How would you approach the topic of incest with other family members?

Just wondering how other people would try to bring up the topic of incest with their family members. Must be hard for some people to try and gauge 'interest' if you will.

 

My best piece of advice would be to do it in a one on one setting, from experience most people instinctively say ew or gross if you bring it up in a group setting for fear of being outcast.

 

That's a good question. I would like to hear some advice as well.
In my experience i confessed it directly to my sis and she freaked out and refused. Though it seems that she did was interested. I don't get it...

 

I guess I'm somewhat qualified to answer this question since I have brought up the topic of incest with my mom before.

I agree with lbaker that you should do it in a one-on-one setting and be prepared for the socially programmed "ew" or "gross" as the initial response.

Here's how I brought it up: We were talking about politics and I said that my personal view on politics is that I'm "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" meaning I think people should be allowed to do whatever they want, provided they don't hurt anybody else, and the Government should stop wasting money.

On the social aspect, I said that I didn't like that marijuana was illegal. Adults should be allowed to smoke it if the want. Then I pivoted to incest and told my mom about a debate I had watched where Lawrence Krauss said he sees nothing wrong with a sexual relationship between a brother and sister, provided they are both consenting adults. This is where I got the "ew, gross reaction". I continued to make the argument that as long as both people are over 18 years old and it's consensual, what people do in the privacy of their own home is nobody else's business. I continued by mentioning an article I read about a mom/son couple who outed themselves to the reporter, but then had to go into hiding to avoid being arrested. I said it was crazy that their lives were ruined because of that.

I must've made a compelling argument because my mom said she agreed with me, but immediately followed with "I don't think I could sleep with my own son". At that point, there were people heading towards us so I couldn't keep talking about it without being overheard (hence why you should talk about it one on one). I wish I could've finished that conversation, at the very least I think I could've gotten my mom to consider the possibility, even if the answer still would've been no.

 

As regards my interest, which is relatives who are not related by blood, it's easy. No blood trumps all other arguments.

In other cases you could start by discussing blood relatives who have not grown up together and therefore when they fell in love or had sex it felt natural to them.

 

agreed. be careful. not everyone has an open mind.

 

I said to my female cousin: " If you are not my cousin, ..."