by Zaphod on Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:41 pm
It's been interesting looking at some of the comments on this thread; a lot of the objections to sex with a relative center around the possibility of producing a deformed child. I agree that there are higher risks, and there are some communities where Cousin marriages are very common, along with loads of disabled children, however on the other hand for example, older parents for example have a higher risk of producing babies with a number of conditions but we do not condem them.
The biggest issue it seems to me though is one of consent. I think that most of us realise that some people have 'undue influence' over us, in particular in the case of parent and child. If I (strictly hypothetically)had a daughter in her late teens or early twenties living with me, ( I dont have a daughter by the way ) even if at some level she did want to consent to sexual activity, the fact that she was dependent on me for her home/income/whatever would surely make it difficult for her to fully consent.
As a sort of mirror image of this the married couple who (allegedly) found out that they were twins, parted at birth after they married could at least each give full consent to sex. Obviously, and understandably they may well choose not to.