# Is sex between a mother and daughter still incest? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546 "2016-10-23T23:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/41 "2016-10-25T01:53:34Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Incest is still a crime in New York regardless of consent. You’re correct that police don’t turn over rocks looking for it- but that’s true of many crimes. Most crimes come to the attention of the police because someone reported it- possibly a third party, but someone. We had a similar incest crime here in Oregon recently. A father married his daughter. He had left the scene right after he impregnated her mother, though, and had no part in raising her. They didn’t realize they were father and daughter until after they had known each other for a while – but they didn’t start a romantic relationship until **after** they found out they were father and daughter. :eek: The state would have been happy to not prosecute them – they were both consulting adults and the fact of their genetic relationship was almost coincidental, but they had two children, both of whom suffered severe birth defects, and the state stepped in to make them quit producing disabled children. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/42 "2016-10-25T02:08:35Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Isn’t this akin to locking up homosexuals for gay sex (consenting adults, that is?) Only if you can demonstrate that people in homosexual relationships are harming somebody. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/43 "2016-10-25T04:21:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Only if you can demonstrate that people in homosexual relationships are harming somebody. But that’s the point. The incest in this story was between consenting adults and there were no offspring produced. How was this more or less harmful than a gay relationship? As for harm, what about consensual BDSM? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/44 "2016-10-25T15:08:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But that’s the point. The incest in this story was between consenting adults and there were no offspring produced. How was this more or less harmful than a gay relationship? I addressed that issue in my previous post. I feel that you can’t have a functional parental relationship with somebody you’re having a sexual relationship with. So by having a sexual relationship, the parent is depriving the child of a functional parental relationship and that’s going to harm the child in his or her interactions with the rest of society. This isn’t a factor in a normal sexual relationship, gay or straight. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/45 "2016-10-25T16:16:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Isn’t this akin to locking up homosexuals for gay sex (consenting adults, that is?) Not close, at least to me. More akin to locking up someone from a BDSM relationship for injuring a partner/each other. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Only if you can demonstrate that people in homosexual relationships are harming somebody. Put better. > [@Velocity](#): > > But that’s the point. The incest in this story was between consenting adults and there were no offspring produced. How was this more or less harmful than a gay relationship? > > As for harm, what about consensual BDSM? Given the history of the mother and other details from the report, I doubt that this was what a group of people/jury would find consensual. ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/46 "2016-10-25T23:49:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Perhaps it is related to the case where certain religious people, who worship bottle nosed dolphins who live forever, were bringing baby sea gulls into the state as offerings. As part of the ritual, they would carry the baby gulls across a line of carefully trained lions, who were so heavily fed that they remained indifferent as the sea gulls were brought over. > > The religious folks were charged with violations of the Mann Act - transporting young gulls across staid lions for immortal porpoises. > > Regards, > Shodan That, sir, should be applauded, except for one thing; as it involved Lesbian Sex, no Mann Act was involved. Peace - DESK ---
**Author:** ![D.E.S.K.Top668](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@D.E.S.K.Top668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D.E.S.K.Top668)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/47 "2016-10-26T00:02:27Z")
Seriously, if no normal familial ties are involved, I don’t see a problem. Parent/offspring or sibling/sibling who didn’t know they were related until some sort of tests were done, ok. Relatives who know what each other are to each other is wrong. At some point, the balance of power is in play and the younger is most probably the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Tony\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Tony\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tony_Trout)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/48 "2016-10-26T00:07:59Z")
I’ll just say this in regards to a response: Yes, it’s incest. Plain and simple - and it’s against the law and it’s Biblically wrong as well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/49 "2016-10-26T01:24:48Z")
Eh. People like to have sex. Some people like to have sex with partners you find icky. As long as it’s consenting adults, I don’t give a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/50 "2016-10-26T01:44:08Z")
> [@Tony\_Trout](#): > > I’ll just say this in regards to a response: Yes, it’s incest. Plain and simple - and it’s against the law and it’s Biblically wrong as well. So it’s o.k. for atheists? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/51 "2016-10-26T05:31:19Z")
> [@Tony\_Trout](#): > > I’ll just say this in regards to a response: Yes, it’s incest. Plain and simple - and it’s against the law and it’s Biblically wrong as well. Actually the Bible has several cases in which incest was sanctioned by God. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/52 "2016-10-26T08:32:48Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Actually the Bible has several cases in which incest was sanctioned by God. What were the sanctions? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/53 "2016-10-26T11:46:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Actually the Bible has several cases in which incest was sanctioned by God. According to the Bible we are all the product of incest. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546/54 "2016-10-29T01:19:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I addressed that issue in my previous post. I feel that you can’t have a functional parental relationship with somebody you’re having a sexual relationship with. So by having a sexual relationship, the parent is depriving the child of a functional parental relationship and that’s going to harm the child in his or her interactions with the rest of society. This isn’t a factor in a normal sexual relationship, gay or straight. Yeah, but without actual data of harm, this is no different than the various claims of harm with gay people. Also, since when has society cared about whether an adult has a parent? The actual argument only works if you are assuming abuse while one adult was a child. That’s what you need to prove. The other argument would be about the mental health of the participants, assuming at least one is not capable of consent. Finally, in this case it seems that there is another parent, as the “mother” is not on the birth certificate. She’d already given up her parental role. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-sex-between-a-mother-and-daughter-still-incest/769546.md?page=2)