Inspired by this post on [email protected].

What are Burggit’s thoughts on the ethics (not the legality!) of real life incest? Some common conditions for starters:

  1. Between consenting people
  2. Between consenting adults
  3. Between consenting adults of a “reasonable” age difference
  4. Between consenting adults, no parent/child relationships permitted

Personally, I am torn between 2 and 4. Can there really be a consenting relationship between adult and child (both being adults)?

P.S.: Please let me know if this should be marked NSFW. I didn’t because this is the type of post I like to see when browsing SFW

  • Mousepad@burggit.moeOP
    4·
    1 year ago

    This runs into the precedent it sets for disallowing pregnancies for people with disabilities. Dwarfism is much more likely to be passed from parent to child if both parents have the gene. So should it be disallowed that two people with dwarfism produce a child? One could make many similar comparisons. If we were to legalize incest but making illegal the product of such a union (suppose after X generations, if you prefer), we would have to justify how it is distinct from the such disorders/disabilities.

    I tentatively want to say that ethically both incestuous relationships and breeding should be legal for consenting adults. I don’t like the idea of pumping out products of incest, but at the same time, I cannot construct a solid argument against it for precedence issues. The more I think of it, the less I feel I even have a moral reason to be opposed: If two consenting adults decide to have a child who is more likely to have a disability, are they really doing wrong? Antinatalism aside, we actually tend to view as morally good future parents who, for example, decide to not abort a fetus determined to have Down syndrome. It is different to try for child knowing that they are at significantly increased risk of birth defect, but not that different, in my opinion.

    • Disa@burggit.moe
      3·
      1 year ago

      Like I mentioned in another comment In practice I feel this would be more of a “think twice” mostly unenforced type law, mostly to make people think a little harder about what they were doing and potentially assess the risks. Stuff like this would probably be hugely helped with things like easy access to free nationwide birth control.

      I don’t have any true problems with any 2 consenting adults reproducing. But I think it should be made very clear the risks and resources to provide things like free birth control should be given to reduce such risks.

      I (as a disabled person whose parents were told they’d never make it past a few months old) have no problem with people reproducing and giving birth to disabled children, so long as the risks are very clear to the people. I guess education and prevention for those who do not want children is my main concern when it comes to incest. Sort of like, you should know what you could be getting yourself into type of thing.