News

What would cause a mother and son to fall in love?

Social media burst with outrage over the story of a 19-year-old and his mother fighting for their relationship amid charges of incest.

The pair reunited years after Monica Mares put her son, Caleb Peterson, up for adoption.

>> READ MORE: Woman, 19-year-old son fall in love, fight for relationship amid legal charges

As they fight legal challenges that could put them in jail for up to 18 months, Mares and Peterson want to raise awareness for Genetic Sexual Attraction.

So what is this form of attraction that prompts sexual attraction between close relatives?

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential writes Genetic Sexual Attraction is:

Experienced between mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and between more distant relatives, but most common between siblings of opposite sex who bear a close resemblance. It takes the form of an overpowering, almost electrical grip of emotion, associated with an inability to keep away from the other person and an almost primordial sense of having belonged together all their lives. The attraction gives rise to a sense of underlying shame and guilt, together with a feeling of rejection that may prevent effective communication because the emotions are too threatening to share with anyone. This may be compounded by any sexual relationship resulting from the attraction.

Adoption rights advocates write about GSA being a frequently noted response to reunion. Family members experiencing GSA might feel the need to touch, spend time together, talk and share.

Those feelings are prompted by having similar characteristics to a person, feeling more comfortable with those similarities and the subconscious memory of a family member’s smell causing a physical reaction.

The turn to a sexual desire turns genetic attraction to genetic sexual attraction.

Experts recommend giving feelings time to settle back into a proper context and seeking counseling from experienced adoption therapists.

0