Well I read an article by a portuguese lawyer, in a reputed magazine, where he commented that if one is open to the idea of same-sex marriage (civil marriage, not necessarily in a church), then one should also concede that incest and polygamy could be considered within that same bracket.
I'd show you the article but a) it's in portuguese and b) it's in print.
Though I found it disturbing and I am disgusted by incest for several reasons (social conditioning, survival of the species, ingrained reaction of disgust and what have you), I am forced to grant the idea some thought.
Maybe I'm just stupid and can't see the error in the analogy, even though I can think of a few reasons why it's a bad idea. I'd love to hear what you think on this, maybe you can put my mind at ease.
The idea really irks me. I am in favour of same-sex marriage, or rather, I'm not against it. I don't believe in limiting someone's freedom to commit to another to show their love, if it doesn't harm anyone.
Like has been spoken about in the thread about incest here
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/tilted-...est-wrong.html
incest is a social construct, we believe it to be wrong because of a question of survival of the species, and of social order (clarity of that order), and our reaction is one of disgust because we have been taught that it is wrong. Disgust is a reaction we have to things we shouldn't do, usually that may cause harm to us physically. Of course, the harm can be relative or only in our heads, but disgust is a defence mechanism.
Problems I can see with opening the door to incest are:
Increase of health problems within the population, related to genetics - though it can be argued that with medical and scientific advances, this may soon no longer be such an important factor. Loss of social and familial structure, though it can be argued that new structures can be created. Abusers could take advantage of such a situation, which could get out of control, if there is no longer legislation or social convention on the matter. This is the scariest thing for me.
As for polygamy, I don't see why not, if all those involved are aware, consenting adults.
What do you think about this odd analogy? Is it odd to you? Does it make you feel sick? Do you think it's ridiculous? Do you think it's worth thinking about? Why or why not?