Incest

Intent

To protect minors and young adults from abusive relationships, without limiting fully mature adults from entering into consensual relationships.

Proposal

No adult shall engage in any form of sexual activity or romantic relationship with any other person who is biologically related as:

* a child
* a grandchild
* a sibling’s child (nephew or niece)
* a sibling’s grandchild
* a parent
* a grandparent
* a parent’s sibling (aunt or uncle)
* a parent’s sibling’s child (first cousin)

No adult over the age of 25 shall engage in any form of sexual activity or romantic relationship with any person under the age of 25, and no two persons under the age of 25 shall engage in any form of sexual activity or romantic relationship with each other, when the two persons have a personal relationship listed below, or had a personal relationship listed below when the younger participant was a minor under the age of 17, whether biological or by marriage or adoption or foster care or household situation:

* parent and child
* grandparent and grandchild
* parent’s sibling (aunt or uncle) and child
* siblings
* first cousins

Discussion

Sex between family members is called incest and is illegal in many places due to a variety of issues including lack of ability to consent, unequal power in the relationship, right to parental control, and the possibility of genetic disorders in the child.

The prohibition proposed in Sex on adults engaging in sexual activity or romantic relationships with minors, and on minor engaging in sexual intercourse with other minors, already covers the most commonly recognized forms of incestuous sexual activity and child sexual abuse:

* parent and child (whether the parent is the biological parent, or guardian by law such as marriage or adoptive parent or foster parent, or is a “significant other” of the child’s actual parent)
* grand-parent and grand-child (whether the grand-parent is the biological grand-parent, or guardian by law, or a “significant other” of the actual grand-parent)
* uncle and niece, or aunt and nephew (whether biological, or by law, or a “significant other” of the actual uncle or aunt)
* siblings who are minors (whether full or half siblings or by law such as marriage of their parents or adoption or foster care)
* first or higher-degree cousins who are minors

This proposal extends the prohibition to young adults when the relationship is incestuous.

This proposal is balanced by limiting the prohibition to relationships where one or both of the participants is under the age of 25. It allows adults over the age of 25 to enter into any consensual relationship with other adults over the age of 25. This allows, for example, two adults who met each other through their parent’s marriage or relationship but who are not biologically related at all to have a romantic relationship.

This proposal only addresses the incestuous sexual activity and romantic relationship, not inbreeding. This means that mature adults over the age of 25 who are biologically related could enter into a relationship, but the proposal on inbreeding would prohibit them from producing children.

Related topics:

* Sex
* Inbreeding