[orangebird]

Originally Posted by dr wadd

If both partners are consenting I don`t see that there is anything wrong with it in absolute terms. No-one is hurt, there are just two people getting it on in the privacy of their own home. At the end of the day, if two adults are consenting then the negative reactions to this incident are no different, and certainly no more valid, than similar reactions to inter-racial or homosexual relationships in past times.

You don't see anything wrong with a mother and son having sex?????

The argument about in-breeding holds no water as there are areas of the country where a lot of inbreeding is taking place through non-incestuous relationships due to close-knit communities that now have a limited gene-pool. If, to take Orangebird's argument, she needs to be protected from potentially deformed children then surely she should be arguing for breeding controls in these areas of the country. I can`t see that happening, so it does shoot a rather large hole straight through that argument.

Go to a middle eastern country (Iran is a damn good example) - the argument about in-breeding holds water there. Have you actually seen a child/baby that's a result of it's mother being it's uncles sisters brothers etc etc etc. It's heartbreaking, and tantamount to abuse IMO. I don't need protecting - people who think this is OK need protecting from themselves...

Take this particular case for instance, how much time and money has been wasted investigating this issue and bringing a prosecution? How much money will be wasted if the mother is given a custodial sentence? These resources could have been put to much better use if directed towards a different goal.

Showing the general public that sexual abuse will not be tolerated is a very worthwhile way to use resources.

I think I`m perfectly entitled to describe some of the reactions in this thread as "knee-jerk" when you see descriptions such as "sickos" thrown around along with a bunch of spurious assumptions as to people's congitive processes in general simply on the grounds that two people committed incest. The argument that they wouldn`t care whether they conceived a child or not simply because they are people who engage in incest is perhaps one of the most tenuous conclusions I've seen expressed on this board.

IMO, having sex with your mother/father/brother/sister is sick. Hence the use of words sicko, sick puppy etc. Tenuous my argument maybe, but a lot of people here seemed to agree, and I'm sticking to it. If you can't get your head around the fact that not only is it illegal, but just downright wrong to shag a member of your immediate family, then it personally doesn't bode well that you have any sensible (regardless of how many big words you use... ) conclusions about anything else in life either.