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Silversun - if you want to see an example of an incest relationship - a real one not a pseudo one - being addressed in mainstream television you could check out a few episodes of Passions - though I hesitate to inflict this show upon you. You might not have access to the recent episodes, but you might check out a Passions website or two or see if there are any thread discussions anywhere that discuss this in depth (the spoilers thread here is mostly made up of us dispossessed fans who miss the way the show used to be).
I used to watch this show frequently over a year ago when it was purposely a non-mainstream, funny soap. I got semi-addicted and actually cried when Timmy died - and then again when the actor died in real life the next day (a very sad story). I still check up on it every once in a while and there is a somewhat intriguing incest story at the moment that has been building for a long time.
Chad and Whitney are half-brother and sister. Whitney was raised by her mother. Chad was stolen away when he was a baby, because he was the product of a union between a prominent son and an African American woman who was a blues singer and alcoholic at the time, and the overbearing father would not allow a marriage. The woman later became a respected doctor. When the son, Chad, came back to town, he fell for his half sister.
Eve, the mother, had suspicions that Chad might be her son, but wasn't entirely aware of the budding romance. She had suspicions though - which led to a hilarious "nightmare" where she was on The Jerry Springer Show (the real Jerry Springer made an appearance) and Whitney was pregnant by her brother and the ususal Jerry Springer confrontations occured with all of the players coming out to hurl their accusations. This went on for a couple of episodes and it was very well done (looked just like a real Jerry Springer show - I'm not a fan by far, but have seen one or two eps). Then DNA tests seemed to show that Chad was not her son, so she gave a sigh of relief. BUT surprise! That same overbearing father changed the results, so...
Now that "nightmare" has become a reality. Whitney and Chad did consummate their relationship which went on for a while before they found out that they really were half brother and sister. Whitney now has a baby by her half brother. The interesting part is in how they are portraying the differing reactions of the half siblings.
Whitney was horrified when she found out the truth. She was so guilt stricken that she was actually not eating and endangering the baby's life. Chad on the other hand wouldn't give up his love for Whitney and still wants to have the relationship. Whitney did have the baby, but gave it up for adoption because she couldn't bear to see it. She lied to everyone that the baby was someone else's. Chad (who I think knows the truth) adopted the baby, not only because it is his, but because he hopes to get Whitney back eventually.
The last episode I saw had Whitney actually looking at her baby for the first time and seeing that he was beautiful (well, beauty must be in the eyes of the beholder, because what an ugly baby - hee), so I'm wondering just where they will take this storyline now.
It might be interesting for you to check out reactions to this mainstream TV pairing to see what attitudes, fanfic etc, might have come from this.
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