Taboo aside, do you believe incest is morally wrong?

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So the old taboo about it aside, do you personally believe that incest between two consenting adults is morally wrong? I'm sure my family wouldn't speak to me or give me respect anymore if I were attracted to my pretty female cousin (who is around the same age), but I don't believe it is morally wrong between two consenting adults. I don't know if sexual activity between me and a cousin is legal in Pennsylvania. But marriage between first cousins is illegal here as far as I know. I'm not convinced that it is entirely immoral even if I never really looked at the sheer facts though.

So, consensual incest? Moral or immoral? I have a hard time seeing how it can be objectively immoral. It actually seems more "normal" than homosexuality, but I don't have a problem with them either.

Especially if she's not your FIRST cousin, I don't find the relationship to be particularly questionable.

If she's your FIRST cousin, it's legal--but, in my mind, I would find it to be close to incest.

Otherwise, it's just like any other relationship to me.

What's your main point, again?

And I wasn't directly referring to my cousin as a potential relationship partner, so you know.

I was very clear.

I find a relationship with first cousins somewhat questionable, though it's not illegal. I wouldn't lose sleep over it, though.

Beyond that, I don't really see a concern with second cousins and beyond.

I see two major issues with incest...

1. Is it really consensual? When it comes to a lot of cultures - especially outside the Western world - it might be prudent to be sceptical about how much autonomy women really have when it comes to sexual relationships... I can only imagine that such autonomy would be even more restricted wrt. intra-familial sexual relationships.... Gender equality is a fairly recent - and far from universal - concept, and allowing incest is likely to put women at disproportional risk of sexual abuse...

2. Inbreeding Depression. Consanguinity between parents increased the risks of genetic defects in their children...

Ideally, both could be prevented through strict regulation/oversight/screening etc., but it may just be more efficient to ban certain sexual relationships when the level of consanguinity is sufficiently high:

Of course, one would have to define a cutoff point for the coefficient of relationship (r):



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coefficie ... ationships

I'm not a mathematician. I can't understand coefficients.

The higher the number, the closer you are related.

The increased risk of genetic defects is negligible. There's about a 3% chance of the child of first cousins inheriting both copies of Gran's deleterious autosomal recessive allele - assuming she even has one.

Of course, that adds up across the population, but we don't ban people from having children just because they have a genetic disease. People with Huntingdon's disease have a 50% chance of passing it on to each child they have, which is about four times the risk when the children of a carrier of an autosomal recessive have a child together. We do not, and should not, make it illegal to have sex if you have Huntingdon's disease.

Yes I believe it's morally wrong.

Consanguinity results in birth defects more often than not.

I've seen online, twice in the past 24 hours, posts that seem to imply that incest is Biblically ok or ok because a small handful of people mentioned in the Book of Genesis did marry siblings or cousins.

That doesn't make it ok. Biblical characters did lots of things that the Bible calls sin. "David did it" doesn't make it a non-sin. David repented.

In the beginning genes were perfect and there were no mutations, so consanguinity would not cause a problem. Also there weren't any other people to marry for the first four or five generations who wouldn't be siblings or cousins, so no other choices.

Generations later there are many mutations and consanguinity increases the likelihood of birth defects, therefore Levitical Law includes bans against marrying close relatives. So people saying that incest is ok by the Bible because look, Abraham Isaac and Jacob did, are incorrect.

As long as no children issue, what is wrong with incest?

Obviously, if you're having sex with somebody, there's the potential for children to be produced.

If two people having sex are already the product of an incestuous relationship, then there might be more of a possibility of sterility.

But I still believe most children from such a relationship are still capable of having babies.

Not entirely sure I think it's wrong because that's what I've learned or if I'd see it as wrong if I had never heard that it was. I find the concept both disturbing/gross and fascinating. I like Game of Thrones books and show, and there is plenty of incest in that series to the point not sure it would phase me anymore to hear about it. Also if anyone remembers the movie The Crow, I believe a couple of the villans where siblings and in a relationship.

It was good enough for the Pharohs.lol
Seriously,it's bad.
Saw a bumper sticker that said," Stop inbreeding,ban country music."

Incestuous relationships are statistically more likely to be abusive and predatory, especially within the nuclear family.

But I think if two cousins genuinely like each other and enjoy being together, who am I to judge?

Do the people that disapprove have ugly cousins?