this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
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What does it say about me if I don't get the drama around the whole incest thing? As long as all involved parties are consenting... who gives a shit?
On the other hand it would really upset me and let me question my parenting if I found out that my son voluntarily sends genetics material to some questionable company...
You're kind of right - I think society gets worked up about it in the wrong way, relying on shame to prevent incest, rather than logic.
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~~The~~ One reason it's not that common is that siblings smell gross and feel gross to have sex with. Most siblings, if they actually tried to initiate sex, would back down very quickly because of those biological inhibitors.One reason that incest is wrong is because it usually manifests as abuse. One participant will be older or stronger than the other. As another commenter said, you can never rule that out, and anyone who finds out bout an incestuous relationship will assume it's abusive
Then the big no-no is inbreeding. You might not produce a child from one instance of intercourse, but it's unethical because you'd be inflicting a fucked set of genetics onto that hypothetical child.
But as weird as it is to say, nowadays you could theoretically practice safe incestuous sexual activity. But then there's the remaining problem that "you'll get attached," and I do think the threat of permanently changing your relationship with one another, making things awkward, is very real.
Another remaining problem is that I still see it as A) a response to loneliness, where two relatives who haven't managed to encounter many mates will resort to each other, and B) a sort of sex addiction, arising if two similar aged relatives used it as a form of sexual experimentation.
About that smell comment.
There are several registered cases of genetically related people that, unknowing they are related, develop attraction and engage in sexual activity. Some cases even mention the couple being more attracted to each other due to scent.
There's a small article in Wikipedia here.
Now, for an anecdote: I knew a couple that was genetically related and they only discovered they were siblings because they tried to reconstruct their family tree through official records and things came out off.
They already had two perfectly healthy children when I met them. They kept their blood connection as private as possible but they intended to tell their offspring the whole story when they could understand all of it and its implications.
Now about the incest taboo: I find no issue in consenting adults engaging in sexual activity. Normalizing it, I find deeply troublesome. It would completely inbalance relatioships between family members and wreak havoc in the gene pool.
Appreciate the anecdote and wikipedia link, I'll check it out now
That's a good way of putting it.