TWITTER: Incest Boundaries in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

The title is the closest thing to Click Bait that I’ve ever done and I only slightly apologize. But I had a thought that I couldn’t exactly discuss with people and I wanted to investigate cultural reactions.

Cousins getting married is nothing new to this world. Royalty and even American Presidents have engaged in such behavior. Our parents are related… we’re more distantly related… we marry.

Of course… acceptance for that kind of thing has significantly declined. Meanwhile, other elements have been introduced. It is these elements that I wish to explore.

(1) Step. This could happen in any number of ways (and has). Two people meet, date, and while they are dating… their parents meet and get married. Thus… you are now dating/sleeping with your Step Sister. Acceptable? Is it acceptable because of timing? Thus if two divorced parents met each other, got married, and then their non-blood-related children (step siblings) started a romantic relationship… acceptable? What about ex-step? If your parent divorced your step-parent… would that ex-step-parent be acceptable romantic territory? Would the now-ex-step-sibling?

(2) Adopted. This is less iffy but still worth discussing. No, I’m never going to be okay with the Woody Allen bullshit. But lets shift our understanding of what an adopted person is; and realize that people can be adopted at almost any age. So… 16 year old boy meets a 16 year old girl; they hit it off; boy’s parents find out she’s a homeless orphan and adopt her. Is the pair’s romantic relationship acceptable? Is it acceptable because of timing? Thus if the two didn’t meet until after the boy’s parents brought the girl into the house; does that make it less acceptable?

(3) Family of Family. This one can get very convoluted but it is pretty much a potentially still valid vestige of royal family pairings. I don’t know how to explain this succinctly and I am sorry… so I’ll share a story to “clear things up” and acknowledge that it may muddle things more.
Steven has a brother Charlie. Steven marries Tamara. Charlie marries Susan. Tamara has no siblings. Susan has a little brother named Ben. Ben marries a woman named Lisa. Steven and Tamara have two children; a boy named Aaron and a girl named Daria. Charlie and Susan have two children; both girls Erica and Fiona. Ben and Lisa have a single daughter named Grace.
Everyone knows Aaron can’t marry Daria… that is sibling level incest. In today’s society, Aaron can’t marry Erica or Fiona… that is first cousin level incest. BUT what about Aaron and Grace? Technically… Grace isn’t family to Aaron. But in a way… she is. “It is the cousin of my cousin.” Would this be considered acceptable in today’s world? Especially when you consider the language that would be used in such an event. “I’m marrying my cousin’s cousin.” Or “My cousins are getting married today.” This, more than all the others, sparks my curiosity. Because… simply by blood level issues; it seems like it would be acceptable. BUT I could still see how society would be very against it.