An old friend of mine works in the industry
and he cites the destigmatization of divorce leading to an increase in step/outlaw/extended family cohabitation as the source of the step-incest trend.

Sounds a bit Praeger-U to me, but maybe he has the germ of a point.

I had always assumed it was a 4-chan gameification thing because I recall the change in focus happened very suddenly, but that doesn't explain why the focus has stayed on it for so long. There must be a real demand for it. Young people are disgusting.
( brb natural fistic, Wed 19 Feb 2025, 18:56, archived)

It seems to have coincided with the start of Game Of Thrones,
but which way round the causation goes, I'm not sure.
( Mr. Tea 'ulmmm'/'mmneurgh', Wed 19 Feb 2025, 19:05, archived)

I think Egyptian history was on the national curriculum for a while in the 00s,
and Star Wars was pretty big from the 70s to the 00s too. There must be pop culture references going all the way back, Shakespeare loved the stuff.
( brb natural fistic, Wed 19 Feb 2025, 20:58, archived)