I have read the thread and am still unsure which side of this argument I am on. Because of my upbringing I, like most people I suppose, find the thought of incest distasteful. Of course as a lesbian I am used to other people finding my relationships distasteful too - so how much of the feeling that incest is wrong is just coming from that, rather than a thoughtful appraisal of the facts and risks.
In my family a brother and sister (they were great aunt/uncle of one of my parents) lived together for their entire lives. When I was old enough it was explained to me (after their deaths) that they were in an incestuous relationship and had been since my gguncle had returned, wounded, from fighting in the army. His sister had nursed him and the relationship had started at that point.
I didn't know them very well - they lived in the same town as my granddparents but we only saw them at family gatherings, where as far as I was concerned they were no different to any of my other relatives. They didn't have children (deliberately) and the family view (I spoke at length to my grandfather) was that it was considered wrong, but no-one wanted to disown them or report them to the police.
So would I want to have seen them imprisoned? No, not really. There was, as far as I know, no abuse involved and they were adults when they started the relationship. So that experience makes me lean towards decriminalisation and using the abuse laws to deal with abuse. Having said that, I still worry that decriminalising incest will make it easier for people to abuse others.
So I am on the fence - torn between my belief in right to personal freedom (that has allowed me to get married to my partner) and concern that abusers might be more easily allowed to abuse. I need to think about it more though...
Incest is illegal & should stay illegal. Whatever the apologists say above, allowing incest once people are adults will result in more abuse by fathers or elder brothers of daughters or sisters because they believe it will only be a few years before it can be 'validated' in law.
You forgot to mention mothers or sisters as instigators of incest, I'm sure that wasn't deliberate ...
But how do you enforce that? You can't really force them to be sterilised or force them to have an abortion.
You don't enforce it I'm just saying make it legal as long as they don't have kids then if they have kids then they should get into trouble for having them.
I know you can't change the clock when they've had the kids but it's the same with any crime really once it's done it's done and you can't go back in time so you punish them for it in the hope it will deter other couples.
None of us would be alive if it wasn't for incest.
Having said that of course I would not permit one of these relationships under my roof. Absolutely not. >:(
But between consenting adults it is none of my business. Sure I find it strange that siblings or close relatives would want to be in a relationship. But as others have said many of these relationships developed outside the context of a family and any awareness they were related growing up.
Some people associate "incest" as being unnatural because of the greatly increased likelihood of genetic mutation. But nothing could be more natural. It's nature's way of increasing the odds of survival for a small shrinking population. The rate of mutation increases the more closely related the parents are and this is important for evolution. Everyone is born with mutations but almost all are unnoticed and at the sub cellular level. But the more mutations a species develops from generation to generation the quicker it can adapt to changing environments and threats to it's survival. Humans (and other species) have survived near extinctions because of the accelerated rates of mutation during these genetic bottlenecks.
In the context of our 6 billion and counting modern world of course we don't need or want any disfiguring or disabling mutations in our children. I do think people involved in these relationships should receive information and counseling to keep them informed of the risks they are taking. But other non incestuous parents also have high risk backgrounds for having children with disabilities and we don't outlaw them from having children.
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In my family a brother and sister (they were great aunt/uncle of one of my parents) lived together for their entire lives. When I was old enough it was explained to me (after their deaths) that they were in an incestuous relationship and had been since my gguncle had returned, wounded, from fighting in the army. His sister had nursed him and the relationship had started at that point.
I didn't know them very well - they lived in the same town as my granddparents but we only saw them at family gatherings, where as far as I was concerned they were no different to any of my other relatives. They didn't have children (deliberately) and the family view (I spoke at length to my grandfather) was that it was considered wrong, but no-one wanted to disown them or report them to the police.
So would I want to have seen them imprisoned? No, not really. There was, as far as I know, no abuse involved and they were adults when they started the relationship. So that experience makes me lean towards decriminalisation and using the abuse laws to deal with abuse. Having said that, I still worry that decriminalising incest will make it easier for people to abuse others.
So I am on the fence - torn between my belief in right to personal freedom (that has allowed me to get married to my partner) and concern that abusers might be more easily allowed to abuse. I need to think about it more though...
You forgot to mention mothers or sisters as instigators of incest, I'm sure that wasn't deliberate ...
But how do you enforce that? You can't really force them to be sterilised or force them to have an abortion.
You don't enforce it I'm just saying make it legal as long as they don't have kids then if they have kids then they should get into trouble for having them.
Having said that of course I would not permit one of these relationships under my roof. Absolutely not. >:(
But between consenting adults it is none of my business. Sure I find it strange that siblings or close relatives would want to be in a relationship. But as others have said many of these relationships developed outside the context of a family and any awareness they were related growing up.
Some people associate "incest" as being unnatural because of the greatly increased likelihood of genetic mutation. But nothing could be more natural. It's nature's way of increasing the odds of survival for a small shrinking population. The rate of mutation increases the more closely related the parents are and this is important for evolution. Everyone is born with mutations but almost all are unnoticed and at the sub cellular level. But the more mutations a species develops from generation to generation the quicker it can adapt to changing environments and threats to it's survival. Humans (and other species) have survived near extinctions because of the accelerated rates of mutation during these genetic bottlenecks.
In the context of our 6 billion and counting modern world of course we don't need or want any disfiguring or disabling mutations in our children. I do think people involved in these relationships should receive information and counseling to keep them informed of the risks they are taking. But other non incestuous parents also have high risk backgrounds for having children with disabilities and we don't outlaw them from having children.