I bet if you don't know you're related, you are probably more likely to enter into a relationship because there is no social stigma or inner turmoil stopping you.
I think you're right about the intimacy issues. We're generally taught that after you've reached puberty, cuddling your family members is inappropriate. Probably because in general we interpret touchy-feely behavior as sexual attraction. It's like how a father can kiss his infant daughter on the lips and have her sleep in his bed, but if he does the same thing when she's 15 it's really sketchy.
Another interesting thing is that while sexual relationships between relatives is generally considered unacceptable, in fandom communities for pretty much any tv series/book/movie/etc that has a pair of twins, there are loads of "twincest" fanfics. Like, if in general we think of incest as so bad, why are so many people attracted to the idea of Fred and George Weasley having a sexual relationship with each other? There are also quite a lot of anime series in which twins, siblings, or half-siblings have some sort of sexual tension.
One more weird thing: remember the movie "Clueless"? I was even a bit surprised by that movie to see a relationship between step-siblings. I mean, they have absolutely zero biological relationship, but for some reason having the title "siblings" in any way makes it sort of taboo.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-08-24 12:40 pm (UTC)I think you're right about the intimacy issues. We're generally taught that after you've reached puberty, cuddling your family members is inappropriate. Probably because in general we interpret touchy-feely behavior as sexual attraction. It's like how a father can kiss his infant daughter on the lips and have her sleep in his bed, but if he does the same thing when she's 15 it's really sketchy.
Another interesting thing is that while sexual relationships between relatives is generally considered unacceptable, in fandom communities for pretty much any tv series/book/movie/etc that has a pair of twins, there are loads of "twincest" fanfics. Like, if in general we think of incest as so bad, why are so many people attracted to the idea of Fred and George Weasley having a sexual relationship with each other? There are also quite a lot of anime series in which twins, siblings, or half-siblings have some sort of sexual tension.
One more weird thing: remember the movie "Clueless"? I was even a bit surprised by that movie to see a relationship between step-siblings. I mean, they have absolutely zero biological relationship, but for some reason having the title "siblings" in any way makes it sort of taboo.