Incest has been taboo in every culture studied. Some anthropologists claim that the taboo was in place to keep clans or tribes in contact with outside clans or tribes; marrying within one's own family or clan would slow down or even halt the ability to trade for goods with others because there would be no reason to seek others out; other theories point to the genetic weaknesses that might show up over generations of inbreeding - marrying outside of one's clan keeps the gene pool healthy.
To me, it just feels wrong. I don't know if that comes from deep inside me or if it is a result of a lifetime of conditioning. But I do know that it is not just Western culture that frowns upon this practice.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-11-30 06:03 pm (UTC)Incest has been taboo in every culture studied. Some anthropologists claim that the taboo was in place to keep clans or tribes in contact with outside clans or tribes; marrying within one's own family or clan would slow down or even halt the ability to trade for goods with others because there would be no reason to seek others out; other theories point to the genetic weaknesses that might show up over generations of inbreeding - marrying outside of one's clan keeps the gene pool healthy.
To me, it just feels wrong. I don't know if that comes from deep inside me or if it is a result of a lifetime of conditioning. But I do know that it is not just Western culture that frowns upon this practice.