In most parts of the world incest is taboo. Some societies and countries permit cousin marriages, but in the Western world it is not allowed under many circumstances. There is an interesting phenomena known as genetic sexual attraction that has affected ones given up for adoption and when they are grown they track down the family from which they came and they are all of a sudden faced with a sexual attraction to one of the people in their long lost family.
It’s not that common, but with more people these days tracking down families they came from and with the internet it’s a lot easier than it ever was before, it’s quite common now for children given up for adoption or the parents that gave them up to do a search as an adult to find them now that they are over age. So the more people meeting this way, the more common a situation it is. Is this wrong? If both people are of age who exactly are they hurting if they are engaging in a consensual relationship that affects no one? If they, or at least one of the partners, gets sterilized so the possibility of children is removed along with the possible problems that can come from inbreeding, who are they really hurting?
There’s so many combinations of possible incest, some obviously are not a good idea, but if of age and consensual, I don’t see the problem. Some countries don’t even think you should marry one that is a relative by marriage, which is crazy, they aren’t even blood related! There was a story recently about the uproar over a man wanting to marry his recently passed away wife’s sister. No blood relation at all. It varies so much by county and culture. In the West, you’d not see many cousin marriages, but in the Middle East up to 25% of marriages are between cousins. Allowed or not allowed, taboo or not taboo, it will always be a controversial topic.
