Incest between twins

Incest between twins is a subclass of sibling incest and includes both heterosexual and homosexual relationships. In traditional Balinese culture, for example, a set of twins of the opposite sex were forced to marry each other, since it was assumed that they had had sex in utero. [Jacobs, A. J., "The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World" (2004), p. 142, Simon & Schuster] In traditional Mohave culture, opposite-sex twins were thought to have been married in heaven. [cite journal |last=Devereux |first=George |year=1941 |title=Mohave Beliefs concerning Twins |journal=American Anthropologist |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=573–92 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-7294%28194110%2F12%292%3A43%3A4%3C573%3AMBCT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-D |accessdate=2007-05-28 |quote=Twins of the opposite sexes are believed to have been spouses in heaven. |doi=10.1525/aa.1941.43.4.02a00060(p. 578)]

In a review of the scholarly literatures on twin homosexuality and twin incest, Ray Bixler concludes that "most same sex homosexual twins, if reared with their co-twins, do not attempt or even want to seduce them in adulthood". [cite journal |last=Bixler |first=Ray H. |year=1983 |month=August |title=Homosexual Twin Incest Avoidance |journal=The Journal of Sex Research |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=296–302 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4499%28198308%2919%3A3%3C296%3AHTIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V |accessdate=2007-05-24] His study draws on Edvard Westermarck's hypothesis that sexual desire is generally absent in relationships between members of a nuclear family. [Westermarck, Edvard (1922). "The History of Human Marriage", Vol. II. New York: Allerton, p. 193.]

One case of incest between twins, in which a pair of twins who were adopted by separate families as babies later married without knowing they were brother and sister, was mentioned in a House of Lords debate on the Human Fertility and Embryology Bill in January 2008. According to the charity Adults Affected by Adoption, there had been other cases of this sort that had involved siblings. [cite news |title=Parted-at-birth twins 'married' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7182817.stm |work=BBC News |date=2008-01-11 |accessdate=2008-05-18] The story was widely publicised in the British press, but its truthfulness was called into question by some. [cite news |first=Jon |last=Henley |title=Did a pair of twins really get married by mistake? |url=http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,2240924,00.html |work=guardian.co.uk |date=2008-01-15 |accessdate=2008-05-18]

Popular culture

Other depictions of or references to it can be found in fanfiction (where it is usually referred to as "twincest"), [cite journal |author=Green, Leila, and Carmen Guinery |year=2004 |month=November |title=Harry Potter and the Fan Fiction Phenomenon |journal=M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture |volume=7 |issue=5 |url=http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0411/14-green.php |accessdate=2007-02-02] traditional folklore, [cite journal |last=Hammond-Tooke |first=W. D. |year=1992 |title=Twins, Incest and Mediators: The Structure of Four Zulu Folk Tales |journal=Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=203–220 |doi=10.2307/1160455 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0001-9720(1992)62%3A2%3C203%3ATIAMTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-E |accessdate=2007-02-03] erotic and pornographic magazines and videos, advertising, and even mainstream films. In the latter two cases, incestuous relationships between twins are usually only implied and almost always used for a shock effect.

*In Richard Wagner's "The Ring of the Nibelung", twins Siegmund and Sieglinde commit incest at the end of Act 1 of "Die Walküre". [cite journal |last=Gilman |first=Sander L. |year=1998 |title=Sibling Incest, Madness, and the 'Jews' |journal=Social Research |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=408–09 |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2267/is_n2_v65/ai_20964259/pg_1 |accessdate=2007-02-02] The offspring of this union is Siegfried, the hero of the next operas in the Ring cycle, "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung".
*In Melvin Burgess's novel Bloodtide, which, like "Die Walküre", is based upon the Volsunga Saga, the Volson twins Siggy and Signy share a incestuous sexual encounter which leaves Signy pregnant. However, Siggy is unaware that it is his sister, since she is in the guise of another character, Cherry.
*Incest between twins figures prominently in Thomas Mann's 1905 novella "Wälsungenblut" ("The Blood of the Walsungs"). [cite journal |last=Luzes |first=Pedro |year=1990 |month=February |title=Fact and Fantasy in Brother-Sister Incest |journal=International Review of Psycho-Analysis |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=97–113 |url=http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=irp.017.0097a |accessdate=2007-02-03]
*Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia of "Star Wars" have a romanticFact|date=August 2008 (but non-sexual) relationship in ' and, to a reduced extent, "The Empire Strikes Back". In "Return of the Jedi", the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi informs Luke that Leia is really his twin sister, and what little romantic interest he still had for her is immediately quelled, replaced by much stronger feelings of fraternal affection, it is assumedOr|date=August 2008. Luke and Leia are revealed to be twins during the lightsaber battle between Luke and Darth Vader when Vader senses that Luke's feelings for his friends are strong ("So. You have a twin sister!"). This was confirmed during the birth scene at the end of '.
*"The House of Yes" features Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton as fraternal twins Jacqueline and Marty, whose incestuous relationship is complicated by Marty's engagement to Lesly (Tori Spelling).
*In the film "Cruel Intentions 2", identical twins Alicia and Annie Sorell kiss during a nude shower scene with actor Robin Dunne.
*In George R. R. Martin's series of novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, an incestuous relationship between twins Cersei and Jaime Lannister is a major plot point and is described in explicit detail throughout the series.
* In Anne Rice's Blackwood Farm, the Twins Tarquinn (Quinn) and "Goblin" had a sexual relationship. His spirit would try to do sexual acts on his twin. While Quinn was not in love with his brother, it is enough for someFact|date=August 2008 to think that Goblin does think of Quinn romantically.
* In another one of Anne Rice's books, The Witching Hour there was a set of twins who even had a child together.
* In the movie Eurotrip, twins Jamie and Jenny, kiss each other at a night club after drinking absinthe.

References