Story published in wrong category

[AverageGary]

My most recent submission, which dealt with dreaming of fucking my wife's sister was published in Incest/Taboo instead of the Erotic Couplings category I submitted it with. How is doing my sister-in-law incest or taboo?

 

[UsuallyPresent]

My most recent submission, which dealt with dreaming of fucking my wife's sister was published in Incest/Taboo instead of the Erotic Couplings category I submitted it with. How is doing my sister-in-law incest or taboo?

Some consider it such - due to the legalities, you'll see a whole bunch of step-sibling "incest" porn, for instance.

 

[LexxRuthless]

I've had the same thing happen with two of my stories. In-laws count as incest on the site.

 

[NotWise]

My most recent submission, which dealt with dreaming of fucking my wife's sister was published in Incest/Taboo instead of the Erotic Couplings category I submitted it with. How is doing my sister-in-law incest or taboo?

My first story in I/T was a sister-in-law story. All things considered, it's probably gotten more attention there than it would have in EC.

Sex with your sister-in-law is taboo if not incest, and Laurel reserves the right to put stories where she feels they fit best.

 

[KeithD]

Some consider it such - due to the legalities, you'll see a whole bunch of step-sibling "incest" porn, for instance.

Doesn't have anything to do with law, really. Law looks at the blood relationship. It has to do with industry standards based on consumer hassling.

 

[AverageGary]

Thanks everyone. Didn't realize that in-law sex was categorized as incest or taboo.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Thanks everyone. Didn't realize that in-law sex was categorized as incest or taboo.

Historically, this is exactly where the "in-law" part comes from: under law, for purposes of defining incest, your wife's sister and your brother's wife were considered equivalent to your actual sisters.

Modern standards have shifted a bit, but that's how the term originated.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Doesn't have anything to do with law, really. Law looks at the blood relationship.

That's over-simplifying things. There are many states in the USA, and countries elsewhere, where "incest" is not defined solely on blood relationship, and factors such as marriage and adoption can affect who's off-limits.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks everyone. Didn't realize that in-law sex was categorized as incest or taboo.

Laurel will occasionally change category if she reckons a story might run better elsewhere; but she will also change category to wrangle a story into the right place as per her content policies. Difficult to know which reason, in this case.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

If it really bothers you, resubmit with the word edit in the title and an admin note explaining why you think it should be in EC. The worst that can happen is that Laurel will say No.

 

[Rustyoznail]

My first story was an uncle /aunt /niece thing, so not incest but taboo. My editor recommended that I put it in IT to maximise views. It worked.

 

[SimonDoom]

When I first read the OP's post I thought Laurel's choice seemed ridiculous, because it seems to me that from the erotic standpoint there's a world of difference between a stepsister who is the daughter of one's stepmother and a sister in law who is the sister of one's wife. The stepsister is, functionally, and in some ways legally, a true "sister." But the sister in law is not, at least, I think, to a contemporary reader.

But I did a little digging, and as Bramblethorn says it's more complicated than that. In the "old days" the law was split on this issue and sex with the sister of a spouse was, indeed, in some jurisdictions considered incestuous. So there is some historical/legal basis for Laurel's decision, even though I don't think it conforms in any way to the expectations of the readers of incest stories.

 

[NotWise]

When I first read the OP's post I thought Laurel's choice seemed ridiculous, because it seems to me that from the erotic standpoint there's a world of difference between a stepsister who is the daughter of one's stepmother and a sister in law who is the sister of one's wife. The stepsister is, functionally, and in some ways legally, a true "sister." But the sister in law is not, at least, I think, to a contemporary reader.

But I did a little digging, and as Bramblethorn says it's more complicated than that. In the "old days" the law was split on this issue and sex with the sister of a spouse was, indeed, in some jurisdictions considered incestuous. So there is some historical/legal basis for Laurel's decision, even though I don't think it conforms in any way to the expectations of the readers of incest stories.

Um, ask your wife if it's OK to fuck her sister. I think you'll find that it's taboo. It has nothing to do with incest, and laws regarding incest are irrelevant.

 

[Bramblethorn]

But I did a little digging, and as Bramblethorn says it's more complicated than that. In the "old days" the law was split on this issue and sex with the sister of a spouse was, indeed, in some jurisdictions considered incestuous. So there is some historical/legal basis for Laurel's decision, even though I don't think it conforms in any way to the expectations of the readers of incest stories.

This is a plot point in Hamlet: Gertrude marries her dead husband's brother, which is referred to as "incest" five times in the course of the play.

The very foundation of the Church of England depends on that idea - Henry VIII had received special Papal dispensation to marry his dead brother's widow Catherine, but then decided to ditch her, and tried to get an annulment (i.e. acknowledgement that the marriage had never been legitimate, due to that connection being prohibited). Since the Pope wouldn't play along, he eventually had to set up his own church to get the marriage annulled. Since Elisabeth I's legitimacy depended on the claim that Henry's marriage to Catherine was invalid, it's perhaps not surprising that Shakespeare made such a point of this principle...

The Church of England's "Table of Kindred and Affinity" lists the category of relations who are forbidden to marry (with those forbidden categories being considered incest). Older versions, like this one, specifically forbid marrying one's sibling-in-law, or their children, and until 1907 this was also the law of the land. [edit: oh hooray, the automated link-breaker is doing its thing, google "deceased wife's sister's marriage act 1907" if you want it.]

Do modern readers care about that history? Probably not. But modern attitudes to one's in-laws are probably still influenced by it.

 

[RejectReality]

It's reader complaints that have caused Laurel to take a harder line on incest and non-con content.

Regardless of what the main readership of the category wants, the greater readership has complained enough to get Laurel to move what's sometimes known as "pseudo incest" ( step and in-law ) to the incest category.

If its written well enough, it will still do okay there, but you'll always have low votes and complaints about anything outside the nuclear family.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Incest, what it consists of and the details of the laws in various places and times is a recurring theme. While not brushing that off, the actual issue would seem to be why the site arbitrarily changed the OP's story category. The answer to that is subtly different.

It may be that, as RejectReality has just noted, that there have been a lot of complaints or reported stories. That's a reasonable possibility, but given the regular blood-on-the-floor nature of comments in Loving Wives and the General Board, I'm not sure why negative comments would matter.

Nor do I think that legal definitions play in here, either. Incest, using whatever definition you want, is almost universally a criminal offense and the Incest/Taboo section is full of Go-to-Jail acts. Putting a story in one part of this site as opposed to another wouldn't make any difference from a legal point of view.

Laurel is supposed to screen all the submitted stuff, but given the volume, I think she has must have help, quite possibly some sort of screening programme. One of my stories, A Clutch of Mermaids, was about two very human young ladies wearing mermaid costumes. I submitted it under Erotic Couplings. On checking its progress a day or two later, I saw that it was scheduled to be posted under Non-Human, as if we were talking about real mermaids. No harm done and I got it changed, but that kind of error seems unlikely to have been made by a human, even one skimming at high speed. So, it's possible that the category switch for the OP's tale was just a fussy artificial-not-quite-intelligence choice and can be easily fixed.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It may be that, as RejectReality has just noted, that there have been a lot of complaints or reported stories. That's a reasonable possibility, but given the regular blood-on-the-floor nature of comments in Loving Wives and the General Board, I'm not sure why negative comments would matter.

My guess is that Laurel is coralling all incest, close incest, and faux incest together, so that if, for whatever reason, she has to carve the category off, she can do so. Pure speculation, obviously.

 

[RetroFan]

My guess is that Laurel is coralling all incest, close incest, and faux incest together, so that if, for whatever reason, she has to carve the category off, she can do so. Pure speculation, obviously.

I thought this too, but a few days I submitted a new story 'The Ghosts Made Us Do It', which was about a stepbrother and stepsister who are experiencing problems with a poltergeist share a shower and then a bed, leading to more intimate things between them.

I submitted it in Erotic Horror, but put a note to say that if it was more appropriate as Incest/Taboo to move it there. When published it did go to Erotic Horror, but with a preface advising readers of the incestuous themes.

 

[RejectReality]

The reason why I know about the complaints is that I was advocating for a relaxation on the policy with regards to certain categories, including SF&F & EH. The warnings were the compromise, because readers in those categories heed them rather than going crying to Mommy that they saw something icky

I thought this too, but a few days I submitted a new story 'The Ghosts Made Us Do It', which was about a stepbrother and stepsister who are experiencing problems with a poltergeist share a shower and then a bed, leading to more intimate things between them.

I submitted it in Erotic Horror, but put a note to say that if it was more appropriate as Incest/Taboo to move it there. When published it did go to Erotic Horror, but with a preface advising readers of the incestuous themes.