Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
Just when you thought the world could not get any more degraded and perverse, the European Court of Human rights--believe it or not!--proves you wrong. Germany's ban on incest has been upheld:
A brother and sister from Germany who had an incestuous relationship, arguing they had the right to a family life, have lost their European court case.
Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski had four children together, two of whom are described as disabled.
The European Court of Human Rights said Germany was entitled to ban incest.
I suppose it's bad news that this could be news at all, but today is glass-half-full day.
I'll spare you the photo of the couple on the grounds that the very idea of this is so disgusting as to inherently violate the spirit of the Code of Conduct. Click on the link at your own discretion.
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Feb '12
Re: Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
James Of England
In most US jurisdictions, the age of majority is older than the age of consent. That, and there's a impact to changing "we can't, yet" to "we can't", even for behavior that takes place before the permissions change. I think that cousin couples probably have the better side of the civil rights argument, but prohibiting sexual parental relationships seems worth it to me. · 16 minutes ago
Parental incest strikes me as a workplaces sexual harassment kind of issue -- how can a child truly ever consent given the power imbalance already in the relationship, even assuming the child is of age to otherwise consent?
As for first cousins, there's no reason 29 states can't join the other 21 and the rest of the civilized world in permitting them to marry, particularly given that the genetics argument is bogus, the religious argument is on the other side, and the justification for such laws was destroying family inheritances.
Nov '10
Re: Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
Claire writes: "...on the grounds that the very idea of this is so disgusting..."
Claire, you do realize, then, that according to Martha Nussbaum you are "morally obtuse"? I've written about this before -- it's an important matter, as it's rather striking that a most laureled U Chicago professor of law/divinity/philosophy thinks sibling incest should be given public legitimation -- but, alas, my efforts seem to fall on deaf ears.
I suppose what gives the story its particular edge is that this is coming not from some loopy postmodernist, but from a woman who otherwise has a certain predilection for belittling people (particularly conservative intellectuals -- her "review" of Harvey Mansfield is notorious) for lacking her supposedly hard-nosed analytic philosophical bona fides.
"Adult incest between...brother and sister typically does not inspire disgust" -- p. 81, Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame and the Law.
Edited on April 18, 2012 at 9:55pmApr '11
Re: Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
It's all yours, EJ, with my compliments.
Re: Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
May I be permitted to have the last word here?
YUCK.
Sep '10
Re: Good News Only Day: Incest is Still Illegal in Germany
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: May I be permitted to have the last word here?
YUCK. · 49 minutes ago
Let them eat cake.