There are certain words that have inherently negative connotations in society. These words are best avoided in social conversations, and indeed everywhere else for they always bring with them a side of controversy. Incest is most certainly one of them. That is perhaps why although I learned of the existence of the documentary "Sleeping With My Sister" 4-5 months ago, I only got around to watching it tonight.
The documentary follows two couples who would both be pronounced guilty in the event of a societal judgement on charges of incest. Both were half-siblings who grew up apart, met as adults and allegedly fell in "love". A disease called Genetic Sexual Attraction, or GSA for short, was introduced as the cause of both the relationships. GSA occurs when family members who have been separated for the entire duration of their lives meet and the overwhelming emotions that would occur at such a time take a sexual turn.
Frankly, I don't buy GSA. I also don't presume to judge the couples, on grounds moral or otherwise. I don't even pretend to understand where they are coming from. Watching the documentary made me wonder about the definitions of family and love prevalent in society. We are brought up to recognize the difference between family, friends and strangers. We are brought up to differentiate between the nature of familial love and romantic love. In fact the Greeks even defined love for ones children as a special kind of love and named it storge. I wonder, is there really a difference?
Of course pragmatically, incest is detrimental to societal due to its biological implications in case of couples who procreate. So it makes sense to shun the concept of incest of grounds of survival of species. But if one is not brought up with the notion that this other person is family and deserves one's familial love, then is that person family in any other way besides shared genes? Is the segregation of "love" and its nature just an imposed societal norm? Or are there really different types of love, types influenced by our DNA sequences?
