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Seriously, when the general public hears about incest, whether it be sisterxbrother, cousin/cousin, auntxnephew, the general reaction is: EEEEEEWWW!!!

((I'm not talking about ***** here, like fatherxdaughter. Children can't give legal consent.))

But truly, what's wrong with incest? Just "It's plain wrong" and "It's gross" doesn't cut a suitable explanation. Cow meat is "plain wrong" and "gross" to me, but you don't see me picketing outside your house and blackmailing you! And many countries don't see what's so "OMG WRONG" with arranged marriages either. And homosexuality? Despite a large population of homophobics (of whom I suspect 80% is actually homosexual), we're gaining more tolerance.

But incest? Noo, it's not even a major issue because mostly everyone's against it!

CousinxCousin marriage is legal in most countries, but siblingxsibling marriages aren't.

Why is is wrong? If it's because recessive genes are bought out more and "two-headed one-legged mutant demented babies" are brought out, if it's because many believe that it's inbreeding the gene pool and weakening the population, let's also outlaw marriage between Down Syndrome couples because they're more likely to produce a Down Syndrome baby. Yes. Let's also ban "weak" traits like predisposition of cancer etc.

Discuss, dammit!

For some reason, every time I even look at a topic these days, my political beliefs tend to poke themselves at me again. I don't think incest is right, but that's because I was raised that way, and it's not something I can change about me, because it's deep. I mean s**t, I can joke about about it (the game the whole family can enjoy!), but I could never do it. No matter how hot my cousins are. Never.

On the other hand, once I look at it objectively, it all falls into perspective. I suppose that there's no factual basis for the anti-incest beliefs, and come on, let's be serious. Inbreeding will not be an issue in one generation. Problems are when you have nobility-level issues. I can't remember offhand, and now I'm going to do some meaningful research I've meant to do for close to a year now, but I believe that once you have narrowed the DNA pool to a small enough amount, that is when, after a few generations, problems occur. Case in point: compare possible clan sizes of Native American tribal sittings, upwards of hundreds in size, and European royalty, who could only mate with each other, at, say, a few dozen. Surely that has something to do with it, because Native Americans never had breeding issues that I am aware of, and has anyone seen Prince Charles lately?

God, it's weird talking about humans like that.

In any case, I'm going to try to get my hands on some DNA statistics, to see if there's a threshold there. But I doubt any danger can happen in a single generation. At worst, you'd just have to learn some ******** new reference connections, that's all.

Oh, I know, but why cousin/cousin, then? That's just as bad, if you ask me. And I was really referring to the fact that we have such a varied DNA pool already, that the likelihood of two subsequent generations inbreeding is very unlikely.

I think if there is any blood relation. For example, if I had sex with my step-brother, there would be no problem. However if I had sex with my half-brother, then there would be the problem since we share one parent. And I use the term "problem" lightly.

This thread has me wondering. I don't see anything particularly morally wrong with incest, but I'm something of a hardcore Darwinist, so the inbreeding gets to me. I'm still working on formulating a concrete opinion on the matter, so I'll get back here eventually.

However, the fact that it's hard for me to find anything particularly wrong about it probably means my opinion will end up in the "a-ok" end of the spectrum.

Because it's an intelligent thing to be. *hides Origin of Species*

Regardless, we've got 6 billion people on Earth. The handful of inbreeding couples won't do much.

*shrugs*
Not sure to be honest. INbreeding does increase the chances of very nasty mutations and such tyhough its small and grows from generation to generation.

IMO sisterxbrother relationships are more likely to cause genetic defects than cosinxcousin.

TO me I think incest to be wrong simply because there are negative consequences to such a relationship, both genetic, social and family wise. But it is complicated, who are we to say what love is bad and what love is good?

I am going with Cougar Draven on his coment on a grandscale. That should not be allowed.

That and the idea of having sex with someone who basically came from the same family as me kinda bothers me, why?
Because they know how to touch my private parts. O.O

I don't think that's it.

If people hear of a guy in a sexual relationship with his sister, they don't immediately think, "Ew! You raped your sister!" They think, "Ew! He ******** his sister! He's a sick b*****d and his sister's a whore!"