Incest

Incest. This word never fails to conjure up strong emotions, normally those of revulsion. But why? What a stupid question to ask I hear you say. Nonetheless it is noteworthy that nine times out of ten, the only argument against this ‘mother of all taboos’ is of the genre, "it’s just wrong", "that’s so disgusting". The list is endless. I suggest that for the majority of us, our supposed natural revulsion, is a result of social conditioning. From birth, it has been ingrained into our consciousness that incest is a vile act performed by social deviants. As difficult as it may be, I urge you to clear your mind of such thoughts. Objectivity is essential if any progress is to be made in this highly controversial subject. By the end of these ramblings of mine if you see the light then perhaps there is hope for Society.

Now since the beginning of time, there have been incestuous relationships. This cannot be denied. It is also accurate to say that it has also been regarded as an abominable act. My question is why? Why is this "mixing of blood" denounced unequivocally by society as a whole?

The most obvious response is that incest results in deformed babies. Surely this is enough to convince us of the vile nature of the act. However, let us examine this point in a bit more detail. It is a scientific fact that because members of a family have the same genetic makeup, any defect in chromosomes may be multiplied through an incestuous relationship. This is a biological fact and cannot be contested. The first point I would like to make is that early civilisations could not have been aware of this phenomenon. Most probably, the numbers of incestuous relationships were outweighed innumerably by the so called ‘normal’ ones. Thus, the scientific evidence for a high proportion of deformities would have been lacking. There is however, a flip side to this coin. The effect of dominant genes that benefit the individual can also be multiplied, indeed some babies born out of incestuous relationships have been prodigies. Now I can already hear some say that since the number of deformed babies outnumber the geniuses, the law of averages is trying to tell us something. Still this does not address the issue as to why incest is wrong. In any case, let’s proceed.

The media has been full of cases involving the unfortunate sexual abuse of children by their parents. This I would imagine is the sort of image that is on the minds of most people whilst reading this essay. I think that this clouds the issue as we are now bordering on paedophilia and exploitation of children so I propose we keep it simple. Think of two adults. Male or female, it does not matter which. If the combinations you have chosen are of the same sex, please ignore any opinions you may have on homosexuality, it just clouds the issue. The couple are borne of the same parents and more importantly, they are both consenting adults. Now give me a good reason why they should not do as they please! Fire away.

Deformed babies!! OK, the couple use a condom, girl’s on the pill, guy gets a vasectomy- the possibility of a baby is virtually negligible. Now where is the problem? I know those of the Catholic faith believe that all form of contraception is wrong but for those not of this religious disposition, think hard. Why cannot this brother and sister (for example) live together without suffering from the revulsion and scorn of the rest of society? There are those who regard sex as a means of expressing one’s love to another, or maybe it is solely for pleasure. If you are of this opinion, then I put it to you that you have no argument against incest. This couple is behaving no differently from millions of others across the world in stable relationships who use contraceptives. Obviously they enjoy the sex or they would not be doing it and as brother and sister, who can say that other couples have a greater love for one another. With regards to brother-brother or sister relationships, are these any different to those enjoyed by homosexual couples? It seems to me that to discriminate against the former must lead to the same treatment against the latter. I am sure you will agree that the issue is not so clear cut anymore. I don’t have the answers, the question is what do you think?????

If you still have not come up with a credible argument, then your conclusion has to be that there is nothing wrong with incest. It may disgust you but then that is just your opinion. Using myself as an example, (and at the risk of trivialising the issue) I personally detest boiled cabbage but I do not think it is wrong for others to eat them!! If we just go back to the case of parent-child incestuous relationships, logic tells us that if we accept brother-sister relationships then we have to accept the former only if the child is of the consenting age. I can imagine that the majority of you might be feeling nauseous. If however you have not given yourself any rational reasons, then you should not be nauseous, in fact you have no right to be.

The point I am trying to make is that we have come to a point where we let others form our own opinions. Incest has been the topic but there are so many other issues that cause us to react without pausing for thought. For a race that prides itself on being the most intelligent in the animal kingdom, this sort of behaviour is quite unbecoming. Call it what you will, be it peer pressure, ignorance, or just stupidity. One can not escape the fact that society has taken upon itself, a sheep-like mentality. Think of all the people at schools who begin to smoke and drink because everyone else is doing the same thing. Right from an early age, we are scared of speaking our minds and respond as people expect. It’s hip to be rude to teachers, drink until comatose, try and pull everything that moves. The list is endless.

I am not trying to judge any of these activities. Just for the record, I abhor incest but for my own personal reasons which have been formed after a lot of reflection on the subject. What I am saying is that before doing anything, you owe it to yourself to justify your actions. The unfortunate thing is this. All through our lives, the majority of us cannot seem to shake off the pressure of living according to people’s expectations. BE your own master and not a victim of Pavlovian conditioning1, with your personality being dictated to you by others. Between every stimulus and subsequent reaction, there is a moment in which we can determine our response. Many just let the moment pass, thereby wasting the opportunity to do something beautiful. Each time you conform to someone else’s ideal you give up the last of the human freedoms. The right to choose how things affect you. When that goes, you become another addition to the increasing number of the living dead. You have become a zombie