Swiss government is considering legalizing sex between family members

[binary solo]

Hmmm, I wonder how much actual consent there's gonna be between a 40-year old dad and 16 year old son/daughter, 24 year old and 16 year old siblings.

Not that I think it's gonna suddenly become rampant, but I think it's gonna make it easier for abusers to keep their abusing hidden, and even when it does come before the courts they'll protest that it was consensual. At least making parent-child and sibling sex statutorily illegal ensures the consent argument can never be used as a defence in abuse cases.

Anyway decriminalsation isn't the same as legalisation. I haven't watched the vidoe, but there's a pretty important distinction. Legalisation means that the state views it as a perfectly acceptable behaviour, well maybe not perfectly. decriminialisation only means the state won't prosecute or throw you in prison, but it's not regarded as acceptable behaviour. Like if protitution is decriminalised it means no one's gonna get a criminal record for engaging in prostitution, but you can't legally open a brothel. Whereas legalisation of prostitution means brothels are legitimate businesses and you can open one in your local neighbourhood.

Decriminalising incest would mean you can't legalise or contractualise the incestuous relationship, i.e. no marriage (or marriage equivalent). But problems will arise in those contexts if the 2 people effectively set themselves up in a pseudo-marital arrangement and then subsequently split up. If matrimonial property laws don't apply because the relationships have no recognised legal status then someone's gonna lose out big time (usually the younger/female partner in the relationship).

That's the problem with regarding sex as simply a recreational activity. In a lot of contexts it is (prostitution), but when it's brought into an existing established relationship, esp a familial one, it's much more than just a recreational activity and unless there is appropriate laws to protect the vulnerable party then there can be a lot of problems as a result.

Better to keep it criminal, and simply make enforcement a discretionary decision, pretty much limited to cases of abuse.