Anyone planning to watch "sleeping with my sister" tonight?

[Pinkchampagne]

Cutting edge on channel 4. Following two sets of step siblings who have fallen in love. Looks interesting!

They are half brother & sister, not step siblings.

Not quite sure what I made of this

I can see how it could happen, siblings are, after all, genetically connected so an attraction as adults would be inevitable, and as they'd never had that sibling relationship as children, the attraction would be different, and the tabu wouldn't be there.

but deep down I think they did kind of know it was wrong, esp nick who went to see the psychiatrist and the american girl who had changed her mind about leaving her family.

Wouldn't imagine that Nick and Danielle have kept to the "no sex" part of their sentence - how could that possibly be enforced?

I thought the same about the no sex rule! How is anyone going to know if they have sex or not?!!

I felt sorry for the families that had obviously been destroyed by this. esp Danielle's dd - her husband moved out with her and she can't have any more children? (although probably best in the circs)

I felt quit strongly that it was an area for psychiatrists and therapists (if the people concerned so wished - like Nick), not police and judges.

I didn't see the end Wannabee, did she change her mind then?

But you would feel sorry for the families of any person who moved out to be with another.

I thought it was all quite tragic, really.

yes she decided that she couldn't leave just yet - that she had to wait for her children to grow up a bit.

Agreed blu, can't see what bringing criminal charges could possibly achieve.

absolutely, but I would imagine that the children would be in for a hard time, esp the children of Tom whose affair with his sister was apparently talk of the town by the time he moved out. Children are cruel - imagine that getting into school.

There was another thread about this earlier where I said I'm hesitant about getting involved in this debate but I have a very dear friend in a similar situation.
He was in foster care from a very young age and his mum went on to have a dd who stayed with her. They were reunited in their late teens and felt an "attraction" but didn't act on it, she is extremely beautiful which further complicates matters I think.
They have both had relationships with other people and had children (again with other people) but it's always there in the background so to speak.
He's a very troubled soul due to mainly to his childhood in care. When he has too much to drink he describes her as "the perfect woman", his girlfriends' are always jealous of the half sister, they somehow pick up on the "attraction" I think.
I agree its more of an issue for therapists than police!

I thought it was all a bit tragic, and I'm not sure that I think it's wrong (apart from the hurt that it caused their existing partners, obviously).

The Scottish brother and sister can't have kids, and they only met as adults. AFAIK the reason that incest is illegal is because of the risk to a child of being born with a genetic condition.

If there is no chance of them having children, and if the relationship started when they were both adults, is it really so wrong?

I didn't see the end of this programme - did it go to court? What happened to both couples?

I met my 2 older half brothers for the first time when I was 15 then again at 22 ( I only found ut they existed when I was 12) the younger one was the image of a young George Clooney and although I found him attractive I didn't fancy him because I was still aware we had the same father even though we didn't grow up together. I'm not watching the program btw so can't comment on it.

MrsMuddle - the lawyers of the Scottish couple tried to get the case droped as a 'victimless crime', it wasn't dropped, they got probation and are free to continue thier relationship as long as they don't have intercourse....

They didn't get a prison setence. They were allowed to live together again, but forbidden from having sex!

Definitely an area for therapists rather than police.

Ledodgy - goodness. It must be odd.

I think there was all sorts wrapped up in the couples they featured in the programme. Not just the 'half siblings brought up apart' but also the unhappiness and rootlessness of their childhoods - lots of references to being in care, difficult family situations.

I was glad the programme treated them calmly and with a 'listening ear' - not like the papers that 'interviewed' them.

They obviously are having sex, but if the law behaves like an ass, it will probably be treated like an ass.

I think on the whole Cutting Edge documentaries give a really balanced view and this one certainly did, not a hint of "sensationalism".

Thank you, Blu and Pink Champagne. That's the only reason I logged on tonight. I knew there would be a thread about this, and someone would be able to tell me what happened in the end.

Absolutely, Blu! Of course they are having sex!

It was odd Blu and we have lost touch now they were part of s different world and it was a world I didn't want my dcs seeing so when I got pregnant we lost tuched not that we were in regular touch anyway.

It's sad because my dad tried so hard to see them for years and went through hell but their mum was a nutter (they even say this) and they ended up having a terrible upbringing which reflects on their life now unfortunately. The older one lived with my mum and dad for a while when he was 16 (before I was born) but the police were constantly at the door.

It completley threw me when I was young I only found out because I found my mum and dad's wedding certificate that said 'previous marriage annulled' under my dad's name then I went rooting in the garage and found a ripped up letter from my dad to his eldest I saw the 'Love dad' bit and it came out in an argument with my mum who told me all about it. My dad didn't know I knew until his youngest turned up at the house one day and I told my dad who it was before he himself realised I knew because I had a dream the night before. Every time this brother would sporadically turn up over the next few years i'd dream it the night before! It was the first and only time I ever saw my dad cry, really shaking sobs.

The next time I saw them both was at my dad's funeral when I was 15 they came in the funeral car with us and then again at 22 at my mum's funeral they both loved my mum to bits as it turned out she'd been more of a mum to them than their own.

It did cross my mind at the time though that if I had never found out and they never turned up on the doorstep I may have met the younger one whilst out or something and even slept with him, unlikely but possible and worrying!

Ledodgy - that's an incredibel story.

i do think the thing about blood-sibling connectin is SO stong, and I thought when i was watching Cutting Edge that it was a real message to parents who try to deny or hide or prevent family knowledge, and keep half siblings from knowledge of each other. I know parents might want to deny access or knowledge of a child born with 'another woman', for example, but as your dreams show...and the chaos in the Cutting edge programme, there are things that just can't be surpressed.

I agree.