Is incest always condemnable?

I'm also serious when I say I see nothing morally wrong with incest and since the genetics problem can be dealt with these days, have fun. Of course, all cavaets that would apply to non-incestual sex are still in place, such as no sex with children, no rape etc.

Still, I don't think I should have sex with my sister. I don't think anybody should have sex with my sister. I know I sound overprotective, but I really think it's for your own good. Therapy is so expensive these days.
 
Did they commit a sin?
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Not in my book. No God, no sin. Simple, yes??
They may have committed a crime, I'm not sure. Personally, I don't want to bang my sister, brother , mother or father, but I'm funny like that.
 
I read DD's Wiki link and that is interesting.

I can talk about this issue with animals, since I am a livestock breeder. I would not undertake a project of inbreeding animals (personally) unless I were prepared to cull heavily, due to the inevitable genetic problems that crop up initially. That means either castrating or spaying the animals that ended up with genetic problems and selling them as pets, or putting them in the freezer to help out with the food supply.

Of course we don't do this with people. We actually do not even have the perception of a mating that is unsuccessful and therefore not good to repeat, or the idea that a person is somehow not "good enough" for "breeding stock". Those are all ideas that come from breeding animals.

The goals in breeding animals are different, too. Usually you are either trying to breed for a very homogeneous population (sheep that all produce 10 pound fleeces that grade 18 microns, or cows that all produce 12 gallons of milk a day) or a population that has great beauty according to the breed standard of that animal.

There *IS* no goal in breeding humans. Since that is the case, perhaps the issues of genetic problems are irrelevant. The issue of genetic problems then goes to the individual, I suppose. It's tough luck on the person that gets born with hemophilia, though.
 
As was mentioned at Wikipedia, people being raised together tend to have less sexual feelings towards each other. So this taboo is part of our genetical preprogramming and is active during the first decade or so. So the reason why it's gross like Katana asked is the same like why some people fear spiders although they migh know that the actual spider they face is not harmful. ;)
But the cultural side is a part of it too of course.

There is a problem with saying that there should be no children coming out of incestous relationships. Some people have genetic defects, their children have an increased probability of having defects and genetic diseases too. I fully understand the intentions. But if you start creating laws about who is allowed to have children and who is not, you will face severe problems. Where to draw the line? BTW, I suggest looking up Racial Hygiene and this Euthanasia Program. Sorry, I don't really like to brin up Nazis in a discussion but I think it should be mentioned, that if you decide that people with genetic defects should not get children and if you stay consistent, you will come to such things like "is there life that is worthless" and the kind.


And as the forum expert for sexual abnormallies... :D I shall add for your information, that incest can be a sexual preference too.
 
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OXEL said:
As was mentioned at Wikipedia, people being raised together tend to have less sexual feelings towards each other. So this taboo is part of our genetical preprogramming and is active during the first decade or so. So the reason why it's gross like Katana asked is the same like why some people fear spiders although they migh know that the actual spider they face is not harmful. ;)

{snip}
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How did you know I was an arachnophobe, OXEL?

:eek:

Perhaps you should apply for the challenge.
 
Katana said:
How did you know I was an arachnophobe, OXEL?

:eek:

Perhaps you should apply for the challenge.
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Well, there had to be a reason for your liking for swords. :D

But being the God Of Hellfire, I shall indeed apply for the challenge somewhere in the future. :)
 
Here's something I always found interesting: brothers and sisters who were separated at birth, who later meet without knowing they are brother and sister often fall in love or are attracted to each other. (I remember hearing this in my human sexuality class, I don't know where the data comes from, sorry).
Of course, since I have a brother, my feeling about that has always been ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!!! But I could see how that would make sense. People are often attracted to people who look like themselves (again, from the class I took, don't know the source).
Also, and I've experienced this, people you've known since childhood, that you've been raised around, possibly that you attended primary school with, can trigger the incest taboo (that ew, ew ew thing). However, there is no biological reason for this (you aren't going to weaken the gene pool), nor are there any social mores to blame.

Logically, if a pair of siblings have sex, if they aren't having babies (i.e. they are of the same sex or they use birth control), there's no harm done. How can it be morally wrong unless, of course, there is some coercion or abuse involved?

My family is from Mississippi and I've got at least a couple of distant cousins whose father is also their grandfather (ew, ew, ew), and that's definitely wrong. But the example you gave, Inanna, I don't see anything morally wrong except for the lack of community involvement or support system for the siblings. They were both victims of a tragic situation. Hey, incest is a strong enough social taboo that it is the basis for a few Greek tragedies, but as far as being morally wrong, there is no absolute answer.
 
noblecaboose said:
My family is from Mississippi and I've got at least a couple of distant cousins whose father is also their grandfather (ew, ew, ew), and that's definitely wrong.
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So it's ok if siblings do it, but it's wrong if parents do it with their children even if the children are already 18?
 
I think there is also the point being missed that even if there is a genetic issue with the offspring of incestuous relationships, that isn't incest. Incest is simply having sex with a blood relative (distance varies by area you live in), children are a seperate issue.

In my opinion, no one should tell consenting adults who they can have sex with.
 
noblecaboose said:
My family is from Mississippi and I've got at least a couple of distant cousins whose father is also their grandfather . . .
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My daughter works with a young woman who's father is also her grandfather. it isn't just Mississippi!
 
wooooody64 said:
I would not condemn a couple in this situation, their circumstances have put them together and it would be understandable that they may have grown to love and trust one another.

As the saying goes, "You can't help who you fall in love with" and as long as they are not hurting anyone else, then what are they guilty of?

However, in saying that, it would be wise for people in this situation, to seek as much information as possible before thinking of having children in a relationship such as this.

I believe that there may be a possiblity of children born from blood relations having defects and/or health issues.

It would be unfair on the child if this were to happen. There is a story here of a German brother/sister who had four children together.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,254943,00.html
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The thing that I find somewhat odd about this is that there are other pairings that are known to be that bad that are not societally shunned for genetic reasons. Such as two people with Achondroplasia the most common form of dwarfism. If both parents contribute their Achondropastic gene then the child with have a lethal condition homozygous achondroplasia.

So why do we make jokes about people hooking up at family reunions and not a little people conventions?
 
Piscivore said:
"Soylent Hay is ponies!":(
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That made my day! (I'm a big Harry Harrison fan)

I find it interesting that children who spend around ten years together have no desire to have sex with each other, and so do many married couples. :D
 
OXEL said:
So it's ok if siblings do it, but it's wrong if parents do it with their children even if the children are already 18?
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That's not what I said.
Sorry, I failed to mention that the situation was part of an ongoing abusive situation that started when the daughter was in her early teens. I was using it as an example of coersion and abuse. I thought that was implied. :rolleyes:


Naturally, there are situations where, say, a daughter seduces her father (Lot) that could be conceivably not immoral. Or perhaps she was raised separately and they met under other circumstances
(like in the Korean movie Oldboy, oops just spoiled the ending).
It's still icky, but nobody's being hurt.

ETA: And what does age have to do with anything? I could go off on how arbitrary the whole "over 18" thing is. The number of guys serving long prison terms for consensual sex with girls who are under 18 is disgusting. I had a friend who went to jail because a girl lied about her age and while he was there, he met another guy who was in because the same girl lied to him too.
 
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OK. But you should really put that spoiler out there! I saw the movie but it might ruin it for some people!
 
I remember reading an article a long time ago that explained the taboo against incest from several different perspectives.

The most interesting to me was the psychological. As a child grows, the growing ego needs a safe haven. The child needs a space of solid predictability and unconditional acceptence from which to go out into the world and explore. A teenager may test her sexuality by flirting but then, when the situation becomes to intense, retreat to the home where she is free to regress to more childlike behavior.

Taking this as true, the possibility of incest disrupts the need for a stable, loving home. If sexual demands and pressures occur at home, the ego has no shelter.

Now, some may argue that this is why incest with children should be outlawed but not with consenting adults. I offer two responses: First, if incest between consenting adults is tolerated, it trickles down to how children are treated. Can a father honestly treat his 17 year and 11 month daughter as a child while knowing that in 1 month she is becomes a sexually available adult?

Second, the need to have the home be a safe haven does not magically disappear when a person reaches legal majority. For psychological reasons, having the comfort of home may be important throughout a persons teens and twenties. And what forty year-old hasn't regressed just a little when walking in his parent's door?
 
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