RE: Responding to "Homosexuality is wrong, the same way incest is wrong"
May 22, 2015 at 9:22 pm
(May 22, 2015 at 9:04 pm)Napoléon Wrote: I wonder...
Eliminate the aspect of child defects for a second.
Imagine a mother having sexual relationships with a daughter. Or a father with a son. Or a brother with a brother. Or a sister with a sister.
None of these scenarios have any risks whatsoever with regards to a child being born 'inbred' in some way. What then is the moral objection to it?
I honestly think there is probably a psychological/physiological reason for why many of us find incestual relationships so repulsive, or weird. A lot of it may be down to how human society itself works.
But you look at every species on the planet, to my knowledge pretty much every animal I know of does not engage in incestual acts. There must be a physical reason for this.
On a purely basic level though, I find it disgusting. When really rationalising it I can't come up with many sound reasons as for why, but it still is.
I think robvalue gave a good explanation above, in post 21. The problem is in a parent abusing his or her position of authority over someone, for their own personal pleasure. It is a similar problem if a teacher has sex with a student, or if a priest has sex with an alter boy. Even if the child "consents" to what is happening. And, as robvalue rightly states in his post, it is not merely a problem if the person is under age at the time of the sexual activity, it is a problem if the person is groomed to be one's sexual partner while under age.
Basically, a parent or other authority figure is supposed to be preparing a child for adulthood, not for being one's personal sexual partner. It is an abuse of trust and duty that is at issue in such cases.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
