Infamous Abuse Cases Have Nothing to Do With Consanguinamory or Polyamory

TRIGGER WARNING: Abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, slavery, murder

Media sensationalism abounds when it comes to the horrific cases of severe abuse and even murder in cases labeled as "polygamy" and "incest." Any abuse of anyone, especially children, is unacceptable. Unfortunately, there's a "guilt by association" tactic that anti-equality forces tap into to try to smear the cause of full marriage equality, especially to deny rights to people who are ethically nonmonogamous and/or consanguinamorous. What has been presented in media reports about Warren Jeffs, Winston Blackmore, Josef Fritzl, Tim and June Colt, Marcus Wesson, the Alvarez incest case, the Sheffield incest case, the Moe incest case, and the Goler clan, has nothing to do with our cause and what this blog is about.

This blog is about the rights of adults, regardless of their gender, orientation, race, or religion, to share love, sex, residence, and marriage (and any of those things without the others) with any and all consenting adults, without prosecution, bullying or discrimination. It has nothing to do with child abuse, domestic violence, or holding anyone captive. (Young people who might be consanguinamorous should read this.) 

For every one of these horror stories of abuse, there are millions of healthy polyamorous and consanguinamorous relationships between consenting adults, who shouldn't be falsely lumped in with the abusers.

When children are rescued from being abused, especially for many years in isolation, many people assume, and reports are all too quick to insinuate, that whatever health problems the children are dealing with are because of consanguineous parentage. However, a lot of other factors contribute to problems children in those situations have.

Birth defects can be the result of injury during pregnancy, substances ingested during pregnancy, environmental factors, or genetic problems. It is the last one that people tend to be thinking of, usually, when they repeat this myth. That’s because when both genetic parents carry the same genetic problem, it may be demonstrated in the children.

It is important to note that most children born to consanguineous parents are healthy.

Let's look specifically at what was at Wikipedia about the Colt clan case.

The Colt family incest case, dubbed by media as the Colt incest clan, is an Australian family discovered in 2012 to have been engaging in four generations of incest beginning with "Tim and June Colt," a brother and sister who emigrated from New Zealand in the 1970s.^[1] The family grew to nearly 40 members ranging from grandparents to mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, nephews, brothers and sisters all engaging in various forms of incest. Many of the children suffered from deformities and medical problems.

They all lived on a farm.

The police ultimately discovered nearly 40 members of the family living under squalid conditions in tents and shacks.^[6]

Squalid conditions, physical abuse, malnutrition, and lack of care, including dental, general medical care, etc. can all deformities and other medical problems.

It is terrible what the children endured.

Children and adults had regularly engaged in sexual activities, resulting in children, some with genetic deformities. They had no access to running water, showers, toilets or hygiene products. Most of the children had fungal infections.

Horrific. The children were apparently abused in so many ways. Also of note that after four generations, "some" of the children (not all) had genetic deformities.

It is more likely that horror cases like these will be prevented if ethical nonmonogamy, including polyamory and polygamy, and consanguinamory (again, between consenting adults) is decriminalized and given protection under full marriage equality. There are multiple reasons why, including victims and witnesses of abuse being more likely to cooperate with law enforcement if their consensual relationships aren't criminalized, and people being able to come out of the shadows and seek professional services such as medical care without being turned over to law enforcement for their consensual relationships. It is easier to people that consent matters when consent is treated consistently. It is far easier for people to recognize abuse when consensual relationships aren't lumped in with it in laws or stigmas.