In many situations involving Genetic Sexual Attraction, the lovers are not legally family for the purposes of insurance, benefits, taxes, hospital visitation, next of kin, etc. because they were adopted into or born into (via sperm, egg, or embryo donation) different families. Also, in many places, when a married woman gives birth, the child is legally her spouse's child as well. What if, due to sex with someone other than her spouse, the woman's child is genetically a half-sibling to another married couple's child, and as adults they decide they'd like to marry?
The double standard is that, while these genetically related people don't enjoy the benefits of being family, in places that still have ridiculous laws discriminating against consensual adult incest, they are considered family and thus can (and are) criminally prosecuted for consensual sex or at least denied their right to marry.
You're not family so you can't get the benefit of being family. You are family so you are going to be prosecuted for having loved each other in sexual way. That's cruel.
As an example, if something were to happen to Melissa and she ended up in a hospital, her adoptive parents could bar Matthew and Linda from even being by her side, let alone making decisions about her care, even though Matthew and Linda are, for practical purposes, her spouses. She would be married to them if she could, but the law isn't there yet.
Those who are sharing, or want to share their lives as spouses or partners often do need the same rights, benefits, and protections as any other spouses, and there’s no good reason to deny them their fundamental right to marry. Also, marriage automatically provides for next-of-kin status, which is especially important when there is some discord between at least one of the lovers and legal family members outside of the consanguinamorous relationship.
There are many cruel double standards when trying to tell other consenting adults how to love each other. GSA or not, consanguinamorous people need discriminatory laws to be done away with, and need access to the protections provided by marriage, if they want them. This is yet another reason we need full marriage equality sooner rather than later.
Absolutely right and very well said! I hope you expand your attention for cases outside USA.
ReplyDeleteThis is unrelated to the post. There's been a case in Japan where a work got labeled an "unhealthy publication" for its "glorification of incestous acts".
ReplyDeletehttps://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-05-16/kadokawa-recalls-manga-that-tokyo-designated-as-unhealthy
Do check out the comment section. Some "interesting" comments there, especially from staff member Zac.
"They're already family."
ReplyDeleteWow, that is one of the stupidest and ignorant arguements against consanguineous relationships I've heard, along with "There are a lot of other people outside you family."
Good article. Yes, I have a brother who argued that that CIAO marriage was not necessary and he would not support it. He is gay but as he was married with children he didn't support gay marriage either for the same reason. He thinks the risk of birth defects in Ciao cases is so high that Ciao people should remain childless, and therefore they, like gay people don't need marriage. He is a brilliant person when it comes to physics and maths and many other areas, seems to lack empathy sometimes.Perhaps he finds marriage can have a downside of being hard to get out of once entered into.
ReplyDeleteI did not understand Reddit's action on its quarantine of the sub incest Reddit's connected here. now that I understand better I agree with Reddit.
ReplyDeleteI am starting to get concerned about incest advocacy..all of it burgeoning all over the place as capitalism cashes out on a trend, or becomes the trend itself. that to my mind messes up everything, encourages people into behavior they would not otherwise get involved in.
the massive surge in incest pornography is one such development..i.e cashing out on a 'trend' which was the surge creating the trend anyway. the real issue and those who really involved, quietly so living their lives get surpassed in developing advocacy movements that may be horribly distorting the truth in the situation
it occurred to me that behavior such as incest will occur and grow on its own if its time has come so to speak and it is happening naturally quite without any kind of advocacy movement and artificial encouragement
I mean the laws of lack of laws in most of the world that does not criminalize incest happened without any kind of advocacy at all. there was no advocacy for repeal of, or change of laws that did not permit incest in Portugal, Spain, France, Japan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and all across the world to the former Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies.
Most of the world appears to be free of laws incest criminalisation for a very long time now..and I dont know of any organized nationalist or global that worked for such de-criminalisation. the nations involved for whatever reasons simply changed their law..or never sought to install any such law in the first place
I think, with all due respect to Pullman that advocacy is likely a huge problem in the issue of incest. I would just let it happen if it will. it has gone very far on its very own..why wont it go all the way on its own?
Advocacy allows for all sorts of vested interest to get involved, to use social reality for their own purposes that have little or nothing to do with the interests of the actual people involved in the issue. movements can get hijacked and used for all manner of socially destabilizing purposes. that is what I believe has happened with the Homosexual movement
by the power of organization the homosexual movement is now imposing itself on all of society, forcing all sorts of egregious legislation and behaviors on the general population that sooner or later is going to cause horrific social backlash that will make LGBT pay dearly
Those incest sub Reddits were indeed out of order, pornographic and encouraging of nasty, illegal behavior. those subs did not make incest look like anything ordinary people would support.
its time to look at advocacy with a careful eye..very careful..to make sure that those in advocacy really have the interests of those they advocate for at heart
With all my heart and mind I agree with what Keith says in his post.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am opposed to the GSA theory because I believe that consanguinamory/incest does not need a special justification and that people who enter into a sexually romantic relationship with family members are no different from other "normal" people.
And there is nothing mysterious or special about sexual attraction to family members/relatives. This is a manifestation of a basic instinct limited by social and religious morality under the influence of civilization, in special conditions of long-term "geometrically close" coexistence and interaction of people of different genders "under one roof". Of course, psychologists of the Freudian school have tried and are trying to explain the attraction of mothers and sons, fathers and daughters by some innate causes, but their theories are justly criticized, including because they do not explain the sexual attraction of siblings and members of an extended family to each other.
Under the influence of the development of intelligence and higher nervous activity as a result of evolution, unlike our animal ancestors, sex has become our need for pleasure and only secondarily a means of reproduction for the preservation of the biological species, as was originally conceived by Mother Nature.
Sex is a kind of drug that we've been addicted to since we were born. And no rehab in this world can cure a person from this drug.
Therefore, if any two human beings of the opposite gender are isolated/placed side by side for a long time, then if there is even a drop of testosterone or estragens left in both of them, they will begin to have sex in some form. The family is not a place of confinement / isolation, however, the sexual attraction of its members to each other (unilateral or mutual) is facilitated by the very fact of close, including physical non-sexual, contacts, the appearance of poorly concealed or accidentally displayed genitals in various states and body parts that cause lust. In addition, it is a feeling of accessibility of bodies, emotional closeness to other family members, and an increased degree of trust compared to outsiders.
This state of things is a kind of ready-made bonfire that can ignite at any moment from an accidental spark. This spark can be infatuation, strong emotional attraction, a kink, a sense of forbidden fruit, as well as other circumstances.