Quodlibet
Transgressing Taboos
Apparently, genes are the go-to explanation when it comes to rationalizing what used to be considered taboo. In 2016, Michael Cook at MercatorNetreported on such a response to "a passionate incestuous romance between a 51-year-old British woman and her 32-year-old American son." In Cook's telling:
Kim West was studying in California when she had a child out of wedlock. She gave him up for adoption and returned to England. Nearly 30 years later she learned that her son Ben Ford wanted
to contact her. When they met, they immediately felt an overwhelming sexual attraction. Ben ended up abandoning his wife and moving in with his mother. They live together and are considering having children.
An American adoption counselor, Barbara Gonyo, coined the term "genetic sexual attraction" (GSA) to describe any feeling of sexual attraction between siblings, first and second cousins, or a mother/father and son/daughter who meet for the first time as adults. Gonyo herself fell madly in love with her son after the two were reunited in adulthood.
A columnist for The (London) Telegraph wrote in 2016 that "those who succumb to GSA are not sickos, or freaks, but victims who desperately need help and understanding. Their feelings are not controllable, but with scientific research and support, we can give them some degree in control over this devastating affliction."
But why "devastating"? In a culture in which no sexual impulse is to be denied legitimacy or labeled as deviant, this makes little sense. In a culture that prizes self-control and sexual restraint and chastity, it does. But the latter is not the culture in which most Christians find themselves today.
—James M. Kushiner
James M. Kushiner is the Director of Publications for The Fellowship of St. James and the former Executive Editor of Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more on culture from the online archives
32.2—March/April 2019
Reality Shows, Even in a Popular TV Series by C. E. Smith
30.6—Nov/Dec 2017
Christ, Individualism & the Meaning of Cultural Diversity by Anthony Esolen
22.3—April 2009
Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by J. Daryl Charles
more from the online archives
32.1—January/February 2019
The Diabolical Failure of Leaders in the Present Crises by James M. Kushiner
31.1—January/February 2018
on Ragnarök, an Extreme Weather Event & the Paths to Conversion by Timothy J. Burbery
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
