Would you look down upon such brothers and sisters?

by Amrit Hallan on September 2, 2010

When we lived in Nauroji Nagar (it is a small government-servants colony between Safdarjang Enclave and Sarojini Nagar, New Delhi) there used to live a family of one brother and three sisters. The last time when I saw them (more than 12 years ago) all three of them were in their early 50s. Something I was reading today reminded me of them. None of them got married. I don’t know what was their story or why they chose to live together like this.

Today I was just wondering what if they had sexual needs? Of course they could easily have had sexual relationships with other people and continued living with each other, but what if they had a physical relationship with each other? I am not talking in terms of having kids because that could lead to genetic problems in the kids. What if they indulged in sexual activities making sure that none of the sisters conceived?

Our society has moral problems with brothers and sisters having sex but more than moral it is a medical problem. If this problem is taken care of is it alright for brothers and sisters in such conditions to have sex with each other? I remember all three of them lived very isolated lives (but I’m not sure about that, maybe they were very happy and my social condition made me think that they were not) and if they were really isolated and lonely wouldn’t it be okay to find comfort in sex (sex can definitely provide lots of comfort) with each other if they made sure no kids would be born? When I talk of making sure that no kids would be born I mean that all the medical conditions are removed that give rise to conception. I know this is a taboo subject and very few would like to discuss it.

  • http://www.teerathyatra.com J

    they’re gonna kill you if they read this .. silly .. hehehehe!! .. :)

  • http://suvrobemused.blogspot.com Suvro Chatterjee

    Not a taboo subject for me! I have lived lifelong by the belief that if nowhere else, we must be free in our thoughts if life were not to become insufferable.

    I am not too keen on the incest question myself, but I hold to the liberal philosophy that social control should be exercised only when it is demonstrably evident that certain practices and beliefs are detrimental to large numbers of people. That philosophy, I believe, is the very bedrock of a democratic society: take it away and you get some sort of veiled authoritarianism (isn’t Indian society very authoritarian in so many ways?). Let adult people do whatever they like in the privacy of their homes – whether it be incest or homosexuality or godlessness, some sort of weird religious praxis or pure vegetarianism or growing orchids. Just so long as they are not seriously hurting others, nor imposing their way of life on others by devious or violent means. And if I truly subscribe to that philosophy, I must be ready to allow a lot of people to do things that I personally find yucky.

    Just as a lighthearted aside, I myself find PDA much more unpleasant than the thought that some people’s private sexual preferences might be different from my own. Then again, I won’t use Bajrang Dal or taliban methods to discourage PDA…

  • http://roadtokhalistan.blogspot.com/ Mai Harinder Kaur

    It would certainly be against my moral code, but I have never felt the need to force others to live by the code that I follow. My general rule about such things is to be strict with myself and lenient with others.

    As long as there is no coercion or force used and all parties are adults (mentally as well as physically), I think this would be up to the individuals involved.

  • http://clutterfrommymind.blogspot.com Ashish

    Short answer: Yes but can’t say why. So really No.

    Long answer: http://clutterfrommymind.blogspot.com/2009/08/so-whats-wrong-with-incest.html

    By the way, you fear of medical maladies is very exaggerated.

  • http://www.amrithallan.com Amrit

    @Ashish. The medical problem with incest is not an exaggeration and for all you know this was the exact reason why it became taboo. Even among animals it is avoided if it can be helped otherwise it does cause mutations. I wouldn’t like to single out a particular community but marriage among close relations is common among Muslims and if you closely observe they suffer more from physical as well as intellectual deformities compared to other major religions (and maybe that is why there are more fanatics among Muslims). Just visit the Jama Masjid area to see what I’m talking about.

    In England they carried out a scientific research recently that revealed that everyday 700 disabled children are born (mostly among the migrant Pakistani community) because they marry first cousins.

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