@stevep59 But then, only the parents/children relationship should be taboo... I don't know about England but it isn't so in France, even having an affair with your cousin, while not illegal, is pretty badly perceived. I'm not even talking about a brother/sister relationship which is just unconceivable to most people and even sugesting it would bring horror to their faces (yup I did that).
Moreover, I feel this argument is just a bad excuse to justify a nonsensical tradition : problematic relationships happen all the time. Husbands hurting or raping their wives and never getting punished for it, there is absolutely no need for incest to be involved for that to happen.
Also, you can't forbid everybody to do something just because 1% of the time it will result in a bad situation. At least that is not how we decide for most of the things we may or may not do. I feel most anti-incest arguments are just like homophobic arguments were 60 years ago : choosing an extreme example of an incestuous relationship gone wrong and saying that is why it's wrong to do so.
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@stevep59 But then, only the parents/children relationship should be taboo... I don't know about England but it isn't so in France, even having an affair with your cousin, while not illegal, is pretty badly perceived. I'm not even talking about a brother/sister relationship which is just unconceivable to most people and even sugesting it would bring horror to their faces (yup I did that).
Moreover, I feel this argument is just a bad excuse to justify a nonsensical tradition : problematic relationships happen all the time. Husbands hurting or raping their wives and never getting punished for it, there is absolutely no need for incest to be involved for that to happen.
Also, you can't forbid everybody to do something just because 1% of the time it will result in a bad situation. At least that is not how we decide for most of the things we may or may not do. I feel most anti-incest arguments are just like homophobic arguments were 60 years ago : choosing an extreme example of an incestuous relationship gone wrong and saying that is why it's wrong to do so.