TO MY INTERESTS
Posted on 02/26/2013 6:15:59 AM PST by Kaslin
You knew it had to happen sometime. A husband discovers that he and his wife have the same sperm donor father. (Both of them raised by lesbian parents.) That means he married his half-sister, who is now the mother of their three children. What should they do?
Although the story has not, to my knowledge, been verified, it was the subject of a question submitted to Emily Yoffe, author of the Dear Prudence advice column. The husband explained that when he met his wife in college, “the attraction was immediate, and we quickly became inseparable. We had a number of things in common,” and so, he writes, “everything was very natural between us.”
Of course, thousands of other couples have experienced an immediate attraction that turned into a lasting relationship, but there’s an added factor here. Did this couple experience GSA, genetic sexual attraction?
According to the Genetic Sexual Attraction website, “Genetic Sexual Attraction or GSA occurs between two adults who have been separated during the critical years of development and bonding and are reunited years later as adults. When these ‘strangers’ finally meet, the brain struggles to associate each other as family. Instead, they become captivated with one another, sharing similar physical features, likes and dislikes.”
Is that what this couple experienced? And what does this do to the “born that way” argument commonly used by gay activists to support their case that “gay rights” equals “black civil rights”? In the case of homosexuality, there remains no reputable scientific evidence that anyone is born gay (although there are certainly genetic contributions to homosexuality, as opposed to genetic causes). In the case of GSA, there could really be deeper genetic factors at work, yet there is only one viable response when it comes to separated siblings who meet later in the life and are attracted to each other: They must resist what their genes want them to do.
But what about this couple? The wife was raised by two lesbians and had learned who her donor dad was when she turned 18. The husband, raised by one lesbian, was never interested in learning the identity of his donor dad until this year, when, for their anniversary, he decided to find out who his biological father was. To his utter shock, he learned that it was the same as his wife’s donor dad. (For the common traumas experienced by children of sperm donors, in particular anonymous sperm donors, see my article, “The Kids Are Not Always Alright.”)
Unsurprisingly, this is not the first time such a thing has happened – or, at least, was feared to have happened. A 2008 article reported that lesbian couples in South Australia were “‘at risk’ due to prolific sperm donors.” The article noted that, “There have been reports of one man impregnating 30 lesbian women, whose children now socialise together. Unless they are aware of their shared parentage, there is concern some of them could commit incest.”
Yes, this is another tragic consequence to the breakdown of the family in our generation. Not just fatherless kids, but married couples produced by the same father. Are we really so bigoted to stand for natural, organic marriage?
Returning to this particular incestuous couple, the husband wrote, “On the one hand, I love my wife more than I can say, and logically, done is done, we already have children. I have had a vasectomy, so we won't be having any more, so perhaps there is no harm in continuing as we are. But, I can’t help but think ‘This is my sister’ every time I look at her now. I haven’t said anything to her yet, and I don't know if I should or not. Where do I go from here? I am tempted to burn everything I got from the sperm bank and just try to forget it all, but I’m not sure if I can. Please help me figure out where to go from here.”
Without a doubt, this is a difficult, painful situation, and I can understand that “Prudence” could be faulted for any answer she might give. (She counseled him to tell his wife, get counseling as a couple, and move on with life, never telling the kids.)
What’s shocking, though, is her overall attitude: “I think there's way too much emphasis put on DNA. Yes, you two will have had a shock, but when it wears off you will be the same people you were before you found out. Shocking news has the effect of making people feels as if the waves it sends out will always rock them. But I think you two should be able to file away your genetic origins and go on.”
In other words, incest might not be so bad after all. But fear not. There’s no slippery slope, and only homophobic bigots want to preserve the natural family. Right.
Hrolf Kraki, the dark ages Danish king was the son of an unwitting union between his father and his father’s daughter.
He was a legendary king for his wisdom, virtue and courage.
lol.
as if that makes any difference
Hrolf Kraki.
He didn't even know how to spell his name! HA!
I'll have to look this fella' up!
“Wonder which states still require a blood test before marriage?”
Those early blood tests were to determine if either had syphillus....nothing more.
Genetic tests would be pretty expensive...but may become necessary someday.
“There’s nothing in the Bible about not marrying your cousin, yet we have a taboo against that. So it’s not all from the Bible.”
After 1,400 years of first cousin incest, Muslims have accumulated a range of genetic deficits due to inbreeding. ‘Course, they were not much to start with.
first cousin is bad enough
but sister and brother is horrific
they have the same dad, they are bro and sis
Two words: Habsburg dynasty.
Hrolf had his name spelled in a variety of ways, depending on whether you were a Dane, a Geat/Goth or one of the other traditions that mention him.
The Catholic church used to warn people not to have relations with prostitutes, because children were often adopted out or given away and so lost tract of, so you might inadvertently have relations with your near relative.
Some of that is echoed in a few of the Grimm fairy tales.
Bear in mind that Abraham and Sarah were brother and sister.
and the point would be?
I don’t think they were incestuous so much as they had a different (narrower) definition of incest.
There is a bedroom available at the Clinton Library...
Abraham and Sarah were brother and sister.
The bible permits, perhaps even encourages such a marriage. Abraham was not condemned for his marriage by G-d, so far as the Bible records. Rather, he was rewarded and his progeny became a great nation.
and do you have a point? Is that supposed to mean something?
lol
Just because they did stuff in the Bible, doesn’t mean God endorsed it. Nobody mentioned in the old testament, even the prophets, were anything other than sinners as we all are. God even punished a lot of the old testament prophets.
Sure. So the examples of patriarchs are not for us to follow.
Right. I will note that.
Does the Bible command anyone to go and commit incest??
No.
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