Discussion: Taboos in writing

[Raz]

A thought I just had...

What (if anything) do you think is too taboo to write fiction about?

I'm asking because there's a thread in SLR running for people to post their erotic fiction, and someone posted a piece featuring father/daughter incest and really extreme sadomasochism. It got shut down pretty much straight away, but it got me thinking...where is the line? When we're talking about fiction, is there a line?

Pedophilia isn't something I have the slightest interest in reading about, but as long as it is purely fictional then it's not actually hurting anyone, so why is it wrong to write about it? Same goes for rape or cannibalism or any other thing which would be rightfully frowned upon in reality...it's why I don't understand when books are banned because people find them distasteful. If I don't approve of something then I won't read it, but I will defend someone's right to express themselves regardless..

Thoughts?

 

[tenderjuice]

When we're talking about fiction, is there a line?

If I don't approve of something then I won't read it, but I will defend someone's right to express themselves regardless..

Thoughts?

There is no line. If you dont like it, dont read it.

Is there a line in art? If so, Salvador Dali crossed many of them!

There is no line, only personal taste.

 

[Toltecsuperhero]

I think in modern society enough taboos have been erased that "the line" is becoming blurry at best. When I want to find out what's at the limit of popular acceptance, I look to comedy. Whoever and whatever is at the (lunatic) fringe of humor is usually where the line seems to spring up.
Of late, it seems that racism and religion mark the outer reaches of public opinion on good taste, but personally I don't think there is a line worth speaking of... if you can make someone think with any work of fiction, then I won't fault you for making choices that offend. I don't think I've ever read anything that evoked a strong reaction in me that didn't have some value, if only that I am forced to reconsider my own sensibilities. So draw lines if you will, or not. It's really all the same to me and I would say most of the people on this forum, though I hesitate to speak for anyone I don't personally know.

 

[psood0nym]

^If the line is drawn by the state of comedy then that something like The Aristocrats can be rented at Blockbuster should tell us that the line for written fiction is quite a bit past that. Hell, I think I recall a passage in Gravity's Rainbow where twin underage girls receive anal sex during an orgy on a boat, and that was nominated for the Pulitzer way back in the '74. Degrading Islam in a way that is entirely malicious is a line I don't think many publishing houses would allow their authors to cross. That however has nothing to due with taste or taboo and everything to do with fear of retribution.

I don't know, it might be wrong to surreptitiously or suggestively write corrupting content into a piece whose ostensible/marketed audience explicitly wishes not to be exposed to it, particularly if the author's motive is spite and the content is purely superficial and vile (like if when piecing the more subtle clues of a plot together in a book marketed to disease survivors, there was an elaborate argument for killing them the second they contracted said disease). The "if you don't like it, don't read it" principal kind of falls apart here.

 

[9mmCensor]

I believe that people need to be able to express themselves. I don't want people stopping me from being creative and expressing myself or others. There is too much to loose, if we rely on the censorship to enforce morality. Writing fiction is not action. Dreams/thoughts should never be criminalized and to me writing fiction is just penning dreams/thoughts. Killing someone is generally believed to be wrong, but dreaming it or thinking it should not. The line is between reality(action) and dream states(thought) and reasonable people (artists and critics) should know that line.

 

[echo off]

i think this argument is best answered with... if i couldn't write little stories about killing people, i might just have to fucking do it. perhaps a similar method of control can be employed for pedophiles rapists and serial killers.

a human can never be taboo, but their actions can. writing is not the questionable action, sharing it is. you don't give kids porn, and you don't give them horrors.

 

[9mmCensor]

you can try to control the information by stopping its manufacture or you can control the supply of it. both are censorship.

 

[Benefit]

What (if anything) do you think is too taboo to write fiction about?

Nothing.

Whether there is a market for what you're writing is a completely separate, and arguably more important, issue.

 

[(Wordy)]

Nothing.

Whether there is a market for what you're writing is a completely separate, and arguably more important, issue.

I think that's a good way to look at it, although I think if you follow that line of argument, the most important question then becomes, "Why isn't there a market for it?"

Another question might be, "What topics would you personally not feel comfortable writing about?"

And finally: the Marquis De Sade has a lot to answer for!