marrying cousins

[ramalamadingdonk]

I do think it should be illegal to try and prevent birth defects etc. my grandparents were first cousins. it was well known in our family and the community. it wasn't a huge scandal. they were born in the 20s. was it so unheard of??

If you want to make it illegal because of the risk of birth defects surely that should mean it can stay legal for same sex couples? Or infertile people? Or women who are post menopausal?

I will say I do believe it should be illegal though...I can't believe it's allowed quite frankly

I put that in as a disclaimer really as I didn't want people to think my post was in support of it.

I hadn't thought about the logic then for same sex couples or infertile people. but yes, I suppose I wouldn't have any objections in that case

on what grounds do you object, it not to protect the potential children from the effects of inbreeding?

The thing is if you ban it due to birth defects you have to ban it for everyone....you can't actually say it's just illegal for fertile heterosexual couples. So yes, you'd have to ban it for all. I will concede I don't understand the cultural aspects...

Were there any issues out of interest? I watching Victoria on Netflix. Queen Victoria and Albert were first cousins.

nope, no one has any genetic issues. they had 10 children and we are 20 cousins. everyone quite healthy barring long term effects of child hood illnesses, that are now vaccinated against

we are white British. I know it is being talked about in terms of it being an Asian/Muslim issue. but I'm pretty sure it wasn't uncommon in White British culture just 1 or 2 generations ago? as a previous poster alluded to I think there has been a fair bit of interbreeding in the upper and ruling classes?

what is the basis for the ban then, if not genetic??

I disagree though, if you are banning it for birth defects reasons then it makes sense that only applies to fertile heterosexual couples

It should be banned, apart from the birth defects and inbreeding (which is bad enough) it is morally repugnant.

I'm pretty sure that the 'repugnance' grew from the birth defects issues

Why?

I understand the medical reasons, in the case of offspring, for a ban but "morally repugnant"? That seems extremely arbitrary.

I'm not a fan, especially if children who are from first cousin marriages then grow up and marry within that same genetic pool. We know it significantly increases the chance of genetic illnesses being expressed (because there is a much higher chance of a baby inheriting two copies of a faulty gene), leading in some cases to serious illnesses, disability and early death.

I watched the documentary 'When Cousins Marry' some years ago and it made a big impact on me. It's available on Netflix.

I think a “one off” marriage between cousins might not be too detrimental but if it is continued throughout generations of a family with cousins continuing to marry cousins then the inbreeding causes genetic mutations, so yes, I think there needs to be a limit.

My great grandparents were first cousins, they also had 10 children without any issues. It was a bit of a shock discovering it whilst researching ancestry but I guess I imagined they lived in a small community and less opportunity for travel and relocation or some such. Without getting out the records to check I think this was in the 1910s.

It wasn't anything I recall my grandmother or mother mentioning so I wonder if there was a stigma attached to it, or the opposite and they thought it an unimportant detail.

I don't think banning marriage is the right way to go. Astonishingly some babies manage to be conceived outside of marriage............
If it is a genuine concern then it would make more sense to widen incest laws to include first cousins.

"Morally repugnant" is so subjective though. That's the same thought process that would see homosexuality legislated against. It's not how we legislate in this country thank goodness.

My friend’s parents are first cousins. I never thought it odd, it was just that they were the only ones I know of. They’re both in their mid 70’s now (so born early 50’s). No issues whatsoever with the health of any of their 4 kids.

where do you stand on same sex cousins getting married then, or infertile couples?? I hadn't even considered that before @Comedycook raised it

this makes sense doesn't it. in the space of 10 posts, I have totally changed my mind! 😁

Should absolutely be illegal.

I don't necessarily think it should be banned, but there are issues with it even beyond birth defects. I know people trapped in unhappy cousin marriages as the fall out of divorce would be so much greater than if their families weren't related. I also know of some very happy cousin marriages, with healthy children.

A girl I was at school with (1980s) married her cousin and they have two lovely kids.

I also worked with someone who married her cousin - they hadn't seen each other since they were kids when they met up in their 20s. They didn't have kids together.

It's always happened. It just seems to be another 'Starmer is a Muslim lover' twitter frenzy for some though.

It should be illegal. Because it's weird and also causes genetic issues
This is one of those issues we don't seem to be comfortable discussing but you do see it's effects if you work in health care

Children of first cousin marriage will be fine in almost all cases. The rate of birth defects is very very low. However the problem is within communities where first cousin marriage is common, you have several generations of the same family marrying first cousins, so the children end up with defects at a rate of much closer relationship reproduction. Cousins end up sharing a similar level of DNA as siblings or parent/child.

Yes it should be about genetic abnormalities, rather than morality and it shouldn’t be about marriage, it should be about sex and reproduction, because what will happen is people will end up having religious ceremonies rather than legal marriage, with the women ending up with even less rights and children suffering all the same.

what is the reason for your opinion?