Genetic Sexual Attraction

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MrsSpringsteen

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I've been seeing the promo for this show on ABC, it's on tonight-and I figured that's what it involved. Certainly not something that is usually discussed....

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2886819&page=1

Rachel and Shawn's love story sounds like something out of a fairy tale. They say it was love at first sight when they met almost eight years ago, and they have lived together as a happy couple ever since. But there is one crucial difference that sets Rachel and Shawn apart. They are part of a phenomenon known as genetic sexual attraction, or GSA.

Psychotherapist Joe Soll says that, "genetic attraction is an attraction between two people who've been separated … seeing someone they've missed all their life, all the emotion of that loss, sometimes turns into a sexual relationship." You see, Rachel and Shawn are half brother and sister.

Rachel and Shawn — who didn't want their real names or where they lived revealed — were born only 28 days apart, from mothers who were pregnant by the same man. Despite having the same father, the two never met until they sought each other out at the age of 27. Rachel believes growing up separately is key to understanding their love.

"Had we grown up together as siblings, as children," Rachel says, "this would have not existed."

Regardless, they know they are breaking a social taboo, and they say they understand why people might call it incestuous.

"We are related," Rachel says. "We're not going to deny that."


Rachel and Shawn insist they are just like any other couple.
 
So I guess what they're saying is not only is it possible for relatives who grew up not knowing each other to be attracted/get together, it's actually genetically more likely than random chance. I guess that makes sense...they meet, not knowing, but they're attracted.

So are they allowed to be together? I suppose I ought to watch the show...
 
It's hard for me to understand. I don't have any half- or step-sibs, so I can't imagine growing up away from them, let alone falling in love... :huh: Whatever works, I guess.
 
My father was married four times and had ten children. I am number five out of ten. I don't know some of my half-sisters, but I'm sure if I ever met them, I wouldn't look at them in a "love at first sight" way...
 
Everyone here in the US, your homework assignment is to watch this show with as open a mind as possible and report back here what your thoughts are.

If you don't watch it Mrs. S will make you stay after school :wink:
 
well many people end up marrying people who remind them of someone in their family, usually mom or dad, or heck, themselves... soooo i suppose i can see how this would happen if they've never seen each other their entire life, i guess. :shrug:

i dunno... if they didn't know they were related when they met i would think it's a little less strange.
 
Hey I'm not defending it, it sure seems like incest to me too. You can have attractions and not act on them- I try not to judge but the taboo is still there and it is a strong one. So please don't mistake "open mind" for condoning or anything similar. I am just interested in how they explain it and what they are like as people and what they have to say. Maybe it's some sort of "prurient" interest-after all, it is sweeps week.

BTW Mr. Pryck you've already flunked :wink:
 
I saw a programme about a similar couple a while ago. They were a brother and sister who never grew up together and didn't know the other one existed until adulthood. There was an instant attraction when they met even though obviously they knew they were related. They started having a sexual relationship and the women even left her husband and kids to live with her brother. Ultimately enormous pressure from family and friends made them separate and I think they stopped any kind of contact with each other. The husband eventually took his wife back.
I remember there was a psychologist of some sort interviewed about the relationship and he said that although very unusual, there had been several such cases and there was an actual term for it- can't remember what though. The intense feelings that siblings have on meeting up in such circumstances apparently sometimes get confused which leads in a few cases to a sexual relationship starting.
 
That's what I am truly interested in, the reasons for such an attraction. I think that is fascinating psychologically, and genetically, speaking. Not in the decision to act on it, which admittedly is so foreign and completely taboo.
 
Hey Mrs. S., do I get get extra credit if I admit that I used to have a couple of second cousins that I wanted to get with?
 
MrPryck2U said:
Hey Mrs. S., do I get get extra credit if I admit that I used to have a couple of second cousins that I wanted to get with?

No, just more detention for snide comments in class :wink:

Did anyone watch it? The theory and ideas behind it are rather fascinating, that's all I meant by the open mind stuff. You can open your mind to knowledge, theory, and ideas and still be opposed to the actions.

Maybe the bonding is confused with sexual attraction, that certainly was the case for the woman who met her adopted son and never acted on her feelings. She couldn't bond with him in any other way-plus she said he looked so much like his father, so I think that may have been a factor. I found her to be so open and honest, I was really taken aback by it in spite of other feelings I have about the whole issue.
 
Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but psychologists have noted that feelings of "incest" are generally only developed amongst those family members that you grew up with. That's why you can have those long-lost separated siblings who fall in love, and why you have people like me who want to vomit when people talk about getting it on with the Olsen twins, since I pretty much watched them grow up on "Full House."
 
Genetic sexual selection should be for an unlike - different immunities and variations for offspring; identical matches are deleterious.
 
Looks like I'm the only weirdo who did :wink:

I looked on abcnews.com for you or anyone else who wanted to see the video, you have to be a paid subscriber on there to see it.
 
I'm such a neglectful TV watcher. Bad Bonossaint. Of course,
maybe Boston Legal will turn it into a case. At which point.....
 
^ Too late, House already did, earlier this season.
 
CTU2fan said:
^ Too late, House already did, earlier this season.

I was gonna say that :wink:

"I apologize to everybody out there that's a nonsibling couple, but you will never have what we have…ever, ever, ever," says Rachel. "It just simply cannot exist outside of what we have."

that's...a little creepy. she makes it sound like their relationship is somehow better than everyone else's, implying that it's better to hook up with your sibling.

of course they didn't grow up knowing each other, so in that sense they're not siblings. but they knew they were related when they met. so it's strange.

Headache made a good point, often we look for things (or end up finding things) that remind us of ourselves or family members in our lovers, though usually it's more personality traits and not so much physical appearence.

I don't know, like MrsS says, the real question is, what would be the biological purpose of this, if it is indeed genetic?
 
ew...that quote is so sensationalist and creepy indeed.

A_Wanderer has it right...scientists believe and have demonstrated, albeit in round-a-bout ways, that we tend to find people with different--but not *too* different--immune systems specifically attractive and appealing. That is selectively adaptive; you'll get the best off-spring, in terms of biological fitness. Given that quote from the chick in this couple, it seems it might be "really really really great, only something the rest of us could hope for in our wildest dreams, what they have", for those of us who also have clinical-level narcissistic personalities lol!

Some recent research that I found a little dubiously done but it makes sense holds that the incest taboo really only comes from growing up together. They specifically found that you'll say it grosser to kiss your sister if you actually grew up with her, or some such bit of finding.
There might be something sweat-related to Rachel's intense attraction though too...scientists have done some work with having women smell guy's sweaty t-shirts (some scientists have all the fun) and apparently women like guys who smell like their fathers, but not too much like their father. I guess your half-brother might well qualify! I don't know if those sweaty-shirt researchers tested brother sweat but maybe that should be their next project. Write them the grant money, pronto!

cheers all...
 
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