Sleeping with my Sister
Nick and Danielle
Nick and Danielle
Nick (27) and Danielle (22) are half brother and sister, but grew up apart on opposite sides of Scotland. They have the same mother, but Nick had been fostered since the age of one. When he was reunited with his married half-sister years later the connection between them was instant. But tickle-fights and heart-to-hearts soon became something much more. Within three weeks of meeting, they had begun a secret sexual relationship.
But the secret didn't last long. After their mother walked in and found them together, Nick and Danielle were reported to the police – and charged with incest, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Forbidden love
The documentary follows Nick and Danielle as they come to terms with their forbidden love, and wait to find out what the legal price will be. Disowned by family and friends, it's a love that troubles them too, throwing up a range of emotions for the couple. "You're making love to your little sister you think 'Pardon? What's going on here?" explains Nick. "But there was such an intensity of feeling it felt very natural. It didn't feel wrong. Confusing? Yes. Wrong? No."
Genetic Sexual Attraction
Nick thinks he's found what is at the heart of this intensity of feeling – a phenomenon known as Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA). GSA describes the attraction that can occur between close family members who have grown-up apart. It can happen between parent and adult child, as well as between siblings. While most people don't act on these feelings at its most extreme, GSA leads to one of society's last social taboos: incest.
Prosecution
On his search to understand his feelings, and research his defence for the court case, Nick meets Dr Maurice Greenberg, one of just a handful of experts on GSA. To Dr Greenberg, Nick is a typical example of someone experiencing GSA; and Greenberg suggests that in cases such as Nick's it doesn't help the matter when a couple are prosecuted. But the due legal process in which Nick and Danielle are embroiled is to continue for many months.