about Supernatural fanfic...

[ratcreature]

I'm not feeling particularly fannish about Supernatural, but I have watched most episodes, thus while I was bored I looked around for Supernatural fanfic to read. I was mostly interested in gen, and while of course I knew that there's Sam/Dean slash I was actually surprised how common it is, from my first impressions even more widespread than gen (though I could be wrong about that). And I just don't get it. Personally I just have a hard time seeing Sam/Dean slash.

It's not that I'm particularly squicked by sibling incest, but the story has to somehow work harder to make that kind of thing work than other pairings. Not only because it has to make me buy that they would act on a sexual attraction despite incest taboos, that is similar in a way to other "relationship obstacles" in romance stories, but because it has to make me buy that there would be attraction in the first place. With most pairings I can buy that the author simply has a character feel attraction, inappropriate or not, and then the story goes from there, but for me (and I suspect most people) thinking about close family members with whom you grew up with, like your own siblings or parents and sex together is, well, sort of icky. Not just incestuous sex, but even the fact that your sibling or parent has sex with anyone, that's the kind of thing you don't want to contemplate in much detail. At least I don't, and I suspect I'm not alone in that.

I tried reading a couple of Sam/Dean stories, but they seemed to be much like regular slash in the way that it assumes that the reader buys the possibility for attraction between the guys in the first place. I don't quite get what makes this plausible for Sam/Dean shippers just from watching the series, and yet it seems very common. Which leaves me puzzled. I looked whether there was an essay on this pairing at ship_manifesto to provide me with some insight, but there doesn't seem to be one yet. So does anyone know of any Supernatural meta that would explain to me where the Sam/Dean shippers are coming from?

Comments

[medie]

I've been leaning toward trying to get my hands on the episodes to see them but having taken a glance at the Supernatural fandom I'm not sure I want to get involved because I just don't ever think that incest should fall into 'shippiness' and the idea that it does squicks me out majorly. I avoid it in Firefly too. Part of me can see how people can go there because the actors are *NOT* related but...the concept of it...incest isn't something that should be played for hot or for laughs or for 'ship. It can be a very devastating thing or, in best case scenario, extremely screwed up. It's not...for teh hot y'know?

[ratcreature]

Well, while fictional incest doesn't work as a *kink* for me, it doesn't really squick me either, at least not if it isn't adult/child at the same time, and I have a number of kinks myself that really work for me in fiction, but are majorly screwed up, like I read rape, slavery and torture stories because the right kind can turn me on, so I'm not really in a position to say incest shouldn't be used for kink without being really hypocritical.

[medie]

Fictional incest itself doesn't squick me out in a concept sort of way but the idea that it can fit into shippiness without anyone thinking it out of the ordinary or trying to write it out of the ordinary? That sort of does. It's one of those concepts for me that I think shouldn't be done lightly. Just the same, I usually just avoid it. With Supernatural I get the feeling I might end up avoiding the entire fandom.

But with kinks I think it all depends on it being done right. Written properly and such. With something like incest...I just can't wrap my brain around seeing it the same way I do other kinds of slash. I can't see a Sam/Dean story as being no different than a Jack/Daniel story (or a River/Simon story being any different than a..say...Sam/Daniel). It's like Snape/Harry. I just can't accept it at face value for a PWP and such. It needs...that much more for me. That little bit of explanation and, at least, the implicit understanding that this? Very screwed up. y'know?