You're right, you're definitely in the minority on this one...

It's pretty common for little kids to have crushes on older cousins, but to have actual feelings is weird.

I know and besides she could just be confused

There's actually a psychological term for why little kids have crushes on relatives. I can't remember what is though. On a different note, there are studies that have been done and that are being repeated to figure out how attraction early in life will affect attraction at later stages. One of them looks at the link where the father figure isn't strong then that changes the way that children deal with attraction and sexuality. (Note: these studies are looking at couples in heterosexual marriages. There are studies that look at the development of children of lesbian, gay, and a few on polyamorous couples).

I am in accordance with you. It's normal but people won't publicly agree with you because it isn't socially acceptable to even acknowledge that kind of thing exists. As far as people who react so strongly against this kind of confession I must quote hamlet: "the lady doth protest too much, methinks"

The strong possibility of genetic deformity if you choose to have a child with your sibling is considered normal to you? The ****? There's a reason why babies come out all ****** up when you **** your sibling, and it's definitely beyond being socially acceptable.

270, Acting on those feelings is completely different than having feelings. Lighten up. I'm sure there are plenty things in your deep dark judgmental mind that are just as messed up.

society says its wrong, therefore it is wrong.

Breeding with people of the same blood line makes it more likely for bad recessive traits to be passed down to children, especially if it is as close as a brother. It became taboo after people had too many handicapped or sickly children from inbreeding

And how many people actually got handicapped?

Out of billions of people on the planet, the last place you need to lay seed and breed is with your sister in your parents home. Inbreeding causes genetic deformities. Beyond all that it's socially unacceptable.

There is a reason every civilization known to man has rules against incest. Societies as diverse as the Vikings, Incas, the Aborigines, the Maori and Eastern civilizations agreeing on something must mean something...

@45, I can't tell if you're using sarcasm or not.

And it being socially unacceptable matters because... why exactly? Wasn't being black or gay socially unacceptable till 50 years ago as well?

That is a very fair point. But you can have sex without breeding.

You can have sex without breeding, but you cannot breed without having sex. Why risk having severely messed up children just to have sex with your brother?

There are 7 Billion people to choose from- you don't have to make family get-togethers weird. Uncle-daddy and Auntie-mama are not the titles you want to go for.

If you don't already get this very simple thing, then no one is going to be able to explain it to you. You are mentally ill and need serious help.

Wtf is wrong with you? Next ur going to say there is nothing wrong with touching little children and ***********.

I just read an opinion piece about this that pointed out something I hadn't thought of before. Incest is not just unacceptable because of the heightened risk of genetic disabilities and deformities, although that is bad enough. It's also unacceptable because when family members start seeing one another as sexual competition, it makes for an extremely unhealthy family dynamic. Extend this acceptance of incest to all of society, and you have the breakdown of the family unit and thus the implosion of the entire society.

Similar to your mentality.

Mathamedic, did you **** your sibling or something?? Why are defending this?? It's not socially unacceptable for no reason. Serious birth defects can come from inbreeding, the wealthy and the royals from couple centuries ago helped prove that. Heck, many other cultures from dating back centuries ago knew incest was wrong. Pretty much only royalty thought it was ok. You know how many sickly kings there were? Way too many. I know you're saying it's ok as long they don't have a child, but what if they do? Condoms break, birth control can fail, it happens ALL the time. OP needs to consider therapy.

I don't think calling OP disgusting is going to help anything. They're obviously acknowledging that they know their feelings are wrong. I don't think it's right to condemn them unless they act on the urges (or force someone to do anything with them). At this point they need to contact a professional to help assess what's going on in their minds.

Yeah, good luck having a rational discussion on that topic.

Condoning incest is one thing but comparing it to being homosexual is completely irrelavant! Your thought process regarding this is completly wrong!

I think 43 was just comparing it to homosexuality on the basis that you can't choose who you're attracted to. You can't choose to not be attracted to someone of the same sex, even though some people may think it's wrong, and you can't choose to not be attracted to your brother even though a lot of people think it's wrong. I feel that incest is wrong but I think that's just because society has ingrained that in me. Can you tell me a reason why incest is wrong (assuming that no children would come from it)?

I see no reason for it to be bad either, generally speaking you're very close with your family so it makes more sense to be attracted to them than a stranger. As far as I'm concerned incest is fine as long as you don't conceive any children.

Comparing incest to homosexuality is completely unrelated. I understand you're aiming for the "I can't control who I fall in love with" argument, but in this case that's not a valid argument. Children are the reason that incest is considered wrong. Now, don't tell me that they could choose not to have children, because many people still make mistakes. Pregnancy can occur no matter now protected you are. There's absolutely no reason to take that chance.

Okay so how about incest between two men or two women? Or two infertile people?

Incest is considered wrong because of the ties you have with people in your family. Often, there is a power dynamic from a young age between people (older sibling, parent, etc) and if the person in power is attracted to the younger, it could end up being abusive and manipulative from childhood in order to teach the person or convince them to reciprocate the feelings and desires. To me, that is the major concern, that one of the parties has been manipulated from a young age to reciprocate the feelings. There is too much of a power dynamic in families that isn't present even with childhood friends, and abuse of that power dynamic is too easy for those who would do so. That's one of the reasons that abused children are often abused by people in the family or close to the family- there's an element of trust and authority that isn't present elsewhere.

But you just said that we're programmed to not be attracted to family so that we don't mess up our genes? Having sex with someone you grew up with who you aren't at all related to wouldn't have any bad effect

I've just read your other comment and see what you mean now. That's only a theory though. It's disbuted.

@192, the Westermarck effect is what you're talking about. And it isn't a proven thing or even a very widely accepted thing. There is a biological thing that makes humans find features that are similar to theirs more attractive. There is also a theory from Freud (who is terrible) that everyone at sometime has wanted to do their parents. He stated that every little boy wanted to their moms (gay boys and women were not mentioned). People from the Westermarck camp use this as a way to "prove" their theory. Since Freud was primarily raised by a nurse he never imprinted onto his mother. It's a really fascinating subject with terrible implications especially considering that incest is the most common form of child abuse.