Cousins Marry

[MrRant]

Let them get married. Who gives a fuck?

The Gene Pool needs to not get any more cloudy.

[The Czech Republic]

[Edwin MacPhisto]

But it's okay--they might not be biological cousins!

[C Dubya 04]

I've always said, it's Philadelphia & Pittsburgh with Alabama in the middle. Now I have proof. Long live Pennsyltucky.

[Black Lushus]

when did TSA start dating white guys?

 

I'm heartbroken...

[Gary Floyd]

I'm going to reffer to a part of my SmartMarks name and point out that this whole thing feels oddly like a part of one of my favorite H.P. Lovecraft stories, "The Lurking Fear."

 

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding?

[The Czech Republic]

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding.

That's no urban legend, that's the British royal family.

[Gary Floyd]

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding.

That's no urban legend, that's the British royal family.

Well of course there's that. I mean Urban Legends in the Northwest. You know, in New England states. I think I've heard a few. Then of course, there's the Swany Bean family, but that's a true story.

[Placebo Effect]

From the Two Percent Company website.

 

That brings us to incest. We know this might surprise some — but we fully support the legalization of incest.

 

Let's clarify that: while we have no desire to marry our relatives — just as we have no desire to enter into a homosexual marriage (because we're not gay) or a pluralistic marriage (because we're not interested) — we fully support the rights of any individuals who wish to marry consenting relatives of legal age.

 

Again, it comes down to finding a logical, rational reason why this should be disallowed — a reason that cannot be similarly applied to any already "mainstream" form of marriage. And again, the usual suspects crop up: abuse, coercion, marrying minors. These are all problems that can develop in any marriage. The bonus question for incest is, of course, the supposedly increased chance of birth defects. However, while the odds of congenital defects do increase in inverse proportion to the genetic distance between the two parents, there is also a higher risk of, say, Down syndrome in cases where both parents have Down syndrome — but we would (we hope!) consider it abhorrent to legally forbid a couple to wed simply because they both have Down syndrome. For that matter, we also have evidence that congenital defects, including Down syndrome, are more likely to occur when older women give birth...and nobody is lining up to pass legislation to prevent women over the age of 35 from getting married.

 

So yet again, it comes down to the fact that any abuses that might result from legalizing incestuous marriage can already occur in non-incestuous marriages. As a result, we can't find a valid argument against it.

 

And from the Straight Dope.

 

First-cousin marriage isn't a surefire recipe for congenital defects. True, marriage among close kin can increase the chance of pathological recessive genes meeting up in some unlucky individual, with dire consequences. The problem isn't cousin marriage per se, however, but rather how many such genes are floating around in the family pool. If the pool's pretty clean, the likelihood of genetic defects resulting from cousin marriage is low. A recent review (Bennett et al, Journal of Genetic Counseling, 2002) says that, on average, offspring of first-cousin unions have a 2 to 3 percent greater risk of birth defects than the general population, and a little over 4 percent greater risk of early death. While those margins aren't trivial, genetic testing and counseling can minimize the danger. An argument can be made that marriages of first cousins descended from strong stock can produce exceptional children. Charles Darwin, for example, married his first cousin Emma, which wasn't at all unusual in their prominent and successful family--their common grandparents were cousins too. Three of Charles and Emma's ten kids died in childhood, it's true, but that was standard for Victorian England; the others went on to productive and in some cases distinguished careers.

 

I'd never do it myself, but it should be legal.

[Guest Cerebus]

The Straight Dope is straight shit.

 

There are more than a few studies that show that consanginious marriages are detremental to the gene pool of a community especially over time. By the way, the chance a baby will get fetal alcohol syndrome if the mother is a heavy drinker is 6%. I guess that means we shouldn't discourage women to drink while they're pregnant either.

[Vyce]

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding.

That's no urban legend, that's the British royal family.

Well of course there's that. I mean Urban Legends in the Northwest. You know, in New England states. I think I've heard a few. Then of course, there's the Swany Bean family, but that's a true story.

Off topic, but if you enjoy the Sawny Bean myth, I suggest reading Harlan Ellison's wonderful "She's a Poor Young Thing, And Can Not Leave Her Mother", from his Slippage collection.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

My cousins are bumping uglies. And they have been for 5 years. I kid you not. Thankfully they are like 5th or 6th cousins.

[LessonInMachismo]

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding.

That's no urban legend, that's the British royal family.

"The royal bloodline isn't what it used to be. Too much inter-marrying, I suppose. I always say when you reduce a family tree to a family bush, you just can't hide as much beneath it!"-Centauri Minister

[Special K]

5th or 6th cousins? Who gives a flying fuck? The probablity they have the same recessive genes is pretty minute. Of course there's the moral issue. My Great Grandfather fucked your great-great aunt. The Horror!

[The Czech Republic]

I had a crush on my lesbian cousin. Then I saw her watching porn, and she caught me and invited me to watch with her. Then we got in bed and watched lesbian porn together. It was very comforting.

[MrRant]

Ripping off a banned man's gimmick now Czech?

[iggymcfly]

Yeah, I remember reading that story in LSD as well.

 

As for the marriage between cousins debate, as a libertarian, I can't really oppose it. If they want to marry, it should be their choice. It's just the fact that it's so disgusting and abhorrent should keep them from wanting to in the first place.

 

And good lord, that was the woman that made him want to cross the familial line? There wasn't one piece of trailer trash in the county he could find that was better looking than that piece of shit? Good god. I've seen punching bags that were less beat up.

[The Czech Republic]

Ripping off a banned man's gimmick now Czech?

Choken One may be gone, but his Shadow looms over TSM forever.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Oooh, cryptic.

[Placebo Effect]

The Straight Dope is straight shit.

 

There are more than a few studies that show that consanginious marriages are detremental to the gene pool of a community especially over time. By the way, the chance a baby will get fetal alcohol syndrome if the mother is a heavy drinker is 6%. I guess that means we shouldn't discourage women to drink while they're pregnant either.

Discourage? Yes.

 

Illegal? Absolutely not.

[Gary Floyd]

Also, aren't there Urban Legends about large families deformed by generations of inbreeding.

That's no urban legend, that's the British royal family.

Well of course there's that. I mean Urban Legends in the Northwest. You know, in New England states. I think I've heard a few. Then of course, there's the Swany Bean family, but that's a true story.

Off topic, but if you enjoy the Sawny Bean myth, I suggest reading Harlan Ellison's wonderful "She's a Poor Young Thing, And Can Not Leave Her Mother", from his Slippage collection.

Also, in the "Children of Cthulhu" anthologgy, which collects a series of modern HP Lovecraft stories, there's a great story from John Pelan called "That's the Story of my Life", which deals with the Seany Bean clan.

[Vyce]

"Old School" John Pelan? I'll have to pick up that anthology at the library.

[Gary Floyd]

"Old School" John Pelan?  I'll have to pick up that anthology at the library.

John does alot of writing in the Horror relm. You should read his books with Edward Lee, including "Goon" (if you can find it) which is set in the Indy Wrestling circut.

 

As for "Children of Cthulhu", there's plenty of interesting stories in it, from Richard Laymon to Poppy Z. Brite (who I normaly don't care for.)