"relative" sex? how common is it?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2006
"relative" sex? how common is it?
13
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 11:10am

I heard on the radio this morning a man talking about his marriage. He married his STEP-sister! His father and the girl's mother were married when the kids were little, but were divorced later. But the boy and girl (step-siblings) grew up and met again later in life, fell in love, and married.

The radio hosts were being a bit rude, jokingly calling their marriage "incest", when there is actually no "blood" relation, so there is nothing illegal about it.

So the radio hosts asked a pretty good question: How common is it to have a sexual relationship with someone who was/is within your "family"?? With the high rate of divorce, split homes, multiple marriages and such, I would think that a situation similar to the one I heard on the radio might be more common than we believe.

With all the step-parents, step-siblings, half-siblings, in-laws, cousins twice removed, etc. out there from all of the marriages and divorces, what kinds of relationships are people having with their own "family" that are not technically illegal, but possibly a moral delimma?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2006
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 11:23am

I have an uncle who married his stepsister. Course they are in their 60's now both had previous marriages and it was only late in life that they got married.

I see nothing wrong with that situation. After all they aren't "blood" relatives. In fact Dh's mom married her first cousin which resulted in him now having 2 half-sisters. They did have problems resulting from the close connection.

I think that's a bit close, but second cousins I think are far enough removed that it shouldn't be a problem, all of this "once removed" I think should be fine. But that's just my take on it. Too bad first cousins are frowned upon, I had one I would have done in a heartbeat! LOL

Avatar for cl_littlemascara
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-16-2003
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 11:25am
Interesting question.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Tue, 05-23-2006 - 4:12pm

I think it would be different if they grew up in the same household and were raised as siblings.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-24-2006
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 7:04am
As long as no kids are to be born from the marriage, then what's the problem with it?
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-19-2002
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 9:22am

I agree, if they were raised in the household as siblings, it may be legal, but it's just more of an "ick" factor for most people.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-10-2006
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 9:46am

LOL!

Remember one of those recent "Brady" feature films...they made a reference to the "sexual tension" between Marcia and Greg...when they were "sharing" the attic room with a sheet strung up between them!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2006
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 11:18am

Let's see, I have a few examples:

I had a gym teacher in middle school who was married to his first cousin. I remember the stress when she was about to give birth to their first child. She came out fine and they had 2 more kids afterwards that were fine as well. (Very lucky)

Now to explain this one.

I have a step-cousin who is also my 3rd cousin. His Dad is my Dad's 1st cousin and his Mom is the sister of my Dad's 2nd wife.

Next one:

I have an older full sister.

My step-mother has 2 sisters and 1 brother(J). J married P, so that makes her our(my sister and mine) step-Aunt. They have 2 children(our step-cousins). A few yrs later my sister starts dating M and eventually marry and have children. Well P and M are brother and sister. So now my sisters step-Aunt is also her sister-in-law and their children are not only her step-cousins but her nieces/nephews as well.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 2:06pm

Nice to see you back, Maggie.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 2:10pm

Welcome to the board, mayfest.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-09-2005
Wed, 05-24-2006 - 2:32pm

The importance of partnering outside the family came long before science had a reason. It was a way of forming alliances, a way of survival. x family and y family are separated by a mountain...the only reason they would cross the mountain and marry is if there was another factor z to make it necessary (i.e. environmental or a shared enemy).


How do you think tribes came about? Most of them started with one man and one woman, and grew. How did they not suffer the genetic complications? Maybe they just had better genes to start with? Well, since they didn't have BC they had many kids. The ones that were healthy survived, the ones that weren't died. Even a narrow success rate would sustain the tribe. This is a subject that science is learning more about each day, but it is a fact that incest was not taboo in earlier times, and still isn't in many tribal, savage regions.


We just had this discussion in my college English class. My prof is an expert in ancient, and early european lit~he's working on a literary analysis pertaining to incest. Shakespeare even had many references to it~not in a bad way


eta: Shakespease MARRIED his cousin, right?......lol....2 weeks out of school and my brain has gone to crap




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