Incest is considered taboo in nearly every cultural forum, and it is often defined as a sexually perverse act. According to studies, there are many scientific factors that play a role in the concept of incest.
Incest is clearly defined as sexual intercourse between closely related persons. Aside from intercourse, essentially any sexual act, including oral and anal sex, between blood-related individuals fits the definition.
The issue with incest lies in our genetic code, our DNA. Our DNA is split into two parts of 23 chromosomes each. This means the average human has 46 chromosomes in total. Either set comes from your mother and father, respectively, to create your DNA. In the event that your mother passes along a deleterious gene, your father may pass along a fully functioning version of the same gene. In essence, you are given a back-up gene to compensate for the bad gene?s malfunction. If you choose to have a child with your brother or sister, it is very likely that both of you will have a deleterious gene, which you will pass onto your child. Your child will not be provided with the functioning gene, and when you take into account the other bad genes among the 50 000 genes we have, he will be hindered by a number of health-related problems.
According to Debra Lieberman, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Hawaii, we have developed psychological mechanisms to avoid sexual relationships with our relatives. These mechanisms can detect if a face resembles our own or if a scent reminds us of ours, amongst other signs.
She also refers to the Westermarck effect, which describes reverse sexual imprinting. The effect describes the desensitization to sexual attraction between two people who live closely together for a long period of time, like a brother and sister. Brothers and sisters who do not live together and meet at a later stage in their life are more likely to be sexually attracted to each other than if they had lived together as children.
Lieberman also refers back to Taiwanese culture in the 1800s. Taiwanese parents would often practice ?minor? arranged marriages, which required them to relinquish their daughter as baby to her future groom?s family. The children were forced to grow up with one another, and usually refused to consummate the marriage. ?Major? arranged marriages, which mean that the bride and groom met before marrying, resulted in more children then minor marriages. It is in the genetic code of the children not to mate with each other, despite the fact that they are not related by blood. Since they have grown up with one another, they simply do not experience a sexual attraction for one another.
David Spain, an anthropologist from the University of Washington, has researched incest since 1968. His conclusion is that it ?defeats the whole point of sex? since it essentially mixes up the genes between closely related people.
Strangely enough, however, despite our genetic cues to avoid sexual relations with a blood-related person, it has also been proved that we are sexually attracted to people who resemble us or our parents. Experiments were conducted where subjects were provided with images of the opposite sex-parent or a warped, changed image of their own face. The study concluded that the subjects were more sexually attracted to images of people who are genetic counterparts.
The experiments all involved priming strangers? images with that of their parents, or an image that resembled their own image by 45%. All these people found images that resembled them or their parents more sexually appealing than those not morphed with their own, or primed with their parents? image.
Then there is the whole debate as to whether or not incest is a social construct, a religious taboo, or both. It is not socially acceptable to have a sexual relationship with anyone in your family, however, it is uncertain whether or not this was defined in a religious context or not. At the same time, it is not religiously acceptable to practice incest. But there is a rather fuzzy line between the social and religious ramifications of such behaviour. Those who are not religious can still agree that the nature of incest is not a particularly appealing one. Most people can agree that it is both socially and religiously wrong to commit an act of incest, but then they are thrown a rather puzzling question: what if two consenting adults practice incest? Essentially, what if a grown brother and sister who have never met before decide to embark on a sexual relationship when they do meet in their adulthood? Or a mother and her son? There are circumstances and conditions in which our guidelines for socially acceptable behaviour need to be more specific. Where exactly is the line drawn? Can we truly hold consenting adults accountable for their actions? Moreover, should we?
This leads into the next controversy amongst incest researchers and psychologists. It is a given that incest in the form of child sexual abuse is wrong, illegal and immoral. But why, then, is it illegal for consenting adults, as well? Why not legalise the act of incest amongst adults? Scientists have argued that children borne of incestuous parents may have birth defects and other health problems. At the same time, however, incestuous people only have a slightly higher rate of producing a child with birth defects. The chance is increased, but not as significantly as people would like to believe. The chief issue with legalizing incest is that it promotes the idea of breeding within closely-related people, and provides an overall positive depiction of sexual perversion. It is difficult at this point to conclude whether it will ever be?legalized, but it is certainly a moral debate to consider. There is, however, an interesting counter-argument to consider as a closing note on this topic: if incest is so unnatural, why do we not view contraception and abstinence in the same light? Furthermore, homosexuality and bisexuality are widely accepted concepts of human sexuality in our society. If we can accept these different forms of sexuality, what makes?consensual?sex between related adults wrong?
Essentially, the incest dynamic in society is a tricky one, at best. There are biological, psychological and emotional sides to the way incest is viewed by society as a whole. It is for those of us who are curious and seek information that we discover why incest is considered to be such a forbidden act of sex.
Source: http://theyouthinformer.com/2011/09/too-close-for-comfort-a-closer-look-at-incest/
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