Virtual incest
Feb 10, 2011 11:52:59 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2011 11:52:59 GMT
I was reading an article in the newspaper about a new situation which is still pretty rare but which is growing in importance and controversy.
In a number of "recomposed" families, lots of children are being raised as brother and sister even though they have no blood links. In certain cases, they are sexually attracted to each other, and the inevitable happens. This generally creates havoc in the family for obvious reasons.
Anyway, the article was looking at it all from the psychiatric point of view, particularly the unconscious causes of it all -- punishing the parents, sending a message, defying authority... However, there is no law that prevents such relationships and no unchallengeable moral argument either way.
It was mentioned that children who were raised together from a young age are considered to be much more deviant if they fall in love than kids who were thrown together when they were already entering their teens. But even peer groups don't really accept it. School friends tend to find the idea "disgusting," while adults generally opt for "sinful" or "sick."
I confess that I had never thought about this situation until I read the article. My first reaction is not to condemn the children, but at the same time, I would need the specifics of each case to form a hard set opinion.
And of course the elephant in the closet remains the fact that "real" incest already exists between siblings, and no solution has ever been found for that, so maybe there's no point in inventing new forms of incest to worry about, too.
In a number of "recomposed" families, lots of children are being raised as brother and sister even though they have no blood links. In certain cases, they are sexually attracted to each other, and the inevitable happens. This generally creates havoc in the family for obvious reasons.
Anyway, the article was looking at it all from the psychiatric point of view, particularly the unconscious causes of it all -- punishing the parents, sending a message, defying authority... However, there is no law that prevents such relationships and no unchallengeable moral argument either way.
It was mentioned that children who were raised together from a young age are considered to be much more deviant if they fall in love than kids who were thrown together when they were already entering their teens. But even peer groups don't really accept it. School friends tend to find the idea "disgusting," while adults generally opt for "sinful" or "sick."
I confess that I had never thought about this situation until I read the article. My first reaction is not to condemn the children, but at the same time, I would need the specifics of each case to form a hard set opinion.
And of course the elephant in the closet remains the fact that "real" incest already exists between siblings, and no solution has ever been found for that, so maybe there's no point in inventing new forms of incest to worry about, too.