The word incest is quite triggering for people and at times has trauma attached to it that makes it unbearable to breathe.

Incest in simple words means “a sexual activity with a member of your immediate family.”

Is incest illegal? Well, the direct answer to this question is yes! But as the world evolves into an entirely different living space than a few decades ago, there have been conditions where incest is considered legal.

Still, the majority of the states of the United States of America consider incest as illegal.

What is incest?

As described above, it is a sexual activity that takes place within the family. The offender might be an adult and the receiver on the other hand maybe a child.

A family sexual abuse can be called adult incest. The family sexual abuse or incest can take place between a person and any of his parents (parents could be foster or adoptive), grandparent, grandchild, uncle, aunt, sibling or a half-sibling, or even niece or a nephew.

Even if the sexual relation takes place with the consent of both parties, it is still considered a criminal offense. Legally, a child under the age of 13 cannot give his consent and if proven then the maximum sentence for the abuser is life imprisonment. If the person is above the age of 13, still it is considered a crime, and the maximum sentence that an abuser can get is 7 years of imprisonment.

What is adult incest?

Sexual activity between people who share consanguinity that is blood relations. Sometimes this can be through affinity means the relationship could be because of stepfamily or marriage, lineage, or adoption. 

Ant kind of sexual activity between two people who are both above the age of 18 is known as adult incest.

For example, as mentioned on DudeThrill.com – there are people that are highly prone to watching some porn videos on specialized incest porn sites. And this seems like a new norm nowadays between adults.

Is adult incest legal?

Incest takes place between blood relatives or closely related people. This kind of sexual relationship and its nature has different outcomes in different societies. The nature of this relationship is not considered natural therefore most civilized societies consider it illegal.

There are some regions and societies where incest is considered between two people who live under the same roof, or if they belong to the same blood lineage or clan. 

The blood relatives can be through marriage or adoption.

Whether incest should be declared legal has been a hot topic for debate in past years. The debate has received overly attention from all corners of life, especially whenever a case got highlighted in news regarding a trial of a couple that was involved in incest sexual activities.

There has been a long going debate regarding the legitimacy of incest couples. Incestuous couples are violating the dynamics and principles of the concept and in return are complicating the family dynamics across the globe.

Another important question that received a lot of attention is that is incest relation harming the institution of marriage? Would it be normal to accept the incest couple after they degrade the morality quotient of the society?

These all questions have fueled up the debate and the legality of incest relationships remain hanging across most of the United States of America.

Difference between consensual incest and abusive incest:

The incest sexual activity which is performed with the consent of both parties is considered to be consensual adult incest whereas the abusive adult insult is when one of the parties forces himself upon the other person without their consent.

People across the world condemn the abusive adult incest and demand openly that it should be called out for being unlawful and remain unlawful.

Abusive adult incest relationship also turns into child sexual abuse if the receiver is under the age of 13.

Incest is also the product of power abuse. Many times, the older siblings have the power and control over younger siblings and can demand sexual intimacy even if the younger ones want it or not. This might result in a non-consensual incest act but the world doesn’t know. Therefore, with deep consideration, it was proposed that abusive incest whether adult or with a minor should be illegal in all circumstances.

The debate is to legalize consensual adult incest sexual activity.

The bodies which support consensual adult incest have openly stated that consent should be the benchmark of legalizing the incest sexual relationship. Consenting adults cannot be harmful to the other family members and they are not at risk of bringing danger to the family as their position is somewhat compromised. 

Incest sexual relationship – A taboo:

Incest sexual relationships have been bashed since time immemorial. Society is still not ready to accept the decency of relationship stooping this low whether it’s consensual or non-consensual.

It is still considered a taboo with a mantra that “it is unnatural and contrary to the history and tradition of the family institution.”

Final Verdict:

Incest is illegal and it should be illegal as it will further degrade the societal norms to an extent where there is no coming back. Incest is harmful not only immoral and the question is incest illegal – whether adult or minor should not be asked in the first place. Incest has a harmful effect on the people involved in it apart from its immoral derogatory outcome.

Incest is universally condemned and abhorred and it should be prevented even if someone is not a biblical follower, the relationship is wrong in many ways therefore adult incest is considered illegal in most parts of the world.