My Lover, My Brother: What the Fantasy of Consent in an Incestuous Relationship Means for Feminism

Author: Esti Klein

Field of Study: English

Faculty Mentors: Shannon Hearn

Easel: 22

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: For the past century, feminists have written and theorized about incest and its morality. Due to the severe imbalance of power in this relation, feminists argue that incest cannot happen consensually; thus, understanding these power dynamics is at the crux of our understanding of incest’s immorality. The heart of this project is incestuous relationships in which power dynamics are virtually nonexistent: if those existed did that mean incest could (and should) be accepted in society? So-called 'equal sibling incest' in literature is a symbolic deconstruction of manmade boundaries, showing the hypothetical and exceptional existence of consent between siblings. Much of the work of feminist theory centers around deconstruction, but fictitious incest reveals the value and necessity of having constructed concepts of relation for one another.