# Is incest among adopted siblings illegal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 7, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819 "2002-08-07T18:56:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/41 "2010-12-06T21:30:49Z")
Civil War general William Tecumseh Sherman was nine years old when his father died. His mother, with 11 children and no inheritance, sent William to be raised by neighbor Thomas Ewing, who became first Secretary of the Interior. Sherman married Ewing’s daughter Eleanor. I don’t think he was ever formally adopted but some books say that when the engagement was announced people said “he can’t marry her, she’s his sister. Oh wait, actually she isn’t”
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/42 "2010-12-06T21:32:32Z")
What if your step sibling is a Zombie?
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/43 "2010-12-06T21:35:30Z")
Don’t forget on _the Brady Bunch_, Carol’s grandma, married Mike’s grandfather so they all became related that way as well.
And on _One Day At A Time_, Barbara married Mark. And then Ann, Babrara’s mother married Sam, who was Mark’s father. So Barbara and Mark were not only husband and wife they were step brother and step sisters to each other. Ewwwwww
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/44 "2010-12-06T21:42:47Z")
> [@OpalCat](#):
>
> For the “eewww!” people, what about this scenario:
>
> Man with 17 year old son marries woman with 17 year old daughter.
>
> Romance ensues.
>
> Is it wrong?
I know a case where this happened. But the kids were over 17 and they met before the parents even knew each other. And the genders of the parents were reversed.
So imagine this: You meet someone, fall in love, and decide to get married. You meet your fiance’s parent, they meet yours. So far, pretty normal. But then your single parent falls in love with your partner’s, and they get married. Is the nature of your relationship suddenly changed? Has an Eww factor been introduced?
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/45 "2010-12-06T21:47:50Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> So imagine this: You meet someone, fall in love, and decide to get married. You meet your fiance’s parent, they meet yours. So far, pretty normal. But then your single parent falls in love with your partner’s, and they get married. Is the nature of your relationship suddenly changed? Has an Eww factor been introduced?
Absolutely. It may be something you have to live with, but to deny the ‘Eww’ involved isn’t possible, IMHO.
My cousin moved across the country to be closer to her father following a bad breakup and drug rehab. Shortly thereafter, she made special friends with her dad’s girlfriend’s nephew, with a baby ensuing in short order. I know this isn’t even close to incest by any reasonable definition, but I’ll be damned if my ‘Eww’-meter didn’t ping something fierce.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/46 "2010-12-06T22:00:39Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> Absolutely. It may be something you have to live with, but to deny the ‘Eww’ involved isn’t possible, IMHO.
>
> My cousin moved across the country to be closer to her father following a bad breakup and drug rehab. Shortly thereafter, she made special friends with her dad’s girlfriend’s nephew, with a baby ensuing in short order. I know this isn’t even close to incest by any reasonable definition, but I’ll be damned if my ‘Eww’-meter didn’t ping something fierce.
You have a very sensitive “Eww-meter”. Many states allow first cousin blood marriages. In fact, cousin marriages around the world are extremely common.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/47 "2010-12-06T22:08:47Z")
[moderating]
Welcome to the Straight Dope, **actionmanrandell**. Generally speaking, when a thread has been dead for as long as this one (the last post before yours was mid-2002), we don’t bring them back to life. We call these “zombie threads,” as **John Mace** alluded to a few posts ago. Since the people you’re responding to may not be here any longer, we encourage opening a new thread instead, stating your facts and/or opinions, and perhaps providing a link to the old thread.
Since this particular zombie seems to have taken on some new life and is getting some new information, I’ll go ahead and let it live.
[/moderating]
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/48 "2010-12-06T22:17:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> You have a very sensitive “Eww-meter”. Many states allow first cousin blood marriages. In fact, cousin marriages around the world are extremely common.
I do, yes, but most people to whom I have related the story have, quite literally, said “eww,” so it appears I am not alone.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/49 "2010-12-06T22:18:34Z")
I think the question you want is “Is sexual intercourse between adopted siblings legal?” After all, since incest is sexual activity between persons too closely related to marry, then if a jurisdiction allows adoptive siblings to marry, no incest is possible.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/50 "2010-12-06T22:18:48Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> You have a very sensitive “Eww-meter”. Many states allow first cousin blood marriages. In fact, cousin marriages around the world are extremely common.
Cousin marriage [legal](http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=4266) in many states. Incest laws vary greatly from state to state. For instance in my state of New Jersey incest is not illegal for any level of cosanguinity as long as both parties are adults. Doesn’t mean they are allowed to get married.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/51 "2010-12-06T22:19:34Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#):
>
> I had a friend who kind of had a crush on his step-sister for a while, and his mother even kind of joked that there was nothing wrong with it.
>
> Bullshit.
>
> Anyone who has sex with their “sibling,” be it by birth, adoption, or 2nd, 3rd, 4th marriages, should be drawn and quartered so their defective genetic material can not further contaminate the gene pool.
>
> Let me speak for everyone when I say, “EWWWWWWW!!!”
Are you serious? If so, why?
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> Absolutely. It may be something you have to live with, but to deny the ‘Eww’ involved isn’t possible, IMHO.
>
> My cousin moved across the country to be closer to her father following a bad breakup and drug rehab. Shortly thereafter, she made special friends with her dad’s girlfriend’s nephew, with a baby ensuing in short order. I know this isn’t even close to incest by any reasonable definition, but I’ll be damned if my ‘Eww’-meter didn’t ping something fierce.
Again, I do not understand the eww factor in either case. There is no genetic relationship, nor were the persons involved raised as siblings, and you gave no indication that there was undue influence. Why are you bothered?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/52 "2010-12-06T22:23:18Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Cousin marriage [legal](http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=4266) in many states. Incest laws vary greatly from state to state. For instance in my state of New Jersey incest is not illegal for any level of cosanguinity as long as both parties are adults. Doesn’t mean they are allowed to get married.
Interestingly, prohibited in Arkansas, Kentucky, and West Virginia. 🙂
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/53 "2010-12-06T22:42:08Z")
> [@Blalron](#):
>
> What if they were already married to each other, and then their parents got married to each other, making them technically step siblings? Should they be drawn and quartered?
This happened in my family. By the time my parents got married, my mother’s mother had died and my father’s father had died. So several years later, my mother’s father married my father’s mother. They were the only grandparents I ever knew.
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/54 "2010-12-06T22:42:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Again, I do not understand the eww factor in either case. There is no genetic relationship, nor were the persons involved raised as siblings, and you gave no indication that there was undue influence. Why are you bothered?
Can’t explain it, mate, at least not logically. I guess there’s come kind of “thou shalt not covet thy dad’s potential nephew” breaker in my superego.
It’s kind of like this: in a nearby church that I know of, a lay minister came in at 7am one weekday to do a meditative ritual, by himself, nude, church door locked, with a floor-protecting mat and everything. (This is a Unitarian church, so this is not as abberent as it sounds.)
As luck would have it, a church officer (with a key) just happened to come by and saw what he was doing. Now, it was agreed by all that the lay minister had no desire to be lewd, but he still got suspended and can no longer work with youth. Logically, this really shouldn’t have been a big deal, since there was almost no conceivable reason that anyone should have seen what he was doing, nor was it affecting anyone else. Nevertheless, most everyone involved breathed a collective “ew.”
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/55 "2010-12-06T22:54:26Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> Can’t explain it, mate, at least not logically. I guess there’s come kind of “thou shalt not covet thy dad’s potential nephew” breaker in my superego.
And yet first-cousin marriage is legal in most places. It’s not uncommon for people to settle down with their dad’s actual nephew, not to mention potential.
In the British aristocracy, first-cousin marriage is practically mandatory. (\<- hyperbole)
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### Author:  [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/56 "2010-12-06T23:00:35Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> And yet first-cousin marriage is legal in most places.
Booger-eating is perfectly legal in all 48 contiguous states, as well it should be.
I should imagine many of those assembled just thought (or even vocalized) a collective “ew.”
I never once said my cousin’s marriage should be illegal, but it does squick me out a bit, and I don’t think any amount of doper drubbing is going to change that. I don’t advocate that you should feel the same way, but hey.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/57 "2010-12-06T23:05:32Z")
> [@StusBlues](#):
>
> Booger-eating is perfectly legal in all 48 contiguous states, as well it should be.
>
> I should imagine many of those assembled just thought (or even vocalized) a collective “ew.”
>
> I never once said my cousin’s marriage should be illegal, but it does squick me out a bit, and I don’t think any amount of doper drubbing is going to change that. I don’t advocate that you should feel the same way, but hey.
I avoid rhetorical questions as a matter of policy and was not trying to drub you. I was simply curious. For the life of me, I cannot see the genesis of your distaste. It’s like you said, “When I heard you had pepperoni pizza for dinner last night, Skald, I got the heebie-jeebies.”
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/58 "2010-12-06T23:23:08Z")
What, no Italian sausage? Deve.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/59 "2010-12-06T23:26:57Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> What, no Italian sausage? Deve.
Actually we had both sausage and pepperoni pizzas. But the wife always gets first pick.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-incest-among-adopted-siblings-illegal/122819/60 "2010-12-06T23:33:46Z")
I knew a couple who were step-brother and -sister as her father married his mother. She was about 12 or 13 at the time and he was IIRC about 15 or so. They all 4 lived together as one family for about a year when the young folks eloped and got married. It was illegal in NJ at the time only because the couple were below the age at which they needed a parent’s consent, thus the elopement to another state. It was not a “shotgun” wedding; they had their first child about three years later. The marriage lasted until his death at about the age of 50.
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