Entitled said:
Overusedname said:
I'll compare this to another issue: You know how homosexuality has been proven by all non-religously funded science to be harmless? And that kids from families with gay people or gay adoptive parents tend to be very happy and healthy? And there are just (adjusted for proportion) just as many long lasting monogamous gay relationships as heterosexual ones. The gays are accepted cause science and empathy make it clear they're A-okay. If they have problems, it's not because they're gay.
Incest doesn't have that kind of track record. Biologically and psychologically there seems to be real harm.
A few decades ago, homosexuality also had a pretty bad track record, simply because most gays were in the closet, so man of the ones who got outed were the ones caught with their pants down, often while raping someone, thus enforcing the stereotype that gays are depraved pedophiles, and generally sex-obsessed people who would fuck anything that moves.
Maybe the same is the case with incest. It's such a big taboo, that even if an average person doesn't feel the westermarck effect as strongly as others, they would rather deny getting turned on by family members, or at least do it secretly, so we don't see them having well-adjusted incestous relationships, and the only ones that don't follow that, are the ones with abnormally strong sex drives, or otherwise unwilling the follow cultural norms.
You raise a good point. I almost noted the comparison with the anti-gay propaganda, but I hesitated as my research of the issue has yielded millions of well adjusted gay couples (many with children), and no such luck for incest. I can find well-adjusted, happy and loving polygamists, who are perhaps just as hated as people engaged in incest.
Perhaps a good example exists. It's very hard to find any. The cultural stigma is strong, but maybe it really is harming the people involved.
If I'm presented with evidence to the contrary, I'll listen and reevaluate my thoughts. I've learned to always question what I hear. Consider how hated polygamy is, it's interesting I was able to find well-adjusted examples of it. I can't find any for incest without problems directly linked to social, psychological and sexual health issues.
Sparrow said:
That kid is going to get genetically screwed because you took it upon yourself to screw your genetics
What's your stance on allowing people with genetic disorders to reproduce?
I know this wasn't aimed at me, but just wanted to comment. Decent comparison there...I would encourage adoption myself, but considering the fact that we all have genetic problems...well, you know. We'd die out with those standards. I wouldn't bar people with disorder from reproduction. No one should.
But I don't support incest for other reasons, so I still wouldn't support it for incest. And the severity of the genetic consequences line up with the other seemingly damaging effects, leaning toward our bodies and science screaming 'don't do this' on a natural level. Sophisticated mammals, our cousins, have set up social norms that seem to minimize incest naturally, free of moral conditioning, where as homosexuality in animals runs rampant and is harmless. This is true of Apes and wolves, for example. These creatures function on raw instinct. Incest is still in the animal kingdom all over the place, but for the ones most similar to us, it seems to be minimal.
Show me a reasonable amount of happy, healthy people who do it, and fine. It should be legal.
