Incest Stories · 6:23pm Aug 8th, 2017
I used to work at this pizza place while I was going through university. The bosses I originally had when I first started working there (I later found out) were married first cousins. As in the children of the aunt/ uncle on both sides getting married. I thought it was a little strange (I couldn't picture myself marrying any of my first cousins, or the children of my uncles or aunts) but they seemed happy so I didn't really question things.
That was the strangest case of incest I ran into until I met this girl who was in my English class (the English Major program attracted some of the craziest/ most interesting people, no joke). Now this girl was married to her step-brother. Yes, you heard that right. Her STEP BROTHER. I knew this because she was pretty open about sharing this with other classmates.
Well, I thought I had seen it all. That was until I came to learn that one of the guys who ran a store in my hometown was married to his biological daughter. Not step daughter. Not adopted daughter of some kind. Noooo. His biological daughter.
I think it is important to note that I live in The United States. Incest is generally illegal here except for in a few States.
The first cousins who were married (my bosses from the pizza place) were from Canada. The girl from one of my university classes who married her step brother was from Sweden. The guy who married his biological daughter was married outside of the country and was from Portugal. He owned a local business and was white (although he lived in Portugal for a long amount of time and was naturalized).
They were all married in different countries (to my knowledge) and came over here on a work visa (like the bosses/ store owner) or a student visa (like the girl in my class).
In the case of the Canadian couple, I think they were wealthy. And wealthy people tend to marry their cousins to keep the money in the same bloodline (this is very prevalent in most areas of the world, especially those with nobility such as Canada and the UK). It was the same thing with the girl from Sweden who married her step brother.
The guy from Portugal was wealthy as well. And I assume that it might have had something (again) to do with keeping wealth in the same family, as what often happens with higher class marriages (this is a pretty consistent thing everywhere, worldwide).
All that being said, they seemed to be very happy with their relationships. So I suppose it worked out for them in both senses.
After I learned about these particular relationships, I came to either meet people who were in involved in incestuous relationships or hear about a lot of incestuous relationships over the past eight years or so. Before that point in time, I never heard of it happening really at all. It seems like people are more open about it these days.
Anyway, I was just wondering if other people experienced this type of thing in their own lives, or if it was just an isolated thing in the community I grew up in. Do you think it is more common these days, especially to share this with other people? Or so you think that people are only open about this in certain places and not others? I am curious to hear your thoughts on this.
I'm not really sure where I personally stand on the whole incest thing. I've been introduced to people who have been incestuous over the past eight years. And it seemed to work for them.
It is strange to me, coming from The United States where is is mostly illegal to be in a relationship or even marry someone you are related to. Although I have been seeing more people open up about it (usually from other countries).
But I do think it is fascinating to meet these people and hear the stories of how they came to date or be married to someone who is related to them in some way.
I guess I feel that if they are both consenting adults and they feel it works for them, then kudos to them. It's not like my opinion is going to stop them anyway. ;p
Well, I may not have seen it or experienced it, but I've read a book (100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez) that uses incest as a plot device for his story. Highly recommended.
4627838 It sounds interesting. What is the story about?
this kind of stuff seems crazy.
Though not that long ago it was a lot more common.
4627840 Good point. This kind of thing was more common in early human history/ ancient civilizations. It is interesting how it is becoming more normalized in modern human culture again.
You know what they say, incest is wincest.
I find it not too weird (but still weird) for first cousins to marry, but dad and daughter or sister and step-brother? For me, that's not skipping enough similar biological matter to justify marriage. The next issue on hand would be if they engage in any sort of sexual activity.
Nah, it would be extra weird here because "cousins" are also your brothers and sisters. Also tradition expects at least there to be 4 generations difference. Though some say more I think. Anyway in a village here it would be a great shame and in city...I would probably hardy notice.
Anyway it isn't illegal just because it is fun thing to do, it is illegal because incest creates abnormalities on the offspring. Hence why royal families had loads of health issues as whole europe monarchy was one big unhappy incest family.
4627890 Yeah, the relationship between a sister and step brother or father and daughter does seem a bit strange to me. But then again, I live in The United States, and we usually have laws that prevent incest of any kind (except for in a few States where a relationship is permitted, but usually not marriage). I grew up hearing that incest was illegal in pretty much every State and listening to classmates and such poke fun at incest (in a harmless way), and so that probably influenced a lot of my opinions in regards to me thinking it is different or abnormal.
4627898 Upper class people from European countries, The Unites States, Canada, Australia, and many other countries around the world, still marry their relatives (usually cousins, but the law is stretched in some cases to ensure the noble blood stays in the family). These marriages are sometimes meant to preserve a noble bloodline (as I mentioned before), but they can also be to keep wealth within the family.
That being said, despite the marriages that take place among the wealthy members of society, most countries have laws against incest and outright forbid marriage between biological relatives. Some of the few countries that allow marriages between blood relatives are Sweden, Portugal, Japan, France, Canada (in some cases), and a few American States. There might be some other countries I forgot, but those were the main ones I could think of, off the top of my head.
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Law is there to protect them from dangers of interbreeding. Now if they want to ignore it well not my problem but sure will be problem to their offspring. The issue isn't because it is arbitrary social taboo or because it is weird (though father-daughter definitely is weird on so many levels). It's basically law to prevent self harm.
4627839
The shortest (and less spoilery) version I can give you, is that the book tells the story of the Buendía Family, how they founded Macondo and the exploits each one of the members of their family have gone through. The story has a thing for skipping time (it starts in the present, talking about the future and how it remembers the past) and saying a lot of things that will happen chapters prior to said events.
As I said, the incest is a huge plot device (one of the driving reasons why the Buendía Family founders, José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, decides to move out of their house and fund Macondo) but I don't want to spoil it because it's a story that's a lot more powerful going blind.
What I will say about it, is that the book belongs to a genre that's almost exclusive to Latin America: Magic Realism. The method of telling the impossible as a normal thing (or vice versa, since these two tend to be the same in this genre) and 100 years of Solitude is considered by everybody the maximum piece of this genre.
There are other books I can recommend you, but I doubt that you'll find them as easily. The last time people around the world got interested in Latin American literature was in the 70's and the fever ended in the 80's (even Japan got involved in it once they read 100 Years of Solitude, but the Japanese Government decided to shut itself up from the world before the population could get more interested) and I really don't know if you can find the author's books anymore. But, in case you get interested, you can search for:
Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú)
Alejo Carpentier (Cuba)
Arturo Uslar Pietri (Venezuela)
Rómulo Gallegos (Venezuela)
Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)
Juan Rulfo (México)
Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia)
Those are the most well known (with Vargas Llosas being the last one alive) and I hope you have a nice time with the book if you get to find it.
4627917 Good point. In incestuous relationships, there are a lot of health risks involved when it comes to giving birth to children. So the laws make sense.
4627926 That is really interesting! I would like to read more books from Latin America if I manage to find them. :)
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It's also why there is certain level of generational gap in the law, like you can marry person who shares your grand grand grand father or something. I am kinda surprised that that some place have no law at all.
4627931 The only countries (and individual States) I can think of where it is legal to marry a blood relative (even as close as a sister, father, and so on) are the ones I listed before.
However, incest in itself is handled differently in most countries if there is no marriage involved. Many countries say that is legal or just outright ignore it if it is not legal (provided that marriage isn't a factor). But the laws regarding this vary by region, state, province, and so on. Like some places might say you can be in an incestuous relationship with your sister, but you can't get married. Or you can be in an incestuous relationship with a first or second cousin, you can get married, but you can't produce any offspring. Some of the laws can get pretty weird and lend themselves to grey areas.
Hey guys, what's going on in he-
i.imgur.com/qgGuXW3.gif
4628022 lol
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If you get to find them, please tell me, I would like to know your opinion on said books. Especially because some of them are meant to talk about the history of their own countries or elements about them. IE.: Rómulo Galegos lived during the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez (1908 - 1935) so his stories are more focused on the fight between the life of a civilian against the abuses from the military (like in Cantaclaro or Doña Bárbara, with the latter being translated into multiple languages, including english).
100 Hundred Years of Solitude also falls into this, Márques use the Macondo as a reflection of Colombia's history (and yes, incest plays a part in this but I won't say how).
4628164 I will see what I can find. I am kind of limited to what I can find at the library though as I can't really afford to buy any books at the moment. :(
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:(
4628183 I know right? I crie everytim. T^T
I've never seen it, and kind of think it's unhealthy and weird, but whatever I guess
4630689 Thank you for adding your perspective on this. :)
4630699
Your very welcome Lyra :)
4630774 Yay!
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