Comments on: Too Close for Comfort

By: JarvisLoop

JarvisLoop — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 12:53:36 +0000

Just exactly how messed up was Freud, anyway?

By: Fffff

Fffff — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 01:22:23 +0000

In my opinion, I think Westermarck effect also applies outside of family, imagine a childhood friend or a person you got close to.

Now I understand dense main characters.

By: Blofeld

Blofeld — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 20:52:21 +0000

So.. how many of us were rooting for Luke and Leia until the horrible truth that they were siblings became evident. … Come to think of it.. when exactly did Leia realize that Vader was her father?

Spoiler alert: So Rey doesn’t know who her parents were? Why is she so darn good with the force?

To Vader: “Padme’s dead.. you killed her” Darth: “NOOOOOoo!”
Darth: “I am your father” Luke: “NOOOOoo”
To Rey: “Luke and Leia were your parents” Rey: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 17:08:14 +0000

Great article. The photos you posted made me think of the scene in Back To The Future where Marty and Lorraine kiss in 1955. Lorraine: “I feel like I’m kissing my brother.” Not that all screenplay writers should have a degree in evolutionary psychology, but Incest Avoidance could not have been a factor there since Marty and Lorraine were not raised together. Instead, GSA should have taken over and George McFly might have never married Lorraine after the torrid affair that Marty and Lorraine would have had, causing Marty to dissolve into non-existence due to temporal interference syndrome.

By: fgdfg

fgdfg — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 10:40:54 +0000

@brett, the difference is in the mechanism of supression. Freud thinks that it is purely cultural, while the other side thinks it’s automatic and biological. It is an important distinction, especially as many freudists believe that the supression can’t be 100% efficient and is somehow more “artificial” than the original urge.

By: Rex

Rex — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 17:50:48 +0000

Whether it’s the Westermarck effect or Oedipus complex, both theories start from the notion of innate genetic sexual attraction. Acknowledge it so you can move past it, otherwise you’re just lying to people and making them feel guilty for desires that are natural.

By: Brett

Brett — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 07:42:06 +0000

Both theories are correct. Freud says that GSA is innate and ‘must be surpressed’. The Westermarck theory explains how suppression of GSA takes place. The theories do not oppose each other.

If two siblings are not bought up together and reunite, GSA is present but westermarck suppression did not take place. I.E. evolution failed at protecting parties from incest. This is an evolutionary flaw in humans.

– Brett (Freud from beyond the grave)

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 15:32:17 +0000

I want to weigh in here, because I think this article overlooks GSA in families that have not been separated for years.

I use myself as an example. I am attracted to my mother, but we’ve never been apart. We haven’t been particularly close either.

I am aware of myself to the point where I can control my urges, though I do not ignore them.

GSA in families that have not been separated seems to be an understudied phenomenon. There are certainly instances of rape incest, but not too many studies on people who just have the attraction without taking action.

That’s my two cents, anyway.

By: Want to get over it

Want to get over it — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 20:46:13 +0000

not a good time said: “I had no idea about GSA and it has tortured me since reunion. I keep waiting and waiting for it to pass. It’s insane. The mental connection is the hardest part.”

I am having the same problem. Are you over it yet? Is it mutual? I think it might be for us but we have only danced around the subject- -we are both married. The mental connection is incredible. Sometimes I think it might be better for my piece of mind to cut it off completely.

By: MugaSofer

MugaSofer — Sun, 04 May 2014 12:15:58 +0000

charles darnay said: “What does “They are even debout christians” mean? What does that have to do with anything??”

Well, it’s a fairly “normal” thing to be.