Incest

Exogamy - the prohibition of marriage between members of a related ( clan , phratry ) or local (for example, community ) collective, existed already in the era of primitive society . F. Engels, in his 1884 edition, “ The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State, ” cites K. Marx , who criticized the concept of family and marriage relations presented in the opera tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung by R. Wagner : “In the primitive era, the sister was a wife, and it was moral ” ^[8] . Engels, giving a Marxist interpretation of the evolution of marital relations in this work, noted that “If the first step forward in organizing a family was to exclude sexual intercourse between parents and children, then the second was to exclude it for sisters and brothers”:

All sorts of rules for preventing incest are described in detail in Sigmund Freud ’s book “ Totem and Taboo ” and the work of James Fraser “Totemism and Exogamy”.

Incest in the royal tradition of ancient Egypt and the Incas

Non-judgmental incest was practiced in the traditions of the marriage of the pharaohs and Incas (almost all of them married their sisters) and the rulers of some others ( Sassanid Iran and neighboring states with the influence of Zoroastrianism ) of the ancient states.

In ancient Egypt, this was due to the fact that land ownership passed along the female line, since the fact of motherhood is more obvious than fatherhood. The husband could use the land while the spouse was alive, after her death, the daughter inherited everything ^[9] . Therefore, the marriage of any heiress to the throne gave her husband the right to rule the country. The age of the wife in this case often did not matter - it happened that the wife was an old woman and a newborn baby. Often, to remove competitors, the pharaoh married all the heirs to the throne. For example, Ramses II after the death of the elder husband Nefertari Merenmut and Isitnofret married his eldest daughters ^[10] . Tutankhamun , born of an unidentified princess , married his cousin Princess Anhesenamon ^[11] .

The royal couple was considered the embodiment of the gods, primarily the brothers Osiris and Set , married to their sisters Isis and Nephthys . Dynastic marriages between brothers and sisters in the ruling dynasty were consecrated from the position of succession to hold power in the family circle, preserve the purity of the "solar blood" of the incarnations of the Egyptian gods and the inadmissibility of kinship with non-reigning families.

Antiquity Incest

Among the ancient Romans, the word incestus meant generally all adultery . In religious terms, incest was called the chastity of the priestesses of Vesta , the desecration of the holiness of the vestal by other persons, which Clodius was accused of, as well as the forbidden connection between relatives, or incest , for example, between a brother and sister, etc. ^[12] So, marriages in which the husband and wife were relatives up to 4 tribes, were considered incest and were punishable by death ^[13] (later referred to) ^[14] . However, over time, the condition of kinship between spouses became less stringent: from the 1st century BC. e. marriage between cousins ​​and sisters was permitted ^[14] .

In ancient pagan beliefs, incest was the norm of the gods . All ancient mythology is full of incestuous and promiscuity plots. However, the marriage of King Oedipus to his mother, Queen Jocasta, in the tragedy of Sophocles is called "sin."

V.N. Tatishchev reports that the Drevlyans “stole brides from their fathers and relatives” ^[15] . A. Smirnov considered “doubtless” even that which is not mentioned at all in the annals, namely, “that in ancient times the brothers had marital rights to sisters” ^[16] .

Condemnation of Incest in the Bible and Abrahamic Religions

The Bible is one of the oldest written sources rejecting incest and other sexual deviations . In the books “ Leviticus ” ( Lev. 20: 10-21 ) and “ Deuteronomy ”, where exact and detailed rules of sexual behavior are established, the prohibition of incest is not particularly distinguished from the prohibitions on extramarital , homosexual and bestial relations, the “discovery of nudity” of relatives - all are punishable by death .

In the biblical narrative, the first incest on earth was committed by the children of the first humans Adam and Eve . Their incestuous union was forced and therefore recognized as sacred , and not criminal . Judaism and most areas of Christianity proceed from the fact that the prohibition of incest, like any other law, cannot be applied retroactively . The ban on incest, in contrast, for example, to the ban on eating the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil , was not given to Adam at the time of its creation. According to Jewish and Christian traditions, all of humanity received this ban after the Flood . Therefore, according to the Bible, incest in the antediluvian times cannot be considered sinful.

The Bible describes incest even after God exterminated the sinful city of Sodom ( Genesis 19: 30-38 ): Lot and his two daughters were saved, who decided that all people on earth died. To continue procreation, having given the father wine, the daughters entered into an incestuous relationship with him. It is worth noting that, according to the Bible, their offspring became pagan peoples, enemies of Judea and the right faith ( Moabites and Ammonites ), so this story primarily implies a negative assessment of these peoples, and does not justify incest. Deut. 23: 3 says: “The Ammonite and the Moab cannot enter the congregation of the Lord, and their tenth generation cannot enter the congregation of the Lord forever.” Also, the wife of the prophet Abraham was, for safety, called the forefather a half-sister : “she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and became my wife ” ( Genesis 20:12 ).

Decisions of church councils and royal legislation in Europe from the end of the 8th century instructed priests to conduct an investigation before the wedding of the kinship of married people in order to prevent incest. In one of the capitals of Charlemagne, it was pointed out that the blessing of the marriage, as well as the marriage itself, can follow only after such an investigation ^[17] .

According to the Charter of Prince Yaroslav (Short Edition), for violating the prohibition of “incestuous relations”, punishment was provided depending on the degree of relationship (Articles 12, 14, 15, 19, 21). So, for sexual relations between a brother and sister (Art. 14), a fine of 100 hryvnias was imposed and “ executed under the law ”, between a nephew and aunt or niece and uncle (Art. 15) - a fine of 80 hryvnias, “ and they should be separated ” and penance between a stepson and a stepmother (v. 22) - 40 hryvnias of a fine ^[18] .

European aristocrats in the Middle Ages were repeatedly exempted from their spouses, justifying this with a ban on incest. So, the English king Heinrich Tudor divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, on the grounds that she was the widow of his brother Arthur, and therefore - his, Henry, a close relative (although in fact there was not incest, but levirate ).

In Islam , incest is treated very harshly, all manifestations of incest are condemned. Incest is equated even a marriage between people who had one nurse . Marriage between uncle and niece, aunt and nephew is prohibited. However, a marriage between a cousin and sister is not considered incest.

At incest significantly increases the likelihood of meeting the same pathological genes (see. Inbred depression ). That is, the benefits of sexual reproduction are reduced, which, in accordance with the Kondrashov hypothesis ^[19] or the deterministic mutation hypothesis ^[20], are manifested in the possibility of eliminating harmful mutations by compensating for a healthy copy of the same gene received from another parent ^[21] .

If in unmarried marriages the probability of having a baby with a serious genetic (congenital) defect or mental retardation is about 3-4%, then with incest it increases significantly. In genetics, this process is called the cleavage of recessive homozygotes ^[22] .

However, if a married couple (uncle + niece, aunt + nephew) are already married or are about to start a family, then doctors insist on conducting a study on the presence of pathological genes in both spouses ^[23] , the compatibility of spouses on HLA antigens ^[24] . If a predisposition to hereditary diseases is not detected, then we can conditionally consider marriage to be equivalent (in probability of giving birth to a sick offspring) to an unrelated one.

In most countries of the world, marriages and sexual relations between close relatives are prohibited and condemned by public morality (the degree of permissible closeness of kinship varies depending on the country and culture), and in some countries they are also criminally punished ^[25] .

Incest between adults and children

Sexual relations with persons under the age of consent (see seduction of minors ) are prohibited in most countries of the modern world. Some countries also provide more severe penalties for sexual relations between parents and their children.

Incest between adult relatives

Incestuous relations between adults, for example, between brother and sister, are illegal in some countries, for example, in Germany ^[26] , Switzerland ^[27] , Poland ^[28] and Ireland ^[29] . These laws are often criticized due to the frequent absence of victims (for example, if the couple has no children). From time to time, proposals are made to repeal these laws ^[30] .

In many countries, such as France ^[31] , Belgium ^{[32], the} Netherlands ^[32] , Portugal ^[33] and Russia ^[34] , incest is not criminalized.

Legislative regulation of family marriages

Russia

Article 14 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation does not allow marriage between:

• relatives in a direct ascending line (i.e. between parents and children, grandfather / grandmother and grandchildren),
• between full and half brothers and sisters,
• between adoptive parents and adopted children.

Thus, marriage between uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, or between cousins ​​is allowed. In fact, in Russia, close relatives enter into marriages without notifying the registry office of family ties. Employees of the registry office, in turn, are not required to check or require documented absence of kinship according to the regulations ^[35] . A marriage is recognized as a prisoner, even in the event of subsequent identification of the spouses' kinship. Reference to article 14 cannot be an excuse for avoiding alimony or sharing property acquired, since the fact of marriage is important in these matters, and not its legality at the time of conclusion ^[36] . Violation of article 14 is subject to a minor administrative fine as for submitting false data.

In the Russian Empire (until 1917 ) the marriage of persons closer than the fifth degree of kinship was forbidden ^[37] , but for non-Orthodox the restrictions were milder.

Tajikistan

From July 1, 2016, marriages between ^[38] are prohibited in Tajikistan by the Family Code:

• sibling and sibling;
• cousin and cousin;
• second cousin and second cousin;
• aunts and nephew;
• uncle and niece;
• children of brothers and sisters;
• breastfeeding in one woman .

• Dreaming
• Levirate
• First night right
• Exogamy
• Inbreeding and inbreeding
• Genetic burden and ancestral reduction
• Oedipus complex and Electra complex
• Inbreeding rate

• Incest // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Helen Para. Incest in the history of culture // Helen Para. The psychology of love and sexuality. - M.: Art of the XXI century, 2006, p. 140-159
• Evgeny Dodolev . “Incest” // Marina Lesko “New Look” : newspaper. - Moscow, 1992. - No. 108 . - S. 01-03 .
• Neshina A. Yu. Traditional and new ballads about incest // Bulletin of Moscow State University. Philology. 2001. No. 3. S.135-147 ..

• Views on incest in the context of different cultures and traditions. The current state of the problem
• Right genesis as a factor in the formation of society and man
• Socio-cultural, moral, ethical and historical prerequisites for criminalizing sexual relations between close relatives
• Sexual offenses in the Russian province of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries
• Inzeststrafbarkeit im internationalen Rechtsvergleich
• Incest
• Incest and psychoanalysis