Incest between twins

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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.^[1] In traditional Mohave culture, opposite-sex twins were thought to have been married in heaven.^[2]

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".^[3] His study draws on Edvard Westermarck's hypothesis that sexual desire is generally absent in relationships between members of a nuclear family.^[4]

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.^[5] The story was widely publicised in the British press, but its truthfulness was called into question by some.^[6]

[edit] Popular culture

Main article: Incest in popular culture

Other depictions of or references to it can be found in fanfiction (where it is usually referred to as "twincest"),^[7] traditional folklore,^[8] 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.^[9] The offspring of this union is Siegfried, the hero of the next operas in the Ring cycle, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung.
• Incest between twins figures prominently in Thomas Mann's 1905 novella Wälsungenblut (The Blood of the Walsungs).^[10]
• Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia of Star Wars have a romantic (but non-sexual) relationship in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 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 assumed. 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 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
• 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.

[edit] References