I'm glad they did. Most of the buzz about this was negative, largely because most of the people who cared to talk about it were the incest/rape fans themselves, but rest assured that there are plenty of us out there who are even happier to use LiveJournal now that they have stated that this kind of stuff doesn't fly on their service. If you don't like the company's rules, you are free to start your own domain.