Oh, don't think one hypothetical response wasn't "When you're going through this in four or five years, remember this e-mail. I sure will."

But as my brother said, I can't do that. I'll have her back, even if she doesn't have mine. She doesn't realize I'm trying to help her too right now.

But as my brother said, I can't do that. I'll have her back, even if she doesn't have mine. She doesn't realize I'm trying to help her too right now.

I hope that some day she will see this and appreciate your courage.

P-C, as bonny said, your parents are damaging the relationship by placing unreasonable demands on you. Not the other way around. You have to live your life, not your sister and not your parents (and for that matter, not your aunt). Which means you have to be a person that you can live with. And, just to touch the perennial sore spot in your family relationship, it's a lot harder to be a person you can live with if you're married to (or in a relationship with) someone who isn't right for you.

I like Jars's idea about getting a pet, and using "I can't find a petsitter" as an excuse not to travel when you don't want to. (Never mind that it's surprisingly easy to find a good petsitter when you want to.)

And, sort-of echoing what someone said upthread, associating with your blood relatives is optional. Nobody can force you to if you decide not to. (But, as someone who made that decision, I urge you not to make a snap decision to cut ties. Even if you think it through carefully, there's emotional baggage from that decision.)

P-C, just say "thanks for your input, and I will consider it. However, please remember that this is between me and our parents, and I don't want my issues with them to affect our relationship"

I would like to say something like that. I was already really close to telling her to stop being the middleman and let me deal with them on my own unless I asked for her help. But now I'm afraid that responding in any way could go badly.

I think it might be wise to simply ask her to let this be between you and your parents.

Having done daycare for a psychiatric convention, it is ridiculously apparent that there is no magical medical parenting bullet there. Hoo boy.

Another work explores a romantic encounter between "Star Trek" characters Spock and James T. Kirk.

OK, that's kind of hilarious. What would you call that - slash art?

P-C, sorry to hear that they've got your sister taking sides. What everyone else said. That email was cruel, IMO.

What would you call that - slash art?

The general term for fan art is - surprise! fan art. Which, like fic, can then be endlessly and entertainingly broken down by fandom and pairing (if any) and level of explicitness (if any) etc. So in actual usage, you'd probably see something like "hey, $fan has been posting some brilliant/hot/disturbing/$adjective K/S fan art. Some of it's kinda NSFW."

(I've never heard "slash art" as its own term, but then again, "slash fic" as a phrase is kind of a big honking "I don't actually know anything about the stuff" sign.)

It didn't read as cruel to me. Just someone who is in a house where she sees crying and pain and she blames you. She is completely wrong to blame you, but she doesn't know that.

P-C, if you can, I advise you to take the high road as much as possible. Reframe the discussion so it's not about "sides" or being a bad son. I would tell them you love them unconditionally. "I love you, I respect you, but I just can't do this ONE thing in the way you want. That's all." Don't do a flounce or be drawn into their melodramatic view of the world. It'll be hard, but it;s part of being an adult. They see things as all or nothing. You don't have to.

"slash fic" as a phrase is kind of a big honking "I don't actually know anything about the stuff" sign

Huh? How else do you subdivide and identify it separately from het or gen fic? I see it all the time.