This is a theory/fandom meta post I wrote a few years back, and I’ll be honest – while it does read a bit as a first draft, I’m still quite proud of it.

Link: https://elliottdunstan.com/2021/02/01/behind-the-curtain-metaphorical-incest-fanfiction-and-cultural-taboos/

Due to the length of the column, I won’t be reposting the whole thing here; I forgot how long some of my posts were! Instead, a few notes as I reread it:

Number one, I’m genuinely surprised not just at how succinct some of these points are but at their relative lack of presence in discourse otherwise. It’s true that I haven’t been particularly present in fandom for the last while — I think 2021 was sort of my last hurrah in that sense — but I find it strange that even as incest-kink as a deeply Queer Thing comes up more (Empty Spaces, dollkink, etc.) the fact that there’s a long tradition of it doesn’t as much.

Two, I was actually checking the date and more than a little confused at me mentioning drag moms/drag kids this early on! I didn’t get into drag myself until mid-2023, and so I’d forgotten that I had even this much knowledge of the subculture before then.

Finally… I’ve always expected to get more hatemail about the ‘incest isn’t inherently bad’ thing? Perhaps it’s that I make such a point of differentiating between incest and incestuous abuse, but normally the kind of people who send hatemail aren’t the type to care about that sort of thing.

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