Any more sex and it's jail, says judge!

A brother and sister fell in love after meeting as adults. Danielle Heaney and Nick Cameron share the same mother but have different fathers. As they don't look in the least alike they can pass so easily for a pair of young lovers no different from any other. They grew up apart after Nick was placed in foster care as a child, and only met as adults in August 2006. Since that date they became lovers, but now are in a position of refraining from sexual activity but remain "infatuated with each other".

Their mother, Susan, has all but disowned them. "What you are doing is morally wrong," she has said. To add confusion to this heady mix, there appears to be a condition known as Genetic Sexual Attraction which is a recognised psychological phenomenon. It sometimes affects siblings or blood relatives separated at birth, who then meet later as adults. The term is believed to have first been coined in America in the 1980s by a woman called Barbara Gonyo, who wrote about the unexpected lust she felt for the adult son she'd given up for adoption 26 years earlier.

I would have thought that we are going to experience far more of this phenomena, especially with divorce, marital breakdown, children with different mothers/fathers, etc. Secrecy and fear hide themselves behind such events. We need to be more supportive of parents in the first place, rather than looking on in grand isolation.

Earlier this month the pair were put on a year's probation by Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court after admitting incest, at an earlier court hearing. They were warned that if they had sexual intercourse again they could face a jail sentence of up to two years. Nick says, "Obviously there have to be boundaries, because incest is illegal in this country, but maybe, with counselling, we can move our relationship on to a more normal brother-sister one."

Couselling may be one thing, but making sure that parents and carers do not let their children end up in such an agonising situation would be a good start for change.

Posted in: adoption,divorce,incest,Kirkcaldy