And anyway, she keeps trying to prove that the sexual union with her brother was completely normal and healthy and didn't interfere with their relationships, except she "found it hard to be physically intimate with anyone else" and eventually her brother almost agreed to dump his fiancee, on the condition that they "Stay together and not see anyone else. We could be the old boring brother and sister who never got married, but ended up sharing a house because no one else would have them! I know this is meant to be wrong but I've never felt anything so right.” [Note: if she feels so strongly about breaking the taboo of incest, why is this article anonymous? Just sayin'.]

The tone of her essay reminded me of a comment left in response to a story I did on Ellen Tien, who wrote in O denigrating her husband and thinking about divorce constantly. She was upset about our judge-y coverage of Tien, and said, "What about 'when a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her'? If this is the truth of Tien's experience of marriage I'm glad she described it, and I don't think she's a selfish or nasty person for it." But our truthful reaction to Tien was that her article in O was incredibly bitchy, just as my truthful reaction to this incest story is ew. If your takeaway from that quote is truth is God, then these articles and our subsequent reactions are truly worthwhile. But is every transgression, no matter how base or cruel, from the status quo worthy of shouting from the rooftops?
"I Had Sex With My Brother But I Don't Feel Guilty." [Times of London]
Earlier: O Writer Claims That Beneath Every Marriage Runs The "Chyron Of Divorce"

I also don't find Tien's honesty "brave," I find it sad. When you share your life with someone, of course you will be frequently annoyed by them. But, beneath those frequent irritations, there is a deep affection, one that's so thickly layered that it's difficult to describe publicly without feeling you've betrayed your partner, or belittled your shared emotions by attempting to explain them in a way that's accessible to others.

Rosin describes the beginning of Tien's piece — it's "a portrait of her bumbling fool of a husband, who lies, always says exactly the wrong thing, scratches his armpit at a parent-teacher conference and then 'absently smells his fingers.'" To publicly denigrate someone you ostensibly still love in that way is kind of scary to me. Why is she staying with someone she doesn't publicly respect? Tien also writes that "Beneath the thumpingly ordinary nature of of our marriage — Everymarriage — runs the silent chyron of divorce." It seems like for her, the chyron is silent but deadly.

Divorce Anyone? [Slate]

Earlier: Slate Power Couple Attempts To Stay Within 15 Feet Of Each Other For 24 Hours