what's so bad about incest?

Question

was it ever legal? is it legal anywhere else in the world?

Answer 1

Incest is not accepted in our most of the world, especially Western Countries. Incest is defined as some type of sexual "activities" that have occurred between relatives that are close in relation.

Also, if individuals close in relation have an incestuous relationship, which then in turn produces some offspring, then the odds are great for genetic abnormalities.

Historical info shows that families kept royalty and status within a certain lineage by having marriages and offspring in what is essentially incestuous relations.
In other words....Don't DO IT. YOU'LL be ostracized, and you kids WILL HAVE DEFECTS!

Answer 2

Incest can cause a deterioration in genetic health in the long run. As I understand it, the odds of a closely related couple who have off-spring has the same risk of birth defects in their children as the general population does. A closely related couple does not1 automatically, nor even all that frequently, have a child with a birth defect.

However, if this kept up, with their children and then their children marrying closely related people, then the genetic problems would start to show. The chances of something like this continuing for several generations is remote. There are too many other choices out there. Why pick a relative when there are so many others to choose from?

Incest in history is not unknown. In Egypt, the pharohs sometimes married their sisters. In Hawaii, incest was common, though possibly not in marriage.

Today, there seems to be some evidence that incest is not that rare. Children play and explore, sometimes sexually. Siblings are curious and turn to each other as learning experiences. And sometimes it just happens, closely related people fall in love. It could be like homosexuality and just happen to a certain percentage of the population.

It happens, dispite all the taboos and laws against it. The strength of the taboos and laws might be an indication of how tempted family members might be. If they weren't tempted, why would you need a taboo or law to ban it?

Have I ever had an incestous relationship? No.
Would I ever have an incestous relationship? No.

Answer 3

In some places (a lot of Asia) incest is legal.

The problems lie in the following:
- Because of our weak genes, incest that leads to pregnancy often results in deformed children, because while a gene from one parent that could cause a condition or deformity might lie dormant, with donor genes from both parents (and families share genes), the condition will become active in the child
- There should be a line between family and sex partners - it would seem strange to have your father be the father to his own grandchildren - and make it very difficult to explain who everyone was!
- It's not socially acceptable

Answer 4

Incest. If a child is perceived, the child will be born with mutations of his DNA. The child will have problems such as Trisomy 21 (down syndrome) Trisomy 13 and many others. Genetically speaking, incest is a horrendous crime if the woman becomes pregnant.

I don't think its legal in far west and far east states. I believe in SOME states in the midwest it isn't illegal.

Answer 5

Not legal, not moral, but slightly misunderstood.

Our society considers it taboo, but it was/is common practice in the past (and in some places still is) to preserve royal or high-class bloodlines and to provide an alternative to dating outside your race. Yay bigotry.

It also should be noted that it does not, as it is commonly believed, lead to mutated, physically retarded children. It is merely a genetic cause and effect of combining the same genes to produce a child. Both "good" and "bad" genetic traits will become more and more pronounced and/or severe. IE, two parents, a brother and sister who both inherited fair skin and sharp features will produce an offspring with even paler skin and sharper features.

Answer 6

The prohibition is in place because of genetics. WHen two people who's DNA are very close produce a child, the child tends to be not too healthy and then that child passes down the unhealthy DNA to another generation. It's a bad thing for the human race, in the long run.

Most societies have this prohibition. It seems to be part of our survival instincts.

Answer 7

Quote "tgolper2000"
"Incest. If a child is perceived, the child will be born with mutations of his DNA."
If a child is PERCEIVED? You mean conceived? Anyway. The child of incestuous sex does not always result in birth defects, but the probability of them is greatly increased. Besides, most of the time incestuous sex is between siblings, not parents and children though it does happen. Both are disgusting, but the parent/child version is the most disturbing thing on the planet. And hey, if your sister is hot...why not.

Answer 8

It's legal in some states to marry cousins. Incest can cause recessant genes to activate, which causes birth defects.

Answer 9

Well if you believe in what the Bible says, then it had to have gone on for a really long time. Adam and Eve had kids right, so who did there kids marry? It would actually cause major birth defects if a brother and sister had a kid. This is why the government out laws it. To protect the unborn.

Answer 10

incest is a bad thing, that over a long period of time can lead to insanity and birth defects. the gene pool is limited when you only breed within your own family, so it will become genetically degraded(not to sound mean).
the ancient egyptian royalty bred within their own families. is that why their dynasties all ended? the european royalties and aristocrats bred within their own families. king george(king during the american revolution) was quite insane. the english aristocrats always had a horrible appearance, especially their rotted teeth.