Would you marry your cousin?

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by UFOpsychiczebra

 

Although legal, and sometimes encouraged by some social classes and groups, is it wrong to marry your cousin? Would you marry your cousin if you loved them romantically? Or would you feel uncomfortable with the closeness of relations?

Depends...if you are talking first cousin...no. I wouldn't want any flipper grandkids.

Other cousins though...no biggie. I have a second cousin who's pretty cute

...but I'm married to my soulmate, so no dice.

I think if you looked it up, you'd be surprised how many people in history were married to their cousins, and not just royalty and nobles....

True...

But I really am not sure that inbreeding results in deformity...think about it.

Deformity is a result in cases where there is no close relation, so that cannot be the cause.

reply to post by ButterCookie


Check back through history. Those cases of maniacal leaders and mad despots? Inbreeding. You need a certain amount of generic diversity to avoid it, that's what a breeding population is all about when discussing any living being that reproduces sexually. Without that diversity, you can get genetic mistakes that can lead to retardation, mental issues, deformity, etc.

The "flipper grandkids" remark is actually from a show (That 70's show), where Eric (the lead dork guy) and the guys have the hots for his cousin (played by Jessica Simpson).

Originally posted by Gazrok
reply to post by ButterCookie

 

Check back through history. Those cases of maniacal leaders and mad despots? Inbreeding. You need a certain amount of generic diversity to avoid it, that's what a breeding population is all about when discussing any living being that reproduces sexually. Without that diversity, you can get genetic mistakes that can lead to retardation, mental issues, deformity, etc.

The "flipper grandkids" remark is actually from a show (That 70's show), where Eric (the lead dork guy) and the guys have the hots for his cousin (played by Jessica Simpson).

I believe that this is a common misunderstanding. It's the older generation, fretting constantly about sinful behavior, who suffer from amental illness. Even multiple generations of inbreeding doesn't produce mental illness, unless other genetic factors are present.

Yep, could be wrong...

Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is called inbreeding depression.

Originally posted by NovusOrdoMundi
reply to post by EverythingYouDespise

 

I wouldn't actively seek marriage with a relative like people in some families do, but I wouldn't close myself off to the possibility simply because its a relative.

[edit on 7/23/08 by NovusOrdoMundi]

That's a very good answer. But for me to close off the possibility wouldn't be too hard because all of my family on my mothers side is Amish. The chances of me falling in love with some random Amish woman is pretty slim.

On the other hand though, I know virtually nothing of my fathers side of my family. Say I met a woman tomorrow who knows equally as less about her family tree as I do mine, we eventually fall in love and get married and have kids. She eventually wants 4, but after the 2nd we find out that we're 1st cousins? What then? It's not out of the realm of possibility because just off the top of my head I'll say that only half of the people here even know who their first cousins are. Let alone 3rd or 4th.

There's something I've always been wondering but never had a chance to ask anyone 'till now. How many of you here who believe that having kids with a close family member leads to deformities and such also believe the story of Adam and Eve? If so, how do you explain such dissimilar beliefs? We're not talking 1st cousins here, we're talking brothers and sisters. We're also talking about how we think we are intellectually superior. If we are, how did that come about if we're the ultimate offspring of the ultimate example of inbreeding?

All of Gods children indeed.

Kudos to Buttercookie BTW for reviving this post last month.

Intresting stuff. A lot of people have given spontanious answers from the heart or off the cuff. Both "ew, ick" and "It's nobody's buisiness" are valid responses even if they don't reveal deep thought. Not everything requires it. But...
The discussion between Gazrok and ButterCookie addresses the meat of the matter, the point where our behavior affects the herd. ( I should point out here, when everyone realizes that I'm about to discuss genetics, that most or all of the 'nobody's buisiness' folks also brought up genetics.)
Here's how it breaks down. A group of genes that will result in sickle cell anemia, flippers, or blue eyes ( to name a few) are recessive. This genetic grouping must pair with a similar or identical grouping in order to produce sickle cell (or partial sickle cell) anemia, flippers (or those weird fingernails where the nail bed goes way out to the fingertip) or blue (or green) eyes.
The odds of that happening go up as you bind genes with those who share genes with you. Your parents and siblings share, on average, one half of your genetic material.

I just deleted some stuff about parent and sibling gene swapping because it was seriously off topic. Taupin Desciple, your comment was biblical and lighthearted. Mine was biblically fire and brimstonehearted.

So; parents and siblings=one half genetic similarity. Grandparents, half-siblings, 1st cousins=one quarter genetic similarity. Great-grandparents, second cousins=one eighth shared genetics.
At that one eighth level, geneticists aren't concerned. You just don't have that many recessive genes that'll put a blowhole on the back of your neck.

On the other hand, ButterCookie is entirely correct. Down's Syndrome, Fragile X , Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (to name a few) all have genetic components. Good luck avoiding these li'l bombshells by not doing your cousin.

reply to post by Vitruvius


Number 1: I starred you so I could pop your ATS cherry. You're welcome Honey.

Number 2: Quit drinking and posting, it doesn't become you.

Number 3: It took a half an hour to find you.........in a post I was in!!!! I'll pm you with some hints about a few things to help you out until you hit your 20th.

reply to post by Taupin Desciple


Thanks!!

I revived this thread because one night I was strolling through ATS, wondering if I was alone is how I was starting to feel about a cousin. While not explicitly sexual, I really enjoy our conversations and when we hang out, he sort of 'treats' me in a girlfriend like manner...

for example, he suggests nice, quiet places to talk and have drinks, ice cream or coffee....and when I go to his place to hang out (like watching movies or having debate) he will pour wine and I stay for hours until late at night....

again, nothing sexual or 'inappropriate goes on...its just that I find his intellectual side very stimulating, almost romantic.

What say you?

reply to post by ButterCookie


Actually, Taupin Desciple knows my habits, so his gentle chastisement of drunken posting was aimed at me. I notice you didn't deny it, though

I say follow your heart. The point I was so (in)elegantly trying to make was that genetic similarity, which introduces the potential for problems, drops off fairly quickly the less closely related you are.

If I may suggest; notice the way he smells. This is a warning system built in by evolution. If he doesn't wrinkle your nose, that's a green light.

Sure. You married your cousin anyway. If it's not done repeatedly over the generations there's little chance of problems. The hemophilia in the Russian royal family can be traced to multiple cousin marriages, for example. But the examplle above of the Tudors and Dubya? That's completely superficial. You, yes YOU are as close a cousin to the Tudors and Bush as they are to each other.

If you back 1,000 years, to, say 1066, the Battle of Hastings. That's 40 generations. That's also a trillion ancestors, 2^40. Obviously the population of the entire world in 1,000 AD was much less. Estimates say it was about 400 million. I actually have one line I've traced back that far, proving Prince Charles is my 20th cousin. Every once in awhile you come across a post where someone declares he is related to Charlamagne, who lived in 800 AD. Well, of course you are. We all are.

The funny thing is, we are ALL related to each other. It's not just Caucasians being related to Europeans. All it takes is one Marco Polo or one Dr. Livingstone to have progeny in a completely different area, and after a few generations every single member of that area will have a small part of Marco Polo's genes. It's a fact that anyone not directly from Africa today has Neanderthal genes.

It used to be the case in Italy, for example, that you could tell where someone weas from just by looking at them. There was such a thing as a "Florentine" face. Since Italy was then a bunch of small city states that tended to stay within themselves, traits began to emerge that were specific to each state.

Today the chances of that happening are slim because people have access to travel and different cultures so easily. In parts of the West Coast of the US, for example, the differences between Asian and Caucasian have all but disappeared. The long-established presence of Asians on the West Coast, plus an influx of war brides from WW II through Vietnam plus the widespread acceptance of such unions means we're into the fourth or even fifth generation of inter-marriage to the point that it ceases to make much of a difference.

So "marrying your cousin," including your first cousin, isn't going to make much of a difference these days because it won't continue generation after generation. It just makes it easier for the grandparents to keep track of the grandkids.

And the fact is you're as much a cousin to George Bush as any British royalty. Get over it.

"Would you marry your cousin?"

Nope. He's not my type. 2 too many testicles.

reply to post by ButterCookie


I say keep doing what you're doing and you'll find out what it feels like to have sex with your cousin.

This is one of those topics I don't really have any strong convictions about because I'm never going to be faced with this situation, so I'm not going to judge.

But as the old saying goes, and it really is an old saying, "If you go to the barbershop long enough you'll end up getting a haircut."

( I swear to God I don't make this stuff up)