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Incest: Immoral or Moral?

I was asked this question today by a theist. If there is no God why is safe sex between brother and sister immoral to an atheist? This guy was smart to add safe sex because it closed off my avenue to argue the health issue. So, I was thinking why is it immoral if it is consensual? I understand we find it gross but is that because of Christian influence?

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  • 79 votes
paul1967 8 Oct 12
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314 comments (251 - 275)

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1

I think its a taboo more then a morality issue , the thought creeps me out Bad for the gene pool at any rate

1

It's not about morals. It's about why the fuck would anyone do it?

There must be something wrong with you Mer-cains.

1

Consensual. A child is not accountable and cannot consent. Sexual relations between children is quite common, even siblings. Not being accountable implies innocence.

If the adults are siblings, why is it gross other than the genes issues? We are coming to an age that we can have the aging gene removed and some will want to have children. If that is happening, so are other breakthroughs that can manipulate the genes.

Sex is sex. It's why we're here -- to find happiness. Most people do it through sex.

Goat Level 5 Dec 31, 2017
1

I take the position of Lazarus Long

Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other sins are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful--just stupid.)

1

There does appear to be an instinctive aversion to "incest". An individual is unlikely (although this research is decades old) to be sexually attracted to someone with whom they were raised. This obviously has exceptions and does not preclude the exploration small children perform or incest between blood relatives who've not been raised together (there've been a couple of very sad cases of this in the last decade.) The morality of it is dependant on your society, and often your status within that society. Are you a Hapsburg?

1

I posted immoral, so I could comment. I think it is moral for consenting adults who do not have children. Immoral when it includes pedophilia, or among minor siblings because their ability to reason is not established.
There was a cousin, I fell in love with, late in my life and had it not been for the fact that geography and life circumstances made it impossible, I might have even married him. We would have made an awesome couple. I refused to have sex with him because it would have been far to difficult to end when we would have to be separated for a year at a time.

1

OK, if we define it as between 2 consenting adults, and there is not the issue of in-breeding, I still have the eeeewie sensation. gross. Consider Albert Einstein and his 2nd wife, they were 1st cousins as their mothers were sisters, they were also 2nd cousins as their fathers were cousins. Cleopatra was the product of sibling incest that went back generations. So this question boils down to the definition of morality. I am against incest by gut feeling, yet the majority of my family and friends consider me immoral because I am divorced others because I am sometimes in multiple relationships. I am honest and open about it and deceive no-one and never cheat when in a committed one on one relationship, so that is ok to my own sense of morality, incest would not be. But am I right to judge another? Is it any of my business as long as their is no victim?

1

The taboo against incest is confused by the religious element. The taboo serves a purpose. It is to insure that children will not be victimized, to have a childhood among family, without this threat. Obviously there is some threat to serial incest through birth defects( Google' Hapsburg chin'😉, but its main purpose was to protect children from family members.if two adult relatives decided that they wanted to have sex, I would say that is their business.

1

I voted moral with the mindframe that it's being done by consenting adults who are mentally and psychologically sound. If the consent is there, I don't care what other people do. Not necessarily moral or immoral either way. As long as they don't pro-create of course.

1

well the biggest concern is health . is it safe ? if pregnancy occurs what are the odds the child has some sort of defect ? you have to think of the child being born as well the torment hes going to endure when his peers find out . as times change maybe itll be more accepted and safer. as of now its not safe ( someone pls correct me if wrong ) and it issnt accepted ( think about what his peers will think ) . as of right now i can't agree with it exspecially the health hazzards

But the question was phrased to rule out genetics, just to ask an opinion on the morality of the act.

@Benmonk

Safe sex does not rule out the possibility of offspring, is the problem with the question as phrased.

1

Are you nuts?

1

I would ask him, "Was it moral or immoral when Josh Duggar... Christian... molested his sisters and Mike Huckabee... former pastor... defended him?" There was no penetration... that's about as safe as it gets.

1

I said immoral and it has nothing to do with religion. On the rare case that 2 adults not raised together meet and have sex, then find out they are siblings, either half or full, it's just some shitty luck. If they want to continue that relationship, then by all means knock yourself out. If they are raised together as brother and sister, then that's just gross and you need your head examined. Having sexual feelings for a sibling should not happen. It's part of being human to contain different and deeper emotions towards parents, grandparents, siblings and our own children. We love them, protect them and respect them. Animals in nature do not have this. No sexual feelings should come into play unless you are mentally unstable.

1

Where is the vote for "Neither moral or immoral"?

Morality is a human construct and not readily measured, and context has a lot to do with many "moral" decisions. Children from incest have a larger chance for genetic issues, so it probably isn't the smartest choice for a child bearing partner, but if you aren't going to have children, who cares? It is not my business to tally who is fucking who in this world, and I wish everyone else would stop because it shouldn't matter to anyone but the small minded who wish to gossip.

1

I heard it said all the world leaders are related to royalty , all the presidents having the same bloodline . So if that is the case wouldnt they be interbreeding and having incest relationships to keep the bloodline pure?

1

No point in safe sex with a relative. Stupid question. Only reason to have sex is breeding. Unless every other woman on earth is dead there’s no moral or any reason to breed with a relative. Only to repopulate. Seriously, this is a disturbing question. I argue, should I let you all die since you’re not smart enough. To figure this out without help. Maybe we should let sea life like octopus’s take over, humans in general seem quite stupid to me. Wtf you even as this for you know the answer. My god the world is dumb and blind.

Really? Only breeding? I think you missed a meeting.

Why are you on this site? Please leave so answers which are just tripe no longer are interspersed with the answers that have meaning. Thanks.

You are within your right to be critical of the question. I don't judge you for your response, but I don't agree with it. I don't have sex for reproduction; I have sex for the enjoyment of having that bond with my partner. I hope that statement was you being hyperbolic. Otherwise, I feel as if you are missing an extraordinary aspect of life.

Wow, I’d completely forgotten of this site. I see this response struck some cords. Let me put this out there I was likely quite drunk at the time and even I have a hard time dismantling what I said now. Maybe I’ll check in here more frequently in the future. It does help me laugh like the Sacasimist society 😉 cya all around mayhap.

1

How is this a question? It happened in the Bible it was condemned. Maybenif last two humans on earth and you need to repopulate but even that’s fucked. I’d clone first. Sick question...

1

NO. This argument leads to one thing. Making it ok to abuse children by grooming them for years to be sex partners. Its grotesque.

1

Because my Family Tree should Branch!!!!

1

havent studies shown that it always leaves people worse off even if no kids are produced?

1

JUST WRONG! Why do you think their kids have birth defects!

1

If for any other reason, aside from the birth defect/health issue, I just find it disgusting and unnatural. I can't imagine this occuring between people who weren't at least pretty sick in the head.

1

I couldn't vote because the question is particularly skewed and unclear.
First I would need a working definition of morality - are we talking about wellbieng or something else?
Are the siblings thinking adults of an equal standing who can make an informed decision of consent?
And why is the question specific to brother and sister? What about brother and brother or sister and sister? Or even brother, sister, brother, brother and sister for that matter.
Several posters have highlighted concerns about the possibility of birth defects in the event of unplanned pregnancy, but I feel this is just a distracter from the initial question and allows an emotional response and not one based purely on logic.
If you take the view of some religions that sex is purely for procreation then it is probably unwise to breed with your siblings.
If you think that sex between fully consenting adults just for pleasure is acceptable, then I see no reason why sex between siblings should be considered 'immoral'. Our socialisation and the norms of the societies in which we live will impact on our yuk factor and make it difficult for us to think rationally on such emotive issues. Probably not much different than asking a Christian why they believe in God.

1

It's wired right into our DNA to not find a sibling atractive as a sexual partner. It's a bad idea. Condoms are pretty effective but not 100%. I'm going with its not for me but in not going to judge you for it.

1

Genetically, as stated, it is not advised. Morally... to each their own. I find it repugnant personally - although I must say Oedipus and Jocasta definitely had it going on...

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