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Incest's Defenders
Virginia Sherwood, NBC NewsWire / AP Photo
Mackenzie Phillips' "consensual" affair with her dad shocked many, but she's hardly alone. Joseph Huff-Hannon talks to people who say their incestuous relationships are none of your business.
The notion of intra-family sex has inspired—and revolted—onlookers from Oedipus to Deliverance. It's our society's No. 1 sexual taboo, and for good reason: Children of incestuous parents have a higher than normal rate of birth defects and congenital diseases. But even more destructive can be the psychological trauma of incest, especially to the young person engaging in it with his or her mother or father.
So when singer and actress Mackenzie Phillips admitted last week that she carried on a decade-long sexual relationship with her father, John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, the collective gasp was both predictable and promotional. (Phillips' new book, High on Arrival, hit stores September 23.) Dropping the bombshell on Oprah last week, Phillips largely defended the sex with her dad as consensual, though she's since pulled back somewhat, saying it started as molestation before becoming consensual about two years into it.
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But Phillips' claim that she was a willing participant didn't temper the outrage—in fact, it fueled the fire. Bloggers and commentators came out in force, and largely on one side of the issue, describing the many ways in which an incestuous relationship, especially between parent and child, can never be consensual. "Nope. Not consensual. Not even close," wrote a Huffington Post editor. "She was 19 and drugged out of her mind and her father raped her."
Mackenzie’s revelations are the latest in a string of high-profile, often garish cases of father-daughter incest, often involving clear signs of abuse, manipulation, and violence. So it hardly took her admission to reignite a firestorm over the legal, social, biological, and moral impropriety these relationships kick up, since the term "incest" most often conjures an image of a sexually exploitative relationship between an older male relative and a young girl. But perhaps proving that there's an interest group for everything, there is a small and vocal community, mostly found in online chatrooms and forums, that says incest is far too broad a term to describe a wide variety of relationships that involve consenting adults from the same family.
“For some reason Mackenzie's story bothers me a lot," says "LiLoLita," a poster on the conversation forum at GeneticSexualAttraction.com, a Web site for people who share an experience known as genetic sexual attraction (GSA). "Perhaps because I have a wonderful relationship with my daddy and don't wish to be associated with someone who claims to be raped."
“I have a wonderful relationship with my daddy and don't wish to be associated with someone who claims to be raped.”
GSA is characterized as an intense emotional and physical attraction between two family members who've been separated for many years, often from a young age, and upon reunion, all of the emotion of loss and separation is sometimes channeled into a sexual or romantic relationship. Hardly any scientific research has been conducted into GSA, and some psychologists believe it's a myth. They caution that psychologizing GSA risks normalizing it, making it something to be worked through, like post-traumatic stress disorder, rather than a destructive crime like abuse.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
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Joseph Huff-Hannon is a Brooklyn-based independent writer and producer, a 2008 finalist in the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, and a 2008 recipient of a James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism. See more of his work here: www.josephhuffhannon.com.
magentagreenx
well, the term 'cousin-fucker' had to come from somewhere.
Maezeppa
25% of the world's marriages are between cousins. That's NOT INCEST. Incest is in the line- grandparents, parents, siblings.
djanimaequeen
Then 25% of the world's marriges are incestuous. Hello! Have you ever heard of hemophilla? It came from generations of royalty marrying their cousins! Science has proven that genetic variation is GOOD thing. I don't know what's worse, incest or the fact that you are defending it. Ewwww.
altarguild153
This writer is just stirring up a lot of talk about unhealthy relationships; the pro-incestors are in denial about the betrayal they have felt. The fact of the age differences mentioned here indicated illegality. Just because a specific act isn't openly acknowledged doesn't mean it's appropriate.
Embers
I hope this remains taboo. There is a huge difference between consensual and rape.
bigwurzz
I agree, it grosses me out, but if is consensual I could care less what other people want to do to get off. It is not my life.
mjprocko
are you saying you don't want rape to be taboo?
connie47
This poorly-written article and photo gallery mixes up parent/child sex and child abuse with first cousins marrying, which is legal in 26 states, thereby watering down a seriously important subject.
A list of states and their laws about cousin marriage can be found at:
http://marriage.about.com/cs/marriagelicenses/a/cousin.htm
Some interesting facts at:
http://www.cousincouples.com/?page=facts
spotted
Exactly! One is a critical issue of boundaries; it is clearly and unequivocally inappropriate and harmful behavior that is irrespective of genetics. The other is a solely a genetic issue.
While both need to be discussed, combining them together diminishes the outrage we all should have over a parent (blood or otherwise) abusing a child.
BioProf
Data shows that the genetic effects are minimal, unless continued over generations. The evil lies in the distortion of the power/nurturing relationship between parent and child.
However, beyond parent/child, there is no logical reason to condemn other matings among relatives. But intuitively, we do. Wonder why? Is it an evolved taboo in our brains or a strong societal imprint?
Genni2002
Thanks connie (and her responders). That is what I was having trouble with when reading this article, scientific issues vs. abusing ones close relationship (particularly that of the care giver, disciplinarian and authority figure).
simplicity
The psychological needs of the child are not addressed and the boundaryless behavior of the adults involved.
The only, "debate," or discussions I've read involves the amount of jail time Polanski should receive.
Picachu
Sorry, but Polanski did not involve incest. While I am not arguing your point it is not really a part of this discussion.
Picachu
Considering the power a parent has in the relationship, it is difficult to imagine a sexual relationship between parent and child ever being truly "consensual". Even if it might lack force as an aspect of rape, it is the result of coercion. While a relationship between cousins would lack this aspect one would have to consider the biological risk to any offspring produced. However, a relationship between cousins was probably never outlawed in other western countries because marriage between cousins was one way the royalty kept the line going.
djanimaequeen
You mean like how the Romanovs kept the line going? Even if they had not been executed, the sole heir was a hemophilic, the forth generation of a family that married their first cousins (his parents were cousins, his grand-parents, and his great-grandparents, Queen Victoria of England, were all first cousins). The reason why royals married their cousins was to keep the money in the family not some form of eugenics as your post would suggest. Incest is BAD. Marrying your cousin or any relative is gross and runs contrary to nature. Period. Moreover, I agree with posters on here that a father having "consensual" sex with his kid is never consensual because of the influence a parent has over their child.
Barleymash
You forgot Rudi Giuliani. That's a pretty big oversight for an essay that stretches itself thin enough to smear Woody Allen and Soon Yi, who not only don't share blood, but don't share ANY form of familial relationship whatsoever. They're not even the same race. Yet Rudi married his first cousin and doesn't even get a nod? Who writes this crap?
Ritarita
I think it was
His second cousin
And childhood friend.
Barleymash
My apologies. You're right. But that makes Rudy only slightly less creepy. He's still infinitely creepier than Woody and Soon Yi, or even Morgan Freeman.
Carole65
What about Franklin D Roosevelt and Eleanor?
Barleymash
Franklin and Eleanor were fifth cousins. They shared a common what... great-great-great-grandparent in 1640? Virtual strangers.
djanimaequeen
You all are sick for arguing semantics. A cousin is a cousin is a cousin and it's still disgusting!! If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times: Genetic variataion is good for the species!!! Incest is NOT. In plain terms, don't be surpised when you marry your cousin, that your kids comes out with one eye and webbed feet! Yuck!
Barleymash
That's ridiculous. A cousin is a cousin is a cousin? The person sitting next to you on the train might be your fifth cousin and there's NO WAY IN THE UNIVERSE you would even suspect it. Do you check every lover's genealogy back 200 years before sleeping together? No? Sinner. Geez.
Veronicaxy
Can we see studies cited that back the claim incest isn't harmful?
Random quotes by participants or highly educated people aren't proof of anything except what they have convinced themselves. Do people who participate in incest actually lead healthy, productive lives? Do they have strong relationships with others?
Any opinion can be published including in respected journals and taken out of context or left unchallenged.
That doesn't make it true.
BioProf
Since when is marrying a cousin considered incest? Including consanguinous matings in this gallery lessens the true evil of incest.
roadhunter
I don't know that it is, but in my state, it's definitely illegal.
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n--Y--YurdeliteMachiavelli
"Of course it's easier to hide than being a homosexual or marrying outside your race" - This statement implies, within the context of the article that being homosexual or marrying outside of your race is taboo within our culture. I am a little bit frustrated by this statement by FirstCousinsWed. If one seeks social acceptance, I would think, they would need to be accepting of other "taboos" within our culture.
roadhunter
Being homosexual and marrying outside one's race are both taboo in our culture.
Genni2002
In some cultures marriage between first cousins is the best union. Religion-wise, it is often also viewed as the purest.Go figure.
UpstateNY
Parent-child sex cannot be consensual. There is a bond between parents and children that should never be used in this way. It's just not right!
Womentoo
Somebody please hand me a barf bag. So, I understand the state we are in (USA), polluted with drugs, the mind has gone to hell, the morals has taken a flyin leap into outer space, the heart has no direction because of the pollution. Yup, yup geez, whew! our young people are being groomed by the filth that sells. So look out world the worst is on the way....make sure your heart are strong to digest the stuff that will be brought out for the stinking dollar.
Siouxie921
What about Rudy Guiliani? His first marriage was w/ his first cousin.
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