Taboos - Incest, why is it so compelling?

[muppiethesecond]

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[curiouskizzy]

I think it is far more common than is generally accepted

 

[muppiethesecond]

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[muppiethesecond]

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[Green567123]

I think that most people at some point in there life has had sexual thoughts of incest and have fantasys of there own so the topic is arousing.

 

[hard27]

Id love to play with my sister..

 

[ShyGuy68]

To me there's nothing at all compelling about incest.

 

[Avi10]

Personally i think Incest is wrong wrong wrong wrong..People cant post a pussy or cock pic here but post stories about fucking a parent or sibling is perfectally o.k. Strange world we live in. Strange people we co-habit this world with

 

[muffalo]

I have no idea what it is, but sometimes a connection is a connection. And sometimes that connection is purely sexual.
"It feels so good to make you feel good..."
And that push and pull of sexual urges vs. rational thinking makes things that much more appealing.
The question is, 'is it incest itself that turns you on? Or have you just gone so long without sex that the flirty, sexy cousin you have, is all of the sudden incredibly, and inappropriately, sexually magnetic?'
I can't say incest is a huge turn on for me. Even the word is a turn off.
All I know is that one time, that one accidental bump...that sexy smile and gorgeous body, and most importantly, that personality that's always ready to poke and prod and push buttons...
Oh god, WHY are you pushing THOSE buttons...
But you are. In so many dirty ways it's melting me inside.
And yes, now I know how badly I need to get laid...:/
If only I could just lay it all on the line...
"Oh, but that IS your best asset...trust me"

 

[WhiteNoise]

Personally, I'm coming to seriously doubt this hypothesis. I mean, necrophilia is also sex related and extremely taboo, but it is nowhere near as popular as incest fantasy.

I'm not into incest. For the life of me, I can't fathom why anyone would get sexually turned on by a family member. Why is it popular? I don't know. Maybe to some it's the ultimate taboo, a point of no return, and that idea of crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed excites them. But, to talk about the point quoted above, thankfully necrophilia isn't a popular fantasy. The idea of someone being turned on by a corpse is too grotesque for me to comprehend. Honestly, how anyone can see a body that used to be someone's mother, sister, aunt, etc., and think about violating it in that sense sickens me.

 

[muffalo]

I'm not into incest. For the life of me, I can't fathom why anyone would get sexually turned on by a family member. Why is it popular? I don't know. Maybe to some it's the ultimate taboo, a point of no return, and that idea of crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed excites them. But, to talk about the point quoted above, thankfully necrophilia isn't a popular fantasy. The idea of someone being turned on by a corpse is too grotesque for me to comprehend. Honestly, how anyone can see a body that used to be someone's mother, sister, aunt, etc., and think about violating it in that sense sickens me.

I'm not sure why necrophilia made it into any thread. I think it's nonsense to call that "taboo". It's just flat out wrong, like bestiality. I don't care what you're into, but don't tell me stuff like that is "taboo"
As far as incest is concerned, I'm not saying it's OK, my responses are just to entertain, but certain levels of incest(direct cousins) has been common in human history.
Thus, the changing of cultural trends due to whatever reasons, blurs the taboo.
So yeah. That's all

 

[WhiteNoise]

I'm not sure why necrophilia made it into any thread. I think it's nonsense to call that "taboo". It's just flat out wrong, like bestiality. I don't care what you're into, but don't tell me stuff like that is "taboo"
As far as incest is concerned, I'm not saying it's OK, my responses are just to entertain, but certain levels of incest(direct cousins) has been common in human history.
Thus, the changing of cultural trends due to whatever reasons, blurs the taboo.
So yeah. That's all

I agree, it's not taboo, just sick. Bestiality is another thing I could ramble on, but I won't. I'm not criticizing or preaching to anyone that is into incest, and I know your response is just in fun. I do know it exists, though. A couple that lives up the block from me are actually third cousins. So, it is out there.

 

[muppiethesecond]

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[lovecraft68]

Guise, this thread isn't really about whether incest fantasy is morally correct or something. It's about the popularity of it.

See this pie chart I made for LIT:

http://i53.tinypic.com/in48l2.jpg

Note:
**Didn't include every Category, since some of the categories are actually just formats, not separate fantasies.

There's no way this isn't a representative sample of fantasies, it's a really good sample over a long time, with thousands of 'voters'. I'm unconvinced that LIT is unrepresentative across the broader population, LIT is pretty mainstream IMO.

Well I'll tell you what I think it is. The average person has an average sex drive and basic ideas of what they consider acceptable sexual behavior. Anything out of that is a taboo, or wrong. Now sexual fantasies change with age, experience, and what your involved in. Let's face it we are on a sex site everyone here thinks about sex more than the average person and we have exhausted the "average" sexual pleasures and seek more. For some the BDSM lifestyle becomes attractive and they sink into it by degrees. A little pain leads to being stuck in a dog crate. I will give you my personal example the wife and I love to role play and have been for ten years. We started with basics, boss/secretary student/ professor as time went by we wanted to be different and push the bar it turned into husband/ best friends wife rape fantasies kidnapping scenarios then last year when I was trying to come up with something to take it up a notch I threw down the guantlet and dared the wife to do brother/sister and she agreed (were both only children so maybe that's why we didn't see a problem). Now I didn't know what to expect but let me tell you when she started whispering in my ear; "Go ahead little brother give it to your hot big sister" it sent me off like a rocket.

Sick? okay maybe but give me props for admitting it. In the end what I am saying is the word Taboo speaks for itself we always push the bar and are looking for the next dirty thing that takes us to the next level and for many it is this subject. Also it's that "well I'm only reading it I wouldn't do it." Friends if your getting off on it to this degree you have thought about it. stop lying to yourself. Okay this was rambling nut you were asking.

 

[bumblebee_1]

Thought:

It's often explained by my fellow 'literoticans' that the Incest genre is so popular here and across the net because it's 'taboo' i.e. viewed as wrong and therefore attractive in a sort of rebellion style of thing. It's a possible explanation...but;

Personally, I'm coming to seriously doubt this hypothesis. I mean, necrophilia is also sex related and extremely taboo, but it is nowhere near as popular as incest fantasy.

It cannot be a coincidence that on anonymous message/image boards such as 4chan, incest related porn is overwhelmingly popular.

I've looked through Google Scholar to find a academic explanation, but frankly they seem completely in the dark, they tend to pathologize incest with things like child abuse, alcoholicism, drug abuse etc.

I might have believed that as a general explanation if I only read tabloid newspapers (which are frankly obsessed with incest themed stories) and never used the internet, but anybody who's been around for long enough on these boards and others knows that an absolutely enormous amount of content surrounding roleplaying, erotica lit, pornography and most especially comics like hentai/manga has incest themes. Why?

I started thinking about this because I was horny, but now I feel there's some rather drastic omission in understanding human sexuality.

tl;dr - why is incest erotica so hugely popular?

To me, it's another form of power play. Any incestuous fantasies I have seem to come from wanting to release control totally to someone I trust or to take control of someone else. There doesn't seem to be a better way to contextualise control than in the traditionally authoritarian family system?

 

[muppiethesecond]

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[sunandshadow]

The chart - duplication of colors is fucking confusing. What are the actual numbers of, stories posted or views or what?

Personally I think incest is hot. I'd also argue that bestiality is NOT sick, were that topic not verboten here.

But anyway, the question is why is incest popular. Well, Claude Levi-Strauss, a pretty famous myth analyst and anthropologist, had a theory about it. He said there is cultural tension about who would be an appropriate mate. This tension is about proximity or sameness. On one end of the spectrum are incest, narcissism, twin fantasies, and the fact that historically many cultures thought cousin marriage was not only OK but preferable to marrying a stranger. On the opposite end of the spectrum are may/december, interracial, aliens, elves, werewolves and other fantasy races, (and bestiality). The self vs. the other.

Both of these extremes have appeals and dangers. For incest or narcissism it's like giving a vote of confidence to your own genes, choosing a mate you probably already know well and who probably shares a lot of political, religious, and other cultural opinions with you (so the safety of avoiding dealing with unsympathetic strangers and possible strife over beliefs might be appealing) and if you happen to have some wealth in your family incest could help preserve your social position as a wealthy person. Society at large tends to resent wealthy people keeping that wealth in the family, and similarly suitors for an attractive woman will tend to resent if she has been reserved since childhood for a cousin or other male relative; these are supposedly the two main social forces which resulted in the current stigma against incest. Incest is typically appealing to those who are frustrated or intimidated by the difficulties of trying to find a mate they can be happy with.

For xenophilia (attraction to the other) the genetic appeal would be the possibility of hybrid vigor and getting new genes and abilities which would allow your family line to outcompete those who take boring similar mates. This end of the spectrum also appeals to those who are frustrated or intimidated by the difficulties of finding a mate they can be happy with, but instead of being frustrated that potential mates are too different from oneself and inadequate to oneself, those who favor xenophilia are instead frustrated that potential mates are too boringly similar, both to the mate-seeker and to each other, and tend to see themselves and perhaps their whole social or racial group as inadequate compared to an ideal mate.

 

[bumblebee_1]

The chart - duplication of colors is fucking confusing. What are the actual numbers of, stories posted or views or what?

Personally I think incest is hot. I'd also argue that bestiality is NOT sick, were that topic not verboten here.

But anyway, the question is why is incest popular. Well, Claude Levi-Strauss, a pretty famous myth analyst and anthropologist, had a theory about it. He said there is cultural tension about who would be an appropriate mate. This tension is about proximity or sameness. On one end of the spectrum are incest, narcissism, twin fantasies, and the fact that historically many cultures thought cousin marriage was not only OK but preferable to marrying a stranger. On the opposite end of the spectrum are may/december, interracial, aliens, elves, werewolves and other fantasy races, (and bestiality). The self vs. the other.

Both of these extremes have appeals and dangers. For incest or narcissism it's like giving a vote of confidence to your own genes, choosing a mate you probably already know well and who probably shares a lot of political, religious, and other cultural opinions with you (so the safety of avoiding dealing with unsympathetic strangers and possible strife over beliefs might be appealing) and if you happen to have some wealth in your family incest could help preserve your social position as a wealthy person. Society at large tends to resent wealthy people keeping that wealth in the family, and similarly suitors for an attractive woman will tend to resent if she has been reserved since childhood for a cousin or other male relative; these are supposedly the two main social forces which resulted in the current stigma against incest. Incest is typically appealing to those who are frustrated or intimidated by the difficulties of trying to find a mate they can be happy with.

For xenophilia (attraction to the other) the genetic appeal would be the possibility of hybrid vigor and getting new genes and abilities which would allow your family line to outcompete those who take boring similar mates. This end of the spectrum also appeals to those who are frustrated or intimidated by the difficulties of finding a mate they can be happy with, but instead of being frustrated that potential mates are too different from oneself and inadequate to oneself, those who favor xenophilia are instead frustrated that potential mates are too boringly similar, both to the mate-seeker and to each other, and tend to see themselves and perhaps their whole social or racial group as inadequate compared to an ideal mate.

I think that's a fair explanation but it seems to be only covering a certain element of the picture. I think, as I said above, that power issues are an important part of the story. The power imbalances in families are often a vital aspect of parent/child incest fantasies...for me, at least.

 

[lovecraft68]

I see the element you're talking about, I think we all recognize that our fantasies trend to becoming more diverse over time. Most of us thought touching a women's boob was awesomely daring and wicked when we was young teens. With age/experience/lust, that changes over time.

I quote Terry Pratchett on sex toys:

"You know, I think it's like horseradish," said Adora Belle thoughtfully
"Pardon?"
"Like...well, horseradish is good in a beef sandwich, so you have some. But one day a spoonful just doesn't cut the mustard--"
"As it were" said Moist, fascinated
"--and so you have two, and soon it's three, and eventually there's more horseradish than beef, and then one day you realize the beef fell out and you didn't notice."

--Making Money, Terry Pratchett

I think it is somewhat ridiculous that somebody could suggest that it is clear that X is one kind of taboo and therefore 'wrong', whereas this other taboo is actually quite kinky. That's a double standard. Obviously this minefield is a particularly giant gray area. A huge range from Korma to Vindaloo curry so to speak.

But what strikes me most, is that incest related fantasy is more popular than BDSM, more popular than Rape fantasy, or Lesbian/Gay erotica combined.

I mean; That. Is. Huge!!

Consider how accepted (relatively speaking) those genres are accepted in society as being legitimate, and then look at the Incest genre again.

It really stands out, because most people, including me, would have assumed it was extremely niche. Looks like we are rather badly wrong. It's not something the sociological literature appear to have picked up on, I suspect it runs very deep, a final taboo nobody will admit to if you like (after all, some of us admit to enjoying BDSM or same-sex love in public, a woman having rape fantasies 'ooooh, take me and ravish me' is considered pretty normal, feminine even, but who of us would ever admit to roleplaying incest?), and thereby it's really hard to get any legit samples until the Internet arrived.

We could go all day because I have to say the subject fascinates me as it does you apparently so let me tell you my personal take as far as writing goes. Now keep in mind this is MY style of writing and I'm not condemning anyone elses work. First off, I personally am into the emotional connection of a brother sister relationship rather than just physical so I don;t write or enjoy stories that go; "Sis looked damn good in her shorts so igave it to her and she loved it then dad jumped in and..." there is a big market for those however and each their own. Now to me for sibs to be involved I think they have to have some issues something off that leaves them open to be sexually attracted to their sibling. In my series (Siblings with Benefits.) the brother and sister were separated at the ages of 5 and 7 to be reunited in a foster home at 16/18 the sister seduces the brother at 20/10(but lets face it I did that for the sites 18 rule) those years apart caused them to latch onto each other even more when reunited and the 10 years apart left them open to be sexually attracted to each other. To me I can start to see where it can happen as opposed to literally looking at your sibling and saying hey how about it. There is a reason most incest in the USA is in very poor parts of the country these people have some issues and don;t grow up like we do, they cling to each other and are dependent in a way that leaves them open for more.
As for it being "vile" to each there own I mean I read a non consent story where a woman was chained to a tree and brutally raped and it wasn't oh she really like it oh no she was screaming and crying. Now to me if you can read that and get off then leave my incest series alone. I mean I'm into S&M and rough sex and don;t mind a little coercion in a story but not criminal activity once again each their own. To some it up "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone"
On another note in real life you know what brother/sister want to marry? Let them. It makes me sick the government tries to tell us who we can love same with same sex let them do it. The stigma with incest is birth defects. Okay make one of them get fixed then let them get married problem solved.

 

[muppiethesecond]

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[sunandshadow]

I think that's a fair explanation but it seems to be only covering a certain element of the picture. I think, as I said above, that power issues are an important part of the story. The power imbalances in families are often a vital aspect of parent/child incest fantasies...for me, at least.

Yeah that could certainly be a factor too. The popularity of bdsm can certainly testify to power and hierarchical roles as things people find erotic. People rarely have only one reason for doing anything, especially when it comes to subconscious things like arousal.

 

[bumblebee_1]

Yeah that could certainly be a factor too. The popularity of bdsm can certainly testify to power and hierarchical roles as things people find erotic. People rarely have only one reason for doing anything, especially when it comes to subconscious things like arousal.

Yep, I reckon you're right. I also think that, perhaps, for some people, these fantasies may be a way of working out issues they had with their parents...most problems people face with their parents (or children of course) seem to have an element of control or power imbalance. I am not ruling out your interpretations of sameness v difference...though, of course, sibling stories are a different kettle of fish and seem to be explained to a large extent by your theory.

Does anyone know of any research done on the topic? (I'm sure it's a tough area to investigate so there prob not much out there!)

 

[AllenWmsUSA]

The fantasy can't exist without some real life urges/feelings. But most incest role players will deny that until the cows come home. I say baloney. I've never had .000000000000001 percent of a sexual inkling regarding a family member and coincidently, I've never had .000000000000001 percent of an incest fantasy. So the reverse is damn sure true. If you like incest stories and fantasies, then you have some real life incestuous desires going on. And denying it doesn't make it any less so.

 

[SoulWeaver]

The fantasy can't exist without some real life urges/feelings. But most incest role players will deny that until the cows come home. I say baloney. I've never had .000000000000001 percent of a sexual inkling regarding a family member and coincidently, I've never had .000000000000001 percent of an incest fantasy. So the reverse is damn sure true. If you like incest stories and fantasies, then you have some real life incestuous desires going on. And denying it doesn't make it any less so.

Tis funny but I've never really thought of this in this way, or any other fetishes/fantasies for that matter. I must admit to not searching out, reading or writing any incest stuff, despite a healthy interest in almost anything else. even age difference play, which obviously could have incest overtones, doesn't feel like incest to me. Interesting ........

 

[sunandshadow]

The fantasy can't exist without some real life urges/feelings. But most incest role players will deny that until the cows come home. I say baloney. I've never had .000000000000001 percent of a sexual inkling regarding a family member and coincidently, I've never had .000000000000001 percent of an incest fantasy. So the reverse is damn sure true. If you like incest stories and fantasies, then you have some real life incestuous desires going on. And denying it doesn't make it any less so.

I don't think that's true because it ignores the power of imagination. What if you are an only child, but you imagine some ideal sibling who also happens to be sexually attractive to you? That really doesn't imply that you have any sexual interest in your real parents or cousins or whatever. Or what if you have a real friend that you at some point imagined was your sibling, and at some other point decided it would be interesting to have sex with them? If both of these images are already in your mind it would be quite difficult to never think about the two at the same time.