Sibling Love
I hate the word incest. It sounds like the maggots-in-rotting-flesh kind of disgusting. Even stripped of its meaning the word itself draws such a repulsive reaction. But of course, the concept within itself is most undoubtedly repulsive. Romantic complications that occur cross generations usually has traces of exploit and abuse in it and generally would be categorized as statutory rape. I see it as any other sane person. Because when the person who is supposed to be a figure of authority in your life, a role model and a guardian chooses to succumb to decadence, I don't know how else to put it - it's some fucked up shit. On the other hand, somehow, I've always found sparks of attraction between siblings to be alluringly fascinating.
And no, I'm not talking about cousins, adopted siblings, step siblings or half siblings. I'm talking about a brother and a sister who are fully related and share the same set of biological parents. Better yet, twins who share the exact same genetic makeup. And I'm not even talking about siblings separated at birth and reunited as adults because there is a scientific explanation for that. It's called Genetic Sexual Attraction and occurs when relatives of opposite sex see each other for the first time as adults and become attracted to each other due to assortative mating. They don't know how to handle meeting someone they have never met before who is supposed to be very close to them and somehow try to make up for the missing intimacy too quickly and it escalates into sexual feelings.
However, siblings who were raised together generally undergo reverse sexual imprinting that desensitizes their natural sexual attraction for each other. But apparently according to Westermarck, this only takes place from age 0-6 which means as children, we begin to have sexual awareness at 6 years old, not when puberty starts, which is when we start wanting to act on our sexual feelings. Hell, I can think back to pre-school era and the countless incidents of pervert male classmates I had to deal with. And maybe that partly explains my closet slut self. But back to topic, so what does this say about siblings who have always lived together who still grew up developing romantic feelings for one another?
Since I'm the hopeless romantic, I think of it this way: what is the greatest form of romantic love? When you meet a stranger, go through the whole courting process and eventually fall in love with them, you don't hold too many stakes at hand. If things work out, great, if they don't, you go back to (pretend to) being strangers again. But if you fall in love with your sibling, whether or not you stay in love, you will always unconditionally love each other. That's unconditional love on top of unconditional love. You can never sever the bond. It's both a blessing and a curse - but mostly the latter. And you've also known everything about each other since birth, and you know all of each other's faults before the spark happens. There is no opportunity to create any kind of illusion as we do during the honeymoon phase. And the most beautiful part about it is that because it's so twisted and taboo that this kind of love will almost only bring misery and yet it will be more difficult to let go of than anything else.
Well, at least that's how the media portrays it. 99% of Western movies or dramas that feature this kind of relationship have incredibly depressing endings, and make up all kinds of horrible scenarios to justify it or subtly place the blame on one particular sibling for being either purposely seductive or perverted. I have come across some of the most fucked up plots while looking through these films. Outside of Western media, the only genres that would feature this kind of storyline are erotica, porn, and hentai, specifically created for the pleasure of single sick-minded men. No one seems to be able, or daring enough to treat this subject fairly, in a serious, realistic light. But there are many sibling couples out there in the world, anonymous, and living their lives like normal people. As long as they don't reproduce, what harm do they bring to the world?
Now, of course I have so many fantasies about this because I don't have a brother to deal with any consequences. But if I think about a male version of me, I can almost say with undeniable certainty that I won't be attracted to him. Assortative mating goes against Darwinism completely, and most definitely doesn't apply to me. I can think to first cousins, second cousins and a second uncle who is the same age as me, and regardless of how often I have seen them before the age of 6, I don't find them attractive at all. Because generally, I'm much more attracted to people who look the least like me. Maybe self-hate has something to do with this, but I'm convinced it's more because of the natural push for genetic variation. And this is why I'm so fascinated with this type of phenomenon. Should society be more lenient on this marginalized group? Or would the lack of taboo take away its appeal?
And no, I'm not talking about cousins, adopted siblings, step siblings or half siblings. I'm talking about a brother and a sister who are fully related and share the same set of biological parents. Better yet, twins who share the exact same genetic makeup. And I'm not even talking about siblings separated at birth and reunited as adults because there is a scientific explanation for that. It's called Genetic Sexual Attraction and occurs when relatives of opposite sex see each other for the first time as adults and become attracted to each other due to assortative mating. They don't know how to handle meeting someone they have never met before who is supposed to be very close to them and somehow try to make up for the missing intimacy too quickly and it escalates into sexual feelings.
However, siblings who were raised together generally undergo reverse sexual imprinting that desensitizes their natural sexual attraction for each other. But apparently according to Westermarck, this only takes place from age 0-6 which means as children, we begin to have sexual awareness at 6 years old, not when puberty starts, which is when we start wanting to act on our sexual feelings. Hell, I can think back to pre-school era and the countless incidents of pervert male classmates I had to deal with. And maybe that partly explains my closet slut self. But back to topic, so what does this say about siblings who have always lived together who still grew up developing romantic feelings for one another?
Since I'm the hopeless romantic, I think of it this way: what is the greatest form of romantic love? When you meet a stranger, go through the whole courting process and eventually fall in love with them, you don't hold too many stakes at hand. If things work out, great, if they don't, you go back to (pretend to) being strangers again. But if you fall in love with your sibling, whether or not you stay in love, you will always unconditionally love each other. That's unconditional love on top of unconditional love. You can never sever the bond. It's both a blessing and a curse - but mostly the latter. And you've also known everything about each other since birth, and you know all of each other's faults before the spark happens. There is no opportunity to create any kind of illusion as we do during the honeymoon phase. And the most beautiful part about it is that because it's so twisted and taboo that this kind of love will almost only bring misery and yet it will be more difficult to let go of than anything else.
Well, at least that's how the media portrays it. 99% of Western movies or dramas that feature this kind of relationship have incredibly depressing endings, and make up all kinds of horrible scenarios to justify it or subtly place the blame on one particular sibling for being either purposely seductive or perverted. I have come across some of the most fucked up plots while looking through these films. Outside of Western media, the only genres that would feature this kind of storyline are erotica, porn, and hentai, specifically created for the pleasure of single sick-minded men. No one seems to be able, or daring enough to treat this subject fairly, in a serious, realistic light. But there are many sibling couples out there in the world, anonymous, and living their lives like normal people. As long as they don't reproduce, what harm do they bring to the world?
Now, of course I have so many fantasies about this because I don't have a brother to deal with any consequences. But if I think about a male version of me, I can almost say with undeniable certainty that I won't be attracted to him. Assortative mating goes against Darwinism completely, and most definitely doesn't apply to me. I can think to first cousins, second cousins and a second uncle who is the same age as me, and regardless of how often I have seen them before the age of 6, I don't find them attractive at all. Because generally, I'm much more attracted to people who look the least like me. Maybe self-hate has something to do with this, but I'm convinced it's more because of the natural push for genetic variation. And this is why I'm so fascinated with this type of phenomenon. Should society be more lenient on this marginalized group? Or would the lack of taboo take away its appeal?