A Too Vague News Blurb on Incest Charge

Iowa should be commended for recognizing the right of same-sex couples to marry. It still needs to get with it when it comes to the rights of poly people. And it should be condemned for charging people with a crime for consensual sex, and still having laws that prevent people from exercising their rights simply because they are closely related.

I wish I had more information about this story.

A Rembrandt, Iowa, man has been charged with incest for allegedly having sexual contact with his adult daughter…The man was arrested Monday on the class D felony and booked into the Buena Vista County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $20,000 bond.

The article gives no indication that this was rape or sexual assault. It says “sexual contact” with another adult and the charge is “incest.” We know from other recent stories that all that has to happen is for someone other than the participants to find out and, thanks to bigotry or jealousy or even mandatory reporting laws, the authorities are informed and get involved, charging someone with a crime. The article doesn’t say that the other participant filed a complaint, and the authorities didn’t see fit to also charge the man with rape or sexual assault, so my guess is that this was a consensual sexual experience. If it was, it is embarrassing that Iowa would charge someone with a crime in this case.

Certainly, both the law and the media should have clear distinctions between rape and child molestation as opposed to consensual sex between adults. It is absurd something that can be consensual, private, and mutually enjoyable is a felony.