Want to know what is really, really unsexy? Incest. Yep, I think even among those of us who have different sexual needs and desires and who like to mix it up, we can universally agree that brothers and sisters and fathers and daughters and mothers and sons is all kind of yucky, gross, and icky. But the laws that make it illegal are there for a reason. Clearly someone thought it wasn't very gross at all.

In Germany, a brother and sister who have four children together were just informed by a European court that their union is considered incest and that the conviction the brother faces for it still stands.

It's like the real life Flowers in the Attic, but gross as it is, I also see their point.

Unlike most brothers and sisters, Patrick Stuebing and Susan Karolewski had never even met until they were in their 20s. He had been placed in foster care as a child, so he only met his sister late in life. When they met, sparks flew.

OK, gross. I know. But, in this case, while I am not justifying it, I also think throwing him in jail (which is what happened) is a little abnormally harsh. This isn't the only time this has happened, either.

In 2011, a father and daughter who were reunited did the same thing. While yes, it's sick and kind of makes me want to throw my breakfast up, the fact is, these are consenting adults.

The reason incest is illegal is usually for the children, and in this case, their decision to have children did result in disabilities. So while their relationship itself isn't wrong, their decision to have children is.

The government really can't step in and regulate a couple of consenting adults. Sure, we would love to think that all people will make good decisions and not have children if they shouldn't, but it isn't up to the government to decide who can and can't love each other.

The fact is 99.9999999 percent of us are utterly repulsed by the idea of incest and those who aren't are not criminals. They are likely just lonely and in need of love and who knows what else. We should pity them and sympathize, not throw them in jail.

Do you think this couple deserved jail?

 

Image via Ken_Mayer/Flickr