Here’s the question you’ve no doubt been wondering about
So, what about the sex lives of cojoined twins?
Lest you think I’m just being frivolous and/or sensationalistic, the topic raises perplexing issues of identity and perception. With cojoined twins such as Chang and Eng Bunker, the original “Siamese” twins, who had separate bodies joined at their intact livers and with a small bit of extra cartilage, their sex lives would probably have been more like having a constant witness. But that ever-present spectator would be a person so psychologically close that non-cojoined non-twins can’t even begin to imagine the relationship, except to say that everything—toileting, sleep, walking, going to the movies—would have been occurring in the company of the other person since birth.
The Bunker twins could have been easily separated these days, with modern surgical techniques. Those cojoined twins who remain joined today are much more inextricably entwined. Modern twins such as Abby and Britanny Hensel (subjects of a recent TLC TV show), who have two upper bodies and one lower, face a very different situation. Quite obviously (unless there’s something I’m missing), sharing a single lower body would mean that each twin would physiologically participate in each act of sex.
But the mind is an amazing thing. Any cojoined twins would have to have had almost no notion of privacy throughout their entire lives—or rather, perhaps, an exquisitely attuned and highly developed sense of privacy that involves remaining separate psychologically while being in each other’s constant company, a delicacy and discretion born of extreme necessity. And to twins cojoined in the particular manner of Abby and Britanny, sex would present only a specialized subset of a conundrum the twins had been forced to deal with long ago.
It’s their partner[s] who might have more difficulty growing accustomed to the situation, rather than the twins themselves. The legal system might have a bit of difficulty with it, too: who would actually be married to whom? For example, would any marriage to the Hensels be defined by necessity as bigamy? And would they both be the legal mothers of any child? To the Hensel twins—who have surmounted so many difficulties so far, with such overwhelming psychological health—it probably all seems like small potatoes.
This was actually somewhat referred to in the 1932 movie “Freaks” (an amazing movie).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/
I have wondered the same thing since first learning of the Hensel twins. They were little girls then. Now they’re young women who intend to have families. What next?
Cartoonist Charles Rodrigues did an absolutely hilarious strip in National Lampoon called “The Aesop Brothers” about a pair of conjoined fraternal twins (they looked nothing alike) who were private investigators. The one on the left never learned to drive, which made things awkward sometimes. It was a great strip.
This was dealt with in the novel “The Girls”, by Lori Lansens, where (spoiler alert?) one of the twins actually has a baby.
I’ve never given it much thought, but I don’t think the topic “defies imagination”, like the Atlantic by-line says. I doubt I’ll read the entire thing, but I suspect that’s a bit of hyperbole on the part of the editors, to make the individual readers feel better about themselves, in comparison to all the prudish rubes.
I recently read that Chang and Eng married sisters who didn’t get along. They bought two houses next to one another, one for each wife, and the husband(s) alternated between the two. Marrying sisters was probably the best solution to the lack of privacy issue.
I saw one episode of Abby and Brittany, and I was struck by their cheerfulness and optimism. Maybe one of our resident physicians will comment, but I’m guessing that only one brain would be connected to the spinal chord and would control the nervous system and feel the sensations of the lower body.
I tend to brood about relatively minor issues in my life, and I have no end of admiration for people who deal with things like this and remain happy people.
LisaM: I do not think that’s correct. For example, each controls one leg. They had to learn to coordinate both legs to walk, but they do it very well, and play sports, too.
I think Cheng and Eng were separated when one of the brothers died. However the shock killed the other one.
Sometimes, Landlord, I think you plant this type thread just to give Artie something occupy his’self. (-: Hey…just sayin’..
Why would they want sex when they could vote for Obama twice?
Re: the Henzel twins. The show implied they have separate DNA. Therefore, their egg’s will be coded from one or the other of them. If I were they, I’d almost not want to know who.
My takeaway from the show was: If they don’t feel sorry for themselves, why should anyone else.