Gee, what should we write about today? Let's talk incest.

Consensual...
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My friend sends me salacious articles on sex - almost every day.  LOL!  Just kidding P!  She's been sending some 'good' stuff on incest - not 'good' in any salacious sense - I used the word twice now - but informative as to what is going on behind the headlines and rapid cultural changes.  Very seriously, my friend shares her concerns and often times horror at what is going on in the world.  Case in point - Switzerland considers easing incest laws and the David Epstein case - Professor sleeps with daughter.  The following pull-quote from one of the articles is simply astonishing:
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"Academically, we are obviously all morally opposed to incest and rightfully so," Galluzzo said. "At the same time, there is an argument to be made in the Swiss case to let go what goes on privately in bedrooms."

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"It's OK for homosexuals to do whatever they want in their own home," he said. "How is this so different? We have to figure out why some behavior is tolerated and some is not." - Epstein's lawyer, Matthew Galluzzo.
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Tolerance leads to acceptance... and approval.
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I'm not really going to discuss these cases here, but the subject reminds me of what it was like growing up - knowing about such things, although no one really talked about it much less did anything about it.  Today unspeakable crimes and misdemeanors and perversions are out front, on TV, online, and spoken about in public.  Of course we live in a permissive age in which it seems the only politically correct and acceptable intolerance permitted is against traditional morality and guilt.  Hence the above argument in favor of incest almost comes off normal in our culture - and I tend to think Galluzzo is willfully deceptive when he says, "Academically, we are obviously all morally opposed to incest..."
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I grew up on the rough and tough side of town.  I think it only seemed rough to outsiders, as a kid I got along fine.  No, I was not bullied.  I faced challenges and got into fights of course, but I held my own I think.  That may explain why I'm not on board with all the anti-bullying laws and ordinances being proposed.  But I digress.
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Right to privacy.
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Growing up 'we' knew which kids were abused and molested and which families were incestuous.  Our parents knew, which is why my dad would tell me things like, "Don't ever go into Jennifer's house."  When I asked why, he just said, "Her dad's a fruit."
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"What's a fruit?"  I asked.
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"It means he's creepy."  My sister answered.

Oddly enough, Magnolia St. in those days was a hot bed for molesters and incestuous families.  The girl downstairs was molested by her cousin, her uncle slept with the wives of men who rented from him, the guy across the street tried to sell his older daughter in a bar and was said to have used her for sex himself.  Let's see, his other daughter was used by him as well.  Oh yeah - I was abused in a theater one Saturday during a screening of "North To Alaska".  This all happened before 7th grade.  I knew too much - but tried not to think about it, lest I sin by entertaining impure thoughts and stuff.  Nevertheless - people knew what was going on - all the kids knew - so at least some of the parents knew.  But people minded their own business in those days and no one talked about that kind of stuff openly.  Today we call that kind of minding our own business a perpetrator's right to privacy.
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How we got to where we are.
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Jump forward to my days out of school working in a major department store in the display department.  What a moral group that was.  Very gay.  The president of the company was known to have sex with teen boys in the dressing rooms of the Varsity Dept., as well as with stock boys in his office.  The entire store knew about it - the branch people knew about it.  Co-workers and department heads and branch managers were very immoral, promiscuous, and dishonest.
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Without going into great detail, the president of the company wasn't the only one having sex with teenage boys.  One of my own managers was known to like little boys.  I thought it was a joke until I saw him literally drooling over a little boy being led around the store by the boy's unsuspecting mother.  My point here is that no one ever said anything - they snickered and laughed about it - but nothing was done about it.  It was none of their business, and the other's right to privacy.
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That's what went on with the bishop/priest scandal as well.  Whisper about it but play dumb, and stay out of other people's business.  That is how we got here. 
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I think it is telling how behind the scenes kids are actually being taught some of the perversions I came across by chance growing up in a less than perfect family and neighborhood and first job experience - without the protection and guidance of stable parents and role models.  My friend sent me the following reminder:
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I will end with a quote from a published UNICEF/UN sex education booklet published for So. American students and distributed until outcry forced its removal ....

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Flashback - 2002
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NEW YORK — A UNICEF-funded book being passed out at the United Nations Child Summit encourages children to engage in sexual activities with other minors and with homosexuals and animals. ...
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An accompanying workshop book produced by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) tells Latin American mothers and teens: "Situations in which you can obtain sexual pleasure: 1. Masturbation. 2. Sexual relations with a partner — whether heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. 3. A sexual response that is directed toward inanimate objects, animals, minors, non-consenting persons." ...
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I recall an actress on Oprah once talking about her work for the U.N. in India and the sense of accomplishment she felt after teaching the women and girls the joy of self pleasuring themselves.
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And yet we worry about telling our children there is a Santa Claus...
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Thanks P for the lead.
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