Editing Incest (section)

{{distinguish|Insect}}
{{Short description|Sexual activity between immediate family members or people considered too closely related to marry}}
{{About|the variable social, legal, religious, and cultural attitudes and sanctions concerning human sexual relations with close kin|a detailed description of its legal aspects worldwide|Legality of incest|the biological act of reproducing with close kin|Inbreeding|the descriptive term for blood-related kin|Consanguinity|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Woodcut illustration of Semiramis and her son Ninias - Penn Provenance Project.jpg|thumb|Woodcut illustration depicting incest between [[Semiramis]] and her son Ninias]]
{{Family law}}
'''Incest''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɪ|n|s|ɛ|s|t|}} {{respell|IN|sest}}) is [[sexual intercourse|sex]] <!--NOTE: Using the term "sexual activity" is more accurate because the term "incest" does not only refer to sexual penetration, while the term "sexual intercourse" usually does imply sexual penetration.--> between [[kinship|close relatives]], for example a [[brother]], [[sister]], or [[parent]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harkins |first1=Gillian |title=Incest |journal=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |date=2015 |pages=583–625 |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs231|isbn=978-1-4051-9006-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Incest|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2013|access-date=27 August 2013|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/incest|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130626012345/http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/incest|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Incest|publisher=[[Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network]] (RAINN)|year=2009|access-date=27 August 2013|url=http://www.rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/incest}}</ref> This typically includes sexual activity between people in [[consanguinity]] (blood relations), and sometimes those related by [[lineage (anthropology)|lineage]]. It is condemned and considered immoral in many societies. It can lead to an increased risk of [[genetic disorders]] in children in case of pregnancy from incestuous sex.

The [[incest taboo]] is one of the most widespread of all cultural [[taboo]]s, both in present and in past societies.<ref name="Bittles">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6CsCXXE8skC&pg=PA178 |title=Consanguinity in Context |last=Bittles |first=Alan Holland |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-0521781862 |pages=178–187 |access-date=27 August 2013}}</ref> Most modern societies have [[laws regarding incest]] or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages.<ref name="Bittles"/> In societies where it is illegal, consensual adult incest is seen by some as a [[victimless crime]].<ref name="spiegel">{{cite magazine |last=Hipp |first=Dietmar |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,540831,00.html |title=German High Court Takes a Look at Incest |date=11 March 2008 |magazine=Der Spiegel |access-date=12 April 2008}}</ref><ref name= Wolf169>{{cite book |title=Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century |first1=Arthur P. |last1=Wolf |first2=William H. |last2=Durham |author2-link=William H. Durham |year=2004 |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OW1nuQxcIQgC&pg=PA169 |isbn=978-0-8047-5141-4}}</ref> Some cultures extend the incest taboo to relatives with no consanguinity, such as [[Milk kinship|milk-siblings]], stepsiblings, and adoptive siblings, albeit sometimes with less intensity.<ref>Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions – Volume 1 – Page 321, Yudit Kornberg Greenberg – 2008</ref><ref>Language and Social Relations – Page 379, Asif Agha – 2007.</ref> Third-degree relatives (such as half-aunt, half-nephew, first cousin) on average have 12.5% common genetic heritage, and sexual relations between them are viewed differently in various cultures, from being discouraged to being socially acceptable.<ref>The Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders and Birth Defects – Page 101, James Wynbrandt, Mark D. Ludman – 2009.</ref> Children of incestuous relationships have been regarded as [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate]],{{Where|date=February 2024}} and are still so regarded in some societies today. In most cases, the parents did not have the option to marry to remove that status, as incestuous marriages were, and are, normally also prohibited.

A common justification for prohibiting incest is avoiding [[inbreeding]], a collection of [[inbreeding#Genetic disorders|genetic disorders]] suffered by the children of parents with a close [[Coefficient of relationship|genetic relationship]].<ref name=WolfDurham2005 /> Such children are at greater risk of congenital disorders, developmental and physical disability, and death; that risk is proportional to their parents' [[coefficient of relationship]], a measure of how closely the parents are related genetically.<ref name=WolfDurham2005>{{cite book |title=Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century |first1=Arthur P. |last1=Wolf |first2=William H. |last2=Durham |year=2004 |publisher=Stanford University Press |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OW1nuQxcIQgC&pg=PA3 |isbn=978-0-8047-5141-4}}</ref><ref name=Afzal>{{cite journal |last1=Fareed |first1=M |last2=Afzal |first2=M |year=2014 |title=Estimating the inbreeding depression on cognitive behavior: A population based study of child cohort |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=9 |issue=10 |page=e109585 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0109585 |pmid=25313490 |pmc=4196914|bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j9585F |doi-access=free  |issn = 1932-6203}}</ref> However, cultural anthropologists have noted that [[inbreeding avoidance]] cannot form the sole basis for the incest taboo because the boundaries of the incest prohibition vary widely between cultures and not necessarily in ways that maximize the avoidance of inbreeding.<ref name=WolfDurham2005 /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Schneider | first1 = D. M. | year = 1976 | title = The meaning of incest | journal = The Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume = 85 | issue = 2| pages = 149–169 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = White | first1 = L. A. | year = 1948 | title = The definition and prohibition of incest | journal = American Anthropologist | volume = 50 | issue = 3| pages = 416–435 | doi = 10.1525/aa.1948.50.3.02a00020 | pmid = 18874938 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Schechner | first1 = R | year = 1971 | title = Incest and culture: A reflection on Claude Lévi-Strauss | journal = Psychoanalytic Review | volume = 58 | issue = 4| pages = 563–72 | pmid = 4948055 }}</ref>

In some societies, such as those of [[Ancient Egypt]], brother-sister, father-daughter, mother-son, cousin-cousin, aunt-nephew, uncle-niece, and other combinations of relations within a [[royal family]] were married as a means of perpetuating the royal lineage.<ref>[[Maurice Godelier]], Métamorphoses de la parenté, 2004</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://newleftreview.org/?view=2592 |title=New Left Review – Jack Goody: The Labyrinth of Kinship |access-date=24 July 2007}}</ref> Some societies have different views about what constitutes illegal or immoral incest. For example, in [[Samoa]], a man was permitted to marry his older sister, but not his younger sister.<ref>{{cite book |last= Lechte|first= John|date= 24 February 2003|title= Key Contemporary Concepts From Abjection to Zeno's Paradox|publisher= SAGE Publications|page= 82|isbn= 9780761965343}}</ref> However, sexual relations with a first-degree relative (meaning a parent, sibling, or child) were almost universally forbidden.<ref>''The Tapestry of Culture: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology'', Ninth Ed., Abraham Rosman, Paula G. Rubel, Maxine Weisgrau, 2009, AltaMira Press, p. 101</ref>