How do we talk about topics that make us squirm? Squirming is VERY uncomfortable. The thought Dr. Wendy has, though, is that if something is kept hidden, secret or TABOO, you give that thing power. She sheds some serious light when she talks to Dr. Kevin Volkan about genetic sexual attraction...ahem, incest. This touchy subject is brought out of the shadows.
Dr. Volkan, a licensed psychologist with a couple PhDs, explains the real problems of being intimate with someone who shares DNA. Ask any royal with hemophilia about that history. Surprisingly, there are societies who condone familial relationships, though.
He explains something called The Westermarck Effect and goes in to the big news stories recently of the realization some fertility doctors have committed fertility fraud by using their own sperm for IVF treatments without the woman's knowledge or consent. Here's the other thing about that. Some of these doctors have done this dozens (or more) times...in small communities. What happens when those kids grow up and start dating?
Dr. Kevin Volkan is a licensed psychologist. He holds two doctorates in psychology, and is a graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a former Harvard Medical School faculty member and is now professor of CSU-Channel Islands. Dr. Volkan is considered to be an expert on extreme psychopathologies and has testified before the United States Senate on pathological and dangerous fetishes.
Listen to their very frank and very honest discussion below.