Not Uncommon, Just Not Talked About

This question was recently asked on Yahoo Answers:

Do you think there is actually incest between son and his mother or daughter and her father? Or, do you know someone who has experienced incest?

The asker appeared to be referring to consensual consanguineous sex between adults, because the asker wanted to know if people reading the question wanted to try it.

Two different answers said similar things.

The first:

It is also a known fact most of the incest cases are not reported due to the taboo or because it is consensual. I know two cases of Mother - Son pairs, but their relationship is still a secret, so most people would not know about it.

The second:

i know of two "couples" one was a cousin of mine and his sister, they where 19ish, and did it for several years, and a girl and her 1st cousin(male) I used to know.

I don’t think it is abnormal or rare for siblings or cousins to experiment with each other, whether during adolescence (and they are close in age) or as adults. But it isn’t talked about a lot, or depicted in the media as the harmless or beneficial thing that it often is. Parent-adult child experimentation is probably not as common as it is between siblings, but is still not rare.

Any of these situations can evolve into serious, lasting sexual partnerships. Whether they do or not, we rarely hear about them because of prejudice. Who wants to deal with the stigma? Yet when someone expresses their disapproval, it is usually based on their personal distaste for something they've never even experienced. It is just a knee-jerk reaction. We shouldn’t let one person’s taste interfere with the life of someone else. If we lift this wet, smothering blanket, a lot of people will be surprised by the people they know who have experienced these situations or have ongoing relationships of this nature, and finally feel free to talk about it.