can you deal with incest in fanfic?

[percival]

If you are a mature adult, yes, possibly. But if you are a child or a teenager? Will you know that it is not a good idea to have sexual relationships with your sibling? Or will repeated exposure to the idea and fantasising about the idea somehow start to make incest acceptable to you after a while?

Just a Buddhist thought:

In Buddhism, we try to be compassionate and loving in our hearts. That means that we neither dwell upon violence nor enjoy it. One of the key insights in Buddhist spirituality is that who you are and how you act is closely related to what you think. As a consequence, we need to work on our mind, our thinking. We need to make sure that our thoughts are compassionate, loving, free of clinging desire.

So, from a Buddhist perspective, actively seeking out incest fics because you get a thrill out of the dark, forbidden relationship is clearly wrong because you are indulging a desire to see people harm each other. You invite these fantasies into your mind and nourish them.

How would a Buddhist regard people who read incest fic? Well, non-judgmentally, with compassion and understanding. If they decide they need to pollute their minds, they will have a reason for doing it.

For the record, I myself continuosly pollute my mind with thoughts of anger, self hate, sarcasm, hate of others, petty jealousy. But seeing that I want to be a good Buddhist, I will need to work on that. Sigh. Revelling in anger can be such fun sometimes, just as revelling in fantasies of incest or rape can be fun for people who read those fics. But ultimately, it's nae good for you, says Uncle Gautama. And Uncle Gautama is usually not far off the mark, if you know what I mean.

Comments

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

Ah well, I'm extremely and passionately judgmental about many things NC-17.

I suppose I'm more of a Christian-Pagan-VictimRights sort of person. Whatever that means.

[celtic-tiger.livejournal.com]

I don't know why you think it's your right to tell people what they can and can't read. I suppose what i don't understand about this whole thread is the lack of anyone saying something along the lines of "well that doesn't work for me, but since they are just stories (regardless of wether you believe in them promoting deeds) others can do what is right for them. Other people also have the power of judgement and morality, and I should leave them to it." My view is, if it is marked NC-17 and you don't like that sort of thing, leave it alone. No one is asking you to read it. If something with questionable elements is clearly marked, it's no one's fault if people look at it anyway.

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

I fully appreciate your opinion and your right to express it. However you might note that I didn't tell anyone what they "can and can't read". I said I have reasons why I don't think it's healthy, and a doctoral degree. You may have one as well, and we could both site research to support our positions no doubt.

I have reasons for my thoughts, and this forum does not offer an adequate venue for such a discussion.

[guttaperk.livejournal.com]

Fleck-filled discussions aren't any better in public venues than in private ones, eh?

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

Easier to brush the fleck away in private I think ;)

Nothing like a pile of muddling fleck clogging up a journal to confuse things...