Incest, inbreeding, and the issues with incest.
[PT: Incest, inbreeding, and the issues with incest.]
First, definitions - incest, consanguinity, and inbreeding.
Incest describes a traditionally non-familial form of intimacy (usually sexual or romantic) between two or more relatives, by blood or law, with the exception of in-laws and/or newly-established step-family that does not have a previous ties. (Example of a non-familial step-relationship that isn't incestuous - Person A has a child, and Person B has a child. They had these children before they met. Person A & B start dating, and the children - C & D, who are both adults - begin to date, because they have no pre-established familial relationship.)
Consanguinity describes incest between two or more blood-related individuals. Inbreeding describes the act of two blood relatives creating a biological child together.
Consanguinity and inbreeding can sometimes occur on accident, if two blood related individuals who did not previously know they were related (ie; separated through foster care as babies) coincidentally meet and form a non-familial intimate relationship and/or engage sexually. I personally do not consider either of those to be "incestuous" under such a circumstance, as incest is often used to imply a pre-existing familial tie. But a lot of people still call such scenarios "incest" - this is just a personal classification of mine.
Issues with (knowingly) initiating incest & consanguinity
[ID: Issues with (knowingly) initiating incest & consanguinity /End ID]
To start, lets explore different forms of incest, and the issues which occur according to the form.
Parent-Child/Grandparent-Child/Guardian-Child holds an inherent power imbalance on the parent/grandparents end. Even if the child is an adult when this dynamic forms, the parent/grandparent has the social power over them that comes from being in a caregiver role (and, usually, from having a past of raising the individual.) If it was an estranged relationship during childhood where no caregiving/raising was done, there is still the mental establishment within the child's mind that the older individual is of a "higher rank" than them. This comes from the sociopsychological dynamic crafted within our society (familial hierarchy), and (on the guardian side) the knowledge/mental establishment of the child being someone to "nurture" (that they missed out on.)
Sibling-Sibling incest is a complicated matter that has a wide range of complications depending on a variety of factors.
Sibling-sibling incest in childhood (usually before 12 years of age) is generally deemed to be common behavior (with an estimated 10-20% of children with siblings engaging in such), and is generally considered innocent behavior as it stems from youthful unawareness, curiosity, and often a lack of sexual education.
Article: Characteristics and risk factors for sibling incest [link]
The main reasons given for having been involved in sexual behaviour between siblings were “curiosity” and “game,” however, the reasons differed depending on the age of onset and sex of participants. Using age as a crude proxy for pubertal status, we split sibling incest cases between those occurring before the participant was 12 and those occurring when the participant was 12 years of age and older. Games was more likely to be the reported reason for sibling incest occurring before the age of 12, [PT: Games was more likely to be the reported reason for sibling incest occurring before the age of 12], whereas desire and romance were more likely to be the reported reason for sibling incest occurring at the age of 12 or older.
Reporting other problematic sexual behaviour in childhood increased the likelihood of having engaged in sibling incest, suggesting that professionals working with children with problematic sexual behaviour should assess for co-occurring sibling incest. Family acceptance of nudity, sexual abuse by parents, and lower disgust to sibling incest could be promising markers of sibling incest. The current findings also highlight the importance of sexual education (PT: highlight the importance of sexual education,) especially in blended households, where age gaps and lower genetic relatedness were associated with more sexual behaviour between siblings.
With that in mind, from here forward, I will be referring to sibling-sibling incest in regards to it being enacted with full awareness/understanding of what is being done.
Studies have shown that incest between siblings (with full comprehension) typically forms when one or multiple of these factors are involved:
-One or both siblings has been subjected to sexual abuse.
-One or both siblings have been abused/neglected by a caregiver.
-One or both siblings suffered from a lack of autonomy or privacy.
-One or both siblings having an unstable home (ie; foster care.)
-One or both siblings met each other later in life, and did not spend their early years together (ie; step siblings, adoptive siblings, etc.) In such a case, they likely do not actually see each other as siblings, since they didn't have that pre-established familial relationship, so I'd argue if this is "true" incest or not, at least from the perspective of the person in question.
-One or both siblings have an unhealthy codependency.
It is exceedingly rare for a sibling-sibling incestuous relationship to develop without some sort of unhealthy pre-established dynamic in the home.
This indicates that it's likely not structured on anything positive to begin with (but unfortunately consensual sibling-sibling incest is severely understudied, so I can't say anything conclusive. The reason it is understudied is because of how exceedingly rare it is.)
On top of this already unhealthy structure, there are often power imbalances. These may include:
-Age differences.
-Familial roles (ie; carefree sibling vs responsible sibling, favorite child vs secondary child, etc.)
-Jealousy (ie; Academically skilled sibling vs academically struggling sibling.)
-Fear of losing their family or freedom upon rejection.
Power imbalances, in of themselves, are not inherently a bad thing. [PT: Power imbalances, in of themselves, are not inherently a bad thing.]
Power imbalances can function in certain relationships. For example, a boss and subordinate can separate their relationship from their job. A thirty year old and forty year old can have a perfectly healthy relationship despite their age (so long as they both met in adulthood.)
However, when paired with the pre-established factors, it is likely to only exacerbate problems between the individuals.
Studies on consensual sibling-sibling incest are incredibly rare, but that's because consensual sibling-sibling incest is rare to begin with.
Article: Ramifications of incest [link.]
Incest is considered abusive when the individuals involved are discrepant in age, power, and experience. The argument that a younger person may have desired, sought, or given consent is irrelevant. Those very behaviors may have been groomed, coerced, or generated in response to perceived pressure and/or threat from the more powerful person.
It has often been argued that incest between age peers (with neither partner more than 5 years older than the other) is nonabusive, mutually desired, and often consists of nothing more than experimentation. It is dubious whether this generalization will stand up to more detailed scrutiny. While such instances occur, proximity in age need not bring with it equality of power, knowledge, and sophistication. In fact, implied or actual coercion and intimidation play a role in many such situations. Many instances of sibling incest, rationalized as youthful experimentation, are profoundly exploitive. Families often accept that something has occurred between a brother and a sister, but give no credence to the sister’s protest that what occurred was forceful, and/or involved the brother’s making her available to his friends. And, there are more frequent reports of older sisters who take the initiative in sexualizing younger brothers.
This article suggests that even when incest is supposedly consensual between siblings, there is often some degree of coercion involved. This is evidenced by a great many case reports, in which a sibling who has experienced incest initially says it was consensual, but with a bit of pushing, relents and admits that they only agreed to it out of some form of fear or pressure. Sometimes this isn't intentional [pt: intentional] coercion on the other person's part. For example:
Sibling A and Sibling B are interested in each other. They decide to begin hooking up in secrecy. Sibling A, however, decides they dislike this dynamic. Now, though, Sibling A is afraid - what if Sibling B is so distraught and heartbroken that they tell someone, and this whole situation becomes a family scandal, and it follows them for the rest of their lives, or worst, get them arrested? Or what if Sibling B becomes incredibly awkward after they break up, and Sibling A loses any relationship with them?
Sibling A may choose to "suck it up" and continue to hook up, because they don't want to lose their sibling, family, or livelihood.
For safety to exist within a relationship, a relationship needs the ability to both be given freely AND revoked freely. In the societal structure we have, where incest is considered a deplorable criminal act, it is very difficult for a relationship to be capable of being revoked freely, because of that fear of the other person revealing it to others out of emotional distress.
If their relationship is exposed in an act of despaired heartbreak, not only would it risk legal troubles in 99% of locations, but it would also risk social and familial ostracization.
With other non-incestuous power dynamics (healthy age differences, boss-worker dynamics, caregiver-disabled person dynamics, etc), the important factor is either one or both of the following:
1- If their relationship is revealed, they are not in legal trouble. It may be against policy within certain locations (ie; certain work policies for coworkers not to date), but that can be easily fixed through one or both finding new locations.
2- If their relationship isn't working out, they can either change it (ie; a worker in a boss-worker dynamic could just switch jobs) or break up (ie; two age-gapped individuals) without risk of legal, social, or familial punishment.
Does this mean that, hypothetically, if sibling incest were legalized and destigmatized, consensual sibling incest could become safe? The honest answer is that nobody knows, because that is not a world we live in. No studies can tell us whether this is true or not, because you cannot study a hypothetical. The only way to know for sure would be if this hypothetical became a reality.
You might say "Other forbidden relationships have proven to be healthy as society progresses into acceptance (ie; queer relationships, interracial relationships, etc)", but there is an important distinction to be made here with incest.
The distinction to be made is that queerness and interracial attraction are not linked to childhood dysfunction. [PT: not linked to childhood dysfunction.] Time and time again, studies have showcased that queerness and interracial relationships are not linked to a problematic cause. Sibling incest - past the explorative stage within children - is always linked to some sort of dysfunction or trauma.
Cousin-Cousin incest is even more complicated and subjective than sibling-sibling. Sometimes cousins have a close knit familial bond or age difference, which could put them akin to the guardian-child or sibling-sibling dynamic. Other times, though, cousins are distant or possibly even completely disconnected to each other, having never had the chance to form a familial bond. This leads to some awkward ground when it comes to incest, and is often judged on a case-by-case basis rather than one overarching conclusion.
Pibling-Nibling may fall into the same issues as the guardian-child dynamic, however some piblings and niblings are around the same age, which would make their issues more akin to what is seen in sibling-sibling or cousin-cousin dynamics.
[ID: Morals of inbreeding /End ID]
To start firmly - I highly disagree with the "inbreeding causes disabilities and that's why you shouldn't do it" narrative, because that same logic can be applied to anyone who carries hereditary disabilities, or who reaches a certain age.
By saying that someone shouldn't have children simply because it increases the likelihood of disability, you are repeating eugenicist talking points, and suggesting a world in which you must be genetically approved by the government before having children.
This also brings into question what counts as "too disabled to exist." Should people be required to abort fetuses that are "too disabled?"
"Deformities can cause pain" okay, but what is "too much pain to exist"?
Is scoliosis "too disabled" to exist, if it causes a child chronic pain? Can autism, which can sometimes cause severe sensory processing disorder, and thus cause chronic pain (such is the case for me), be considered "too disabled" to exist?
Inbreeding doesn't always cause severe deformities anyways. And every deformity that inbreeding can cause can also be caused by other genetic factors.
Should every person who has hereditary disabilities be barred off from having children? Should birth givers over the age of 40 be barred off from having children? That would be a dangerous thing to monitor.
If two blood relatives who did not know they were related when they began their relationship decide to have children, I do not think that is immoral. They shouldn't be barred from the rights to have children simply because of a blood relation they did not realize they had.
However, incestuous inbreeding (as in, inbreeding with incestuous intention) has the same complications I established in the previous segment.
[ID: Conclusive thoughts /End ID]
Incest is not technically "immoral" if all parties are fully consenting (that includes no grooming/coercion), but it is more often than not dangerous and unhealthy, and it is unlikely to even be considered by a mentally healthy individual.
Choosing an intimate partnership with a relative rather than an outside party is like metaphorically walking through a minefield when there is a world of non-risky land just behind you to explore instead.
I do not believe in arresting those who participate in consensual incest, but I also do not believe it should be encouraged, and I think they deserve psychological help, and that society should be questioning the reasons behind why such a dynamic may have formed rather than judging them.
There is a severe lack of studies on the long-term affects of consensual sibling-sibling incest, and I think that is something that needs some serious looking into.
