For me, Supernatural has become the new fandom of, "You have gone where I will not follow, friend. Be happy. I will see you on the other side."

I have a lot of jumbled thoughts. Among them that incest is not my kink, the fact that Dean and Sam were raised together makes it more troublesome for me, the fact that Dean was Sam's caretaker growing up makes things even more problematic, and...

I cannot suspend my disbelief for happy Wincest. And I think the Winchesters are plenty fucked up right now, gloriously so, but adding another layer of fuckedupness to their relationships destabilizes my interest. It's too much. It falls apart.

I realize what wank-fodder it would be and how many people on my own flist I would piss off.

Yeah, I don't want to piss in anyone's Wheaties, but I still kind of feel like I need to say, "Yeah, not going there, guys."

Someone (Suela, was it you?) linked to someone's essay on why they'd stopped reading Wincest and started reading gen. I nodded like a fool.

And I think the Winchesters are plenty fucked up right now, gloriously so, but adding another layer of fuckedupness to their relationships destabilizes my interest. It's too much. It falls apart.

Exactly. I'm personally (and this STILL feels weird for me to say) only willing to go as far in the fucked up as the show itself, which is still plenty far fucked up.

the fact that Dean was Sam's caretaker growing up makes things even more problematic

One of my cracked-out vid ideas (and I think this is the show that's going to finally get me off my ass and into my copy of Final Cut Express) involves the whole Dean-as-Replacement-Mom aspect. Honestly, I should just write something about it, but the flailing aspect gets in the way of my brain, so if I can trick the brain by making it process pretty pictures to bouncy music...

(Of course, this trick may not work. Clipping failed me last night. It turned into going frame by frame through certain scenes in Bloodlust for screen caps. Sigh.)

I clicked the link. Just took a quick look because, evidentally, I can't resist the lure of a possible trainwreck bad fic. Cringing and backing away was the right choice.

I have this whole essay I'm thinking about writing about the Wincest as an entire genre in SPN, and then I realize what wank-fodder it would be and how many people on my own flist I would piss off.

Ooh. I'd have loved to read that. But yeah, that'd have turned wanktastic pretty quickly.

I'm getting knee-jerk cringe response whenever I accidently come across anyone burbling happily about Wincest. (And I'm usually a "live and let live" type person when it comes to fannish preferences and just avoid the things that make me unhappy.) I mean, I can occasional buy incest stories when the character involved are so messed up and in so much pain, the act kind of makes sense. But the prevailing sentiment of the fandom toward Wincest seems to be "wheeee!", which... no. A world of no. But then, I don't want to piss in anyone's cheerios either, y'know? Sigh.

My version of pissing in cheerios is the Big Cold Shoulder Avoidy, which is to say that I don't yammer about my choices but I'm not reconciliatory about them, either. You do the things I can't stand, I find a reason never to be around you.

Apropos of some discussion the other day on LJ, I might, in theory, have been willing to entertain the concept of transgression in fiction as worthwhile even when it's something I can't stand. But the upshot of the conversation was that, actually, when transgression becomes a latter-day orthodoxy, the transgressiveness of the act disappears.

But the upshot of the conversation was that, actually, when transgression becomes a latter-day orthodoxy, the transgressiveness of the act disappears.

Wordy mcWord, which brings me back to the concept of Wincest as a genre. It's one thing to have a story here and there that addresses the issue in a way that problematizes it, that recognizes how fucked up they are, that sees all those complications and the cultural messiness associated with it. It's another entirely to have hundreds of happy fun incest which is, so far as I can tell, geared towards nothing but the hotness factor.

All that said, as Mely pointed out to me in chat the other day, Wincest isn't exactly the default -- apparently about 25% of the stories currently posted are Wincest, versus 50% gen. But that's a sizeable enough amount that the non-Wincest people are going, "aaagh!" even though they are not, in fact, outnumbered.

I may end up writing the essay, just as an exercise. We shall see.

Why am I still up?

The Wincest has largely kept me away from reading any SPN fic -- I really must try reading some of the gen.

OMG, Theo, you MUST read the gen. It's amazing. Huge, meaty, delicious casefiles!

Red was quite fantastic, and Theo should totally read it because - OMG, the fabulousness. But I've hardly read any fic for ages, alas.

wrt the Wincest - the prospect of Happy Fun Carefree Wincest makes me want to bang my head on the table forever, because fuckedupness is so very much what the Winchesters are All About.

See also my feelings wrt Crazy Space Incest.

Theodosia, check your profile address.