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.

because fuckedupness is so very much what the Winchesters are All About.

That's pretty much it for me--they've already got all this crap to deal with, with dead parents and girlfriends and deals with the devil and looming catastrophe and unspeakable secrets and all--adding incest to it just seems like overkill.

:: loves the right-thinking Buffistas ::