Thread: Incest
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Old 07-31-2008, 04:51 PM   #16 (permalink)
Ceros
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I think that before we proceed further it's important to define incest properly. As I see, we're actually discussing three different topics:

1) Incest between a brother and a sister, or any other distant relative (eg cousins, uncles, etc)
2) Incest between a parent and their adult offspring.
3) Incest between a parent and their child who hasn't reached the age of maturity (whatever age that may be).

From what I see, most people condemn the latter, though the real reason it's condemned is because it's basically rape of an unwitting child, and the fact that it's done by a parent only adds insult to the injury.

Saying that incest is bad simply because of this is no different than saying that homosexuality should be prosecuted because it leads to men having sex with underage boys.

Quote:
. Yes, they take several generations to become pronounced, but if there was no prohibition, we'd eventually be quite messed up genetically.
As a friend once put it, who are these "we" that you are talking about? You and I? I don't think that someone having sex with their siblings would affect either of us genetically.

Furthermore, even if we observe the damage over several generations, it still doesn't have as much of a negative impact as when a mother drinks or smokes during pregnancy, and yet we don't see a widespread condemnation or taboo of the latter.
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