The Hensel Twins, Abigail and Brittany, And Their Very Unique Situation!

[MrrrrrNiceGuy]

Has anyone ever heard of the Hensel twins, Abigail and Brittany? Well, I just watched a 1-hour documentary about them on the Learning Channel last night and it was very very interesting and amazing to say the least.

Abigail and Brittany Hensel are currently 2 16-year-old female healthy identical twins. But these twins are far from ordinary. They have an extremely rare condition known as Polycephaly; this a rare type of conjoined twins. They have 2 heads (2 brains), which makes each of them individuals, but they share one body. Hmmm.

CLICK HERE for an interesting article about them and to see some pictures.

Now make no mistake, I am not making fun of these twins. I actually think that their story is very inspiring. These twins have so much to teach others about individuality, unity, love, cooperation and coordination. How they manage to live normal healthy lives is completely beyond me and there are some things that these twins know about themselves that others would never understand.

The documentary I saw yesterday raises so many more questions about these twins then it answers. Especially, when it comes to the future of these twins. The foremost questions in my mind are:

1. How are they are going to handle such issues as dating, relationships, marriage, having sex and having children.
2. How do you deal with bad behavior, discipline, crime & punishment ( not to say that these twins would ever misbehave )
3. How about college education and employment; should they both get one paycheck or two, one bank account or two?

Obviously, there are some moral and ethical concerns with answering any questions about the future of these Siamese twins and I am sure that this will be the subject of much debate.

Well, that's all the questions I can think of for now. You may be able to think of some more and find something else to debate about.

Cheers to the Hensel twins and their future! May God bless them! We should all pray for them!

INTERESTING FACT: These twins just recently got their driver's licenses and they are somehow able coordinate themselves while driving a vehicle! Uhh... Watch the roads, everyone! Umm, I mean... Amazing! Simply amazing!

 

[jayem]

Very interesting.

Biologically, they should be considered two separate persons. Not unlike any other set of indentical twins, just that the fertilized egg didn't divide completely. The article says they have different tastes in some things, and each has apparently independent control over her side of the body.

I'd supsect that for legal purpose, they are two persons. I assume each has her own SS number, and it sounds like they have 2 driver's licenses. They'd have to work out an arrangement with any employer, but there's no reason they couldn't do 2 separate jobs (may have to be part time for each job.) Two separate paychecks, two separate tax returns, etc.

Ideally, each sister would meet a guy who understands and accepts their situation. The Bunker twins married two sisters, and lived alternately in 2 separate houses. So Abigail could marry one guy, and Brittany another. They spend half their time with one husband, and half with the other. And each could have children by their husbands. Not your usual domestic arrangement, but why not? Obviously, these girls have to make adjustments in life, and hopefully, they can find partners who are willing to do the same. We should wish them the best.

 

[Texas Lynn]

Interesting, and thanks. It appears this is not so much a set of "conjoined" twins from the waist down, or was there rudimentary lower body parts somewhere? It's more like a two-headed person with double stuff at top but not at bottom.

This is certainly not a very common thing. The Lone Star Hall of Horns Museum in San Antonio includes a two-headed calf which I suspect is the same sort of developmental variation.

Obviously separation is not possible in the usual sense unless a robotic lower half for one is developed, and even then they might not want it.

As the the questions, certainly the two heads are individuals but how they interact can be complex. I'm sure they're families and friends figure it out as they go along and that's okay.

For punishment it seems kind of begging the question to ask "all right, which one of you did it?" Spank one, and you spank them both-only one butt. I'm sure it can lead to some unique situations.

I don't get why this is in E&M.

How do we respond to the person(s) and the family? With love and acceptance I guess. Why not?

Interesting though, how about sex and marriage when and if they make it to adulthood? One husband or two? You could blindfold one head when the other's having sex, but it seems kind of beside the point. Does it prove the limitations of using the pronouncements of shamans of an ancient bronze age tribe to decide on things like marriage and sex? Well, duh.

BTW, the Old Testament patriarchs, like ancient cultures everywhere, would have simply killed such a person(s) at birth. As in most areas, we've moved beyond their primitive notions of morality in that area.

 

[MrrrrrNiceGuy]

Interesting though, how about sex and marriage when and if they make it to adulthood? One husband or two? You could blindfold one head when the other's having sex, but it seems kind of beside the point. Does it prove the limitations of using the pronouncements of shamans of an ancient bronze age tribe to decide on things like marriage and sex? Well, duh.

Blindfolding may only solve half the problem, as these girls both share one reproductive system and therefore the same genitalia; they also have a partially shared nervous system. Does that mean that if a man were to stimulate that particular area of their body that both girls would feel pleasure from it? How could this be ethical if that man were only married to just one of the twins?

Makes you think, doesn't it?

 

[Texas Lynn]

Blindfolding may only solve half the problem, as these girls both share one reproductive system and therefore the same genitalia; they also have a partially shared nervous system. Does that mean that if a man were to stimulate that particular area of their body that both girls would feel pleasure from it? How could this be ethical if that man were only married to just one of the twins?

Makes you think, doesn't it?

Yah, I gathered that. Like I said the ancients would have just killed them and blamed demons or somebody.

[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] occurs at the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] but would theoretically be experienced by both heads.

 

[MrrrrrNiceGuy]

Yah, I gathered that. Like I said the ancients would have just killed them and blamed demons or somebody.

[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] occurs at the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] but would theoretically be experienced by both threads.

Of course, I may have just thought of a compromise:

Let's say that it were possible to use some sort of medication to knock one of the twins out cold (that is, putting her into a deep sleep), but allowing the other twin to stay wide awake during sex. That would mean that the twin that is fast asleep wouldn't feel anything nor remember anything, and the twin that is wide awake would feel everything and remember everything. This would also eliminate the need for a blindfold. However, the downside to this is that since each twin only controls half of their body, with one twin asleep and the other awake, achieving certain sexual positions could become difficult if not impossible.

But this a medical paradox for the Hensel twins as both share the same circulatory system, so any medication given to them affects both twins and not just one of them. But if it were somehow still possible to find a way to do this through medical science. You get my drift.

 

[flicka]

I saw tv show about them last night! It's amazing what they have been able to do. I think if they choose to pursue relationships and sex they will be able to handle it because they have been able to handle everything else up to this point and really don't have anything else to compare it with. Sex won't be a problem for them even though some of us might think there should be. Ethics be damned, it just goes to show that nothing is as black and white as we think!!

 

[Texas Lynn]

Of course, I may have just thought of a compromise:

Let's say that it were possible to use some sort of medication to knock one of the twins out cold (that is, putting her into a deep sleep), but allowing the other twin to stay wide awake during sex. That would mean that the twin that is fast asleep wouldn't feel anything nor remember anything, and the twin that is wide awake would feel everything and remember everything. This would also eliminate the need for a blindfold. However, the downside to this is that since each twin only controls half of their body, with one twin asleep and the other awake, achieving certain sexual positions could become difficult if not impossible.

But this a medical paradox for the Hensel twins as both share the same circulatory system, so any medication given to them affects both twins and not just one of them. But if it were somehow still possible to find a way to do this through medical science. You get my drift.

The original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, married two sisters in Mount Airy, North Carolina, (more recently known as the home of Andy Griffith upon which "Mayberry" was based) and they lived with one for a week and then the other and so forth. Of course they were not like these 2 girls at all-they probably could have been surgically separated today. National Geographic recently ran an article on all the Chang and Eng descendants in Mount Airy.

 

[billwald]

100 years ago Chang and Eng had the same problem. They got along and I think both married.

 

[HeyJupiter]

I think its disrespectful to be saying they are like one person with 2 heads. They have always said they are 2 different people


They actually COULD be seperated, but they would be in wheelchairs if that were to happen

 

[CCGirl]

I watched this last night with my daughter!! It was fascinating and they are both terrific young women. I wondered too about discipline, and dating, and sex, because yes, they are 2 seperate people, but from the neck down, it is one body. Sex? I wonder too, and if they get pregnant, whose child is it?

 

[mahalia]

wow, if we're so worried about them, imagine what they must worry about everyday??? i mean, i'm a 90's baby too and i know how much i stress about stuff...

 

[ChrisCountryGirl]

I enjoy reading/watching interesting medical stories

 

[The Nihilist]

I don't think it's realistic for the two girls to try to lead separate lives. They can't work separate jobs, and they can't date different men. They can't really have different driver's licences, because both legs and both arms are needed for driving. One can't go to prison and the other not. Of course they have two different identities, but they absolutely share the same body, and I think it's pretending to think that this is anything else. Besides, if you married one of them, and another guy married the other, who would you feel sleeping with him in the bed? How would you feel when he and they were in the bed and not sleeping?

 

[Mling]

I know of other siamese twins who do lead seperate lives (they are joined at the skull). One dates, the other is more of a loner, so she reads or something during the other's date. They shower seperately.
I saw a documentary on these girls a few years ago, and their mother mentioned that they do sometimes develop seperate groups of friends--she'll see a boy talking (she sort of implied flirting) with one or the other, but not both.

I suspect that living separate lives would be one of those things that looks impossible from the outside, but doesn't seem that weird or difficult if it's all you've ever known. You would need some extremely accepting and open-minded husbands.

I don't know how something like prison would be handled, but, for these particular girls it seems like a moot point. Don't they each control the hand on their side of the body, and not the other? Sure, one couldn't be sent to prison without the other, but it would be very difficult for one to commit a crime without the other's collaboration. Almost impossible for one to commit a crime without the other assisting in some way, or at least going along with it and helping to cover it up.

The only way I could think of doing it would be if one of them was the "brains" behind a crime, and organized it over the phone while the other twin was asleep. Don't know what our justice system would do in that case.

 

[MrrrrrNiceGuy]

I don't know how something like prison would be handled, but, for these particular girls it seems like a moot point. Don't they each control the hand on their side of the body, and not the other? Sure, one couldn't be sent to prison without the other, but it would be very difficult for one to commit a crime without the other's collaboration. Almost impossible for one to commit a crime without the other assisting in some way, or at least going along with it and helping to cover it up.

The only way I could think of doing it would be if one of them was the "brains" behind a crime, and organized it over the phone while the other twin was asleep. Don't know what our justice system would do in that case.

Of course, committing a crime doesn't have to involve doing something. Sometimes just what you say can get you into trouble, as if there are suppose to be limitations on freedom of speech.

Anyways, I was thinking, what about on the job? If both twins were technically doing the same job and one of them mouthed off at the boss and got fired, then I guess that means the boss would just have to fire them both!

 

[mahalia]

.

Anyways, I was thinking, what about on the job? If both twins were technically doing the same job and one of them mouthed off at the boss and got fired, then I guess that means the boss would just have to fire them both!

ya lol... but they could report him at a trade union, yay!