You know, you hear a lot of people say "Its okay for fictional media to tackle controversial topics, as long as they dont glorify it" and I think they actually mean "The only allowed portrayals of controversial topics in fictional media should never challenge the fear of the topic".
Because like, I'm thinking about The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. This is a story which is about many things, but at its core is a codependent, consanguinamorous pair of siblings, which are also murderous cannibals who summon demons. This game by no means glorifies incest or consang! Its protagonists are at no point treated as good people, in fact openly referred to as monsters. It does portray them vaguely sympathetically, in that it does present it as tragic that these siblings are so codependently intertwined, but it very much stays a mile away from "glorifying" it. When it does portray them fucking eventually (along some routes), its always done with a hefty dose of "this relationship is a toxic one", and importantly, such scenes are never explicit. You see a bit of covered cleavage I think. Its about as far from a glorified portrayal as i can imagine.
But you'd never know this from its haters! There's a real sense that they view it as no different from an incest porn VN! And I think that says something about the average consanguiphobe's mentality. They do not want any portrayal of incest/consang that is any level of complex. They dont even want the characters in such relationships humanized. They want it simple, a boogeyman they can feel justified in their fear of! And thats what they mean when they say "It's fine in fiction as long as they dont glorify it", they just dont want their reactionary fear challenged in the slightest.
And idk. its infuriating, not only because consang people are beautiful and deserve love and respect; but also because, even if you dont have consang feelings, theres some really beautiful art people make surrounding the complexities of the topic. Stuff that is viewed as "degenerate" (reminder: a literal nazi mentality) by so many. If you fear consang, its your duty to take a step back from your fears and ask why. To take apart the idea, ask what is truly wrong about it, and see if you might be looking at it wrong.
And then once you're ready, try the consang media out there. You'll find beauty along the less-tread paths. And treat consang folks better while youre at it
