Big Nana,

thank you, finally a clear and educated pragmatic and reasoned explanation which clarifies further the arguments about whether queers are 'normal' or not.
I am glad you clarified the distinction between the humans and the animals, because the original analogy being pushed by the 'fore' camp, did not sit well with me.
And as a rule, if something does not sit well, then it is not fully accepted and only gives rise to more questions, so.
Thank you.

To ALTRAV.

I don't think whether it's normal or not should be the basis for judging if homosexuality is good or bad. But regardless of not being normal, I don't think it is healthy. For other reasons I think homosexuality should be rejected. And to those who say they have no choice it's who they are. They still have the choice to be actively gay or to stay single. Just my thoughts.

To Big Nana.

Well said. Being respectful of others choices doesn't mean those are good choices. It just means you let them make their own bed to lie in.

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Dear Big Nana,

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You wrote :

« … no one can give me any logical reason why consenting adults should not engage in an incestuous relationship, their response is always based on emotion »
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My life experience prompts me to pick up the gauntlet, Big Nana.

The legal and biological definitions of incest are different. Biologically speaking, incest refers to intimate relationships between first-degree blood relatives. An example of consanguinity and biological incest includes sexual intercourse between a parent, child, sibling, or grandchild.

In Australia, the laws vary depending on the state, but essentially the rule is that a sexual relationship between an ancestor and a descendant, or between siblings - including half-siblings, and including familial links by adoption - are illegal. The penalties vary from a maximum imprisonment of 8 years (NSW) to life imprisonment (Qld).

But there are many cultures, worldwide, that not only accept incestuous relationships, but encourage and celebrate them. Incestuous relationships are particularly common in places like Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In fact, there are some areas in the world where between 20 and 60 percent of married persons, are married to a close biological relative.

Cultures that encourage the practice believe that a higher level of compatibility exists between husbands and wives who are related to each other. They also believe that a higher compatibility exists between the couple and other members of their immediate family.

Where consanguineous marriages are accepted, couples may be concerned about the genetic risks of having children. They are encouraged to seek both preconception and premarital counselling, so that they can make an informed decision.

However, incest is discouraged in many countries and cultures essentially because the closer the biological relationship, the higher the risk of genetic disorders in offspring, such as severe birth defects, or even the death of the child. First-degree relatives have about a 30% risk of bearing a child that either has severe birth defects or is stillborn. The risk drops to about 2% to 3% for third-degree relatives (first cousins).

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(Continued …)

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(Continued …)

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In Australia, the most common form of incest is parental child sexual abuse, committed more often by the father than the mother (though sometimes with her complicity) and more often on girls than on boys.

This is probably due to the fact that the libido is a convenient outlet for internal tensions and emotions such as stress, frustration, anxiety, powerlessness, compulsion, lust and various forms of paranoia.

Grooming their children to satisfy their own lustful desires is an abuse of parental power, authority and influence. It often results in serious and long-term psychological trauma. Its prevalence is difficult to generalize, but research has estimated 10–15% of the general population as having at least one such sexual contact, with less than 2% involving intercourse or attempted intercourse.

A 1994 study found a mean excess mortality with inbreeding among first cousins of 4.4%. Children of parent-child or sibling-sibling unions are at increased risk compared to cousin-cousin unions. Studies suggest that 20-36% of these children will die or have major disability due to the inbreeding. A study of 29 offspring resulting from brother-sister or father-daughter incest found that 20 had congenital abnormalities, including four directly attributable to autosomal recessive alleles (a pattern of inheritance resulting from the transmission of a genetic abnormality).

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Dear Big Nana,

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The subject of “consenting adults engaging in an incestuous relationship” reminds me of a book I read some years ago (in French), of which the original title was “The last of the Nomads” by W.J.Peasley, published in 1983 by Freemantle Arts Centre Press, in Western Australia.

It’s the story of an Aboriginal couple, Warri Kyangu and his wife, Yatungka, both of the Mandildjara tribe. The tribe was composed of four clans, Yiparka, Djararu, Burungu and Milanjga. For marriage purposes, the four clans were divided into two halves : Yiparka/Burungu and Djararu/Milanjga.

Warri was born a Yiparka and should have married a Djararu or, failing that, Milanjga. But Yatungka was born a Burungu, which was the clan of Warri’s mother, and the same half as Warri himself.

There was no way the elders would ever allow such an incestuous union.

As the couple truly loved each other, they decided to escape together into the Gibson desert in central Western Australia, near the Tropic of Capricorn where they lived a traditional hunter-gatherer life for about thirty years, despite one of the worst droughts in history.

It is because of the drought that the author and one of the couple’s Aboriginal friends set out to find them and offer them a safe haven with the remainder of their tribe which had long since integrated Western society in Wiluna.

There are a couple of photos of the two fugitives in the book and they look like walking skeletons. They accepted to be transported back to their tribe in Wiluna but after a few months, Warri fell ill and died on 28 April 1979. Yatungka immediately plunged into a deep depression and died less than one month later, on 23 Mai 1979.

It is a true story. A story of a unique, outcast couple who, as the book title suggests, was possibly the last traditional Aboriginal nomad couple in Australia.

To me, it is one of the greatest and – dare I say – purist love stories I have ever read.

It is a story of an incestuous relationship.

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Dear Banjo,

Thanks for telling us about the book,
"The Last of the Nomads."

Readings book shop is out of stock - but they
will get it in for me. I've placed an order for it.

I'm looking forward to reading it.