Genetic sexual attraction
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Genetic sexual attraction (GSA) is sexual attraction between close relatives, such as a brother and sister. It has been observed in relatives who first meet as adults.
GSA can occur as a consequence of adoption, when the adopted children discover their true ancestry and seek out relatives. Although this is a rare consequence of adoptive reunions, the large number of adoptive reunions in recent years means that a significant number of people are affected.[citation needed] It is generally highly distressing to both parties, as this sexual attraction is contrary to their socialized sexual and moral structures, as well as to the legal structure of society.
Several factors may contribute to GSA:
- People commonly rank faces similar to their own as more attractive, trustworthy, etc. than average.[citation needed] Heredity produces substantial physical similarity between close relatives. However, Bereczkei (2004) attributes this in part to childhood imprinting on the opposite-sex parent.
- Shared interests and personality traits are commonly considered desirable in a partner. The heritability of these qualities is a matter of great debate; to whatever extent they are heritable, they will tend to cluster in close relatives.
- In cases of parent-child attraction, the parent may recognize traits of their sometime mate in the child.
- Such reunions typically produce complex emotions in all involved.
Normally, when children are raised together in early childhood, this phenomenon is avoided by a form of reverse sexual imprinting known as the Westermarck effect, which appears to suppress sexual desire between siblings.
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[edit] In popular culture
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- In the Booker Prize winning novel The God of Small Things by Indian author Arundhati Roy, Estha (male) and Rahel (female) are twins who are separated at a young age then reunite as adults. In the book (chpt. The Madras Mail; pg.310-311), "...they broke the Love Laws. That lay down who should be loved."
- In the novel Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein, a pair of twins who allegedly share no genetic material marry and have children, then have to be talked out of letting their children marry each other.
- In the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, fraternal twins Cersei and Jaime of House Lannister have engaged in a secret incestuous relationship for much of their lives.
- In the original Star Wars movies, Luke Skywalker and his twin sister, Princess Leia, experienced a strong form of GSA, although both were unaware of their relation. In Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, they even shared a kiss, although Princess Leia eventually appeared to choose Han Solo long before she realized that she and Luke were siblings.
- The anime series Koi Kaze tells the story of a brother and sister (ages 27 and 15, respectively) who gradually fall in love with each other when they are reunited after a ten-year separation. A similar case occurs with the anime Please Twins!, who in this case are the same age and have previously met.
- The film Old Boy tells the story of a man who falls in love with a girl who turns out to be his daughter, in a trick played on him by an old rival.
- In the House, M.D. episode "Fools for Love", House treats a married couple that turn out to be half-siblings.
- In the movie The House of Yes, fraternal twins Marty (Josh Hamilton) and "Jackie O" (Parker Posey) engage in explicit incest, which started when they were pre-adolescents, though could probably be traced back even in infancy. According to their mother (Genevieve Bujold), "Jackie was holding Marty's penis when they were born..."
- In the film Code 46, William Geld falls in love with Maria Gonzalez who is a genetic clone of Geld's biological mother.
- The book Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle by Vladimir Nabokov is largely about the incestuous romance of Van and his sister Ada, who initially think they are cousins, starting during early adolescence and progressing throughout their lives.
- In the anime show "Neon Genesis Evangelion" the main protagonist, Shinji Ikari is shown to have feelings towards Rei Ayanami, a clone from his mother's genetic material.
- In "Lone Star (1996 film)", the instant and deep attraction which Sam Deeds and Pilar Cruz feel towards each other is ultimately connected to the fact that they are half-siblings, unbeknownst to both of them. Despite this they decide to continue their relationship. This matter has large metaphorical significance with regards to the primary theme of the movie, race relations in the small town.
- In the book "Middlesex" by Jeffery Eugenides, two main characters, a brother and sister, move from Greece to the U.S. in the 1930s and start a family. Later in the novel their son marries his cousin.
- In the episode of "My Name Is Earl" in which Joy's marriage to "crabman" is revealed to her parents, Joy's father explains that he is not a racist, but that he objected to Joy dating a black boy in high school because she was his half-sister.
- In the movie Back to the Future the main character Marty McFly goes back in time and accidentally meets his teenage mother who is very attracted to him.
- In the book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible the story of Lot told how after escaping Sodom with his daughters, they went to Zoar, where they "dwelt" in the mountain. The daughters complain that "there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth"(Genesis 19:61) and thus get their father Lot drunk, copulate with him and both bear a son to him.
- In the "The Bible" the story of Abraham and Sarah told how Sarah is in fact Abraham's sister; "she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife."(Genesis 20:11-12)
- In V.C. Andrews novel "Flowers in the Attic", the two elder children, Cathy and Christopher end up being sexually attracted to each other and engage in sexual activity. This is due, in part, to their seclusion from the outside world. They, in turn, were the production of inbreeding as their parents were related also.
[edit] References
- Bereczkei, Tamas, et al. (2004). "Sexual imprinting in human mate choice". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 271 (1544): 1129–1134.
[edit] Further reading
- Greenberg, M., and Littlewood, R. Post Adoption Incest and Phenotypic Matching: Experience, Personal Meanings and Biosocial Implications. British Journal of Medical Psychology. 1995, 68, 29–44.
[edit] See also
- Phenotypic matching
- Kin recognition
[edit] External links
- Guardian article on genetic sexual attraction
- www.geneticsexualattraction.com This site is an information clearinghouse and online support group.
- [1] Referrals to Lot's wife, Genisis 19 in the Bible.
