I think there's an odd psychology to many ships, that is many would be opposed to it in real life, but as part of a fictional world they feel free to go with it (though sometimes they'll actually twist the canon--sometimes very cleverly--so that the shipped pair being siblings, for example, is no longer an issue). And I'd be surprised if most of the girls I saw reading Flowers in the Attic decided to bang their own brothers or other relatives over it, it was more of a compelling story (and perhaps the taboo/doomed element makes it more dramatic). I might share my theories later, but given how many shippers there are on this board, I'm kinda scared to.
Shipping is not my thing, though I'm generally amused as bemused by it, and sometimes interested. I can enjoy the fics, but I don't get emotionally invested in them. And I've seen Giles/Buffy vids on YT and might've even found it sweet, though usually funny (I'll give them points if they're clever enough in how they put it together), but I don't take it seriously and it's not something I'd want to see happen in canon (which had way too much shipping and teasing for my taste anyway). There's a song about shipping, btw...found it:
I once joked about a certain perverse ship I was going to create in the Potterverse to "win the internet." (This is actually original enough that I don't think anybody has done it yet, and it's offensive on so many levels, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone already did. Not that I was ever serious about making the ship, and if I did then it should've been obvious I was being silly.)
But then I got to wondering how veela and centaurs in the Potterverse would get along (I think they'd either appreciate each other or hate each other passionately) and after other sources I tried to see if anyone did a fanfic on them meeting. And so doing I stumbled across the most bizarre Draco/Harry fic that blew my mind (from the 2 chapters I think I skimmed, Harry is part veela, can't recall the details, and Draco essentially "forcibly seduces" him and gets him pregnant--don't ask--and the sex stuff was extremely graphic to the point I think most porn companies don't go there), and I was sure it was a "troll fic" that I heard about (written simply to tick off the fans), and the thousand reviews made me think I was right...so I looked at the reviews and they were almost all glowing. Even the few that weren't were more of constructive criticism that had to do with how the characters used magic. At that point I knew that to "win the internet with the most perverse union possible" was simply not possible to me, not even I have the imagination for it. And after being blasted with that I've found most other shipping fics tame by comparison.
