1st cousin marriage

[Wiseplumnet]

AIBU to ask your opinion on 1st cousin marriage?.I have read that the government is looking to ban it. I know it is more prevelent ( but declining) in the UK among people of Asian origin. I am not coming from a judgemental or racist angle. I am just interested to know how mum'snetters of all ethnicities feel about marriage between 1st cousin's. I know it used to be more common in the west at one time, apart from keeping money/property in families, people travelled less widely, so there was less choice of marriage partners.I worked with a girl ( White British) who was in a secret relationship with her 1st cousin and they are very reluctant to tell their family, so there seems to be a cultural taboo in 1st cousins being romantically involved.Genetic factors resulting in disabilities (statistically twice as many as in unrelated parents) is sometimes given as a reason for banning cousin marriage, however we have genetic screening now, and disabilities aren't always serious.As so many babies died in infancy before we had vaccines, better health care etc , it was probably difficult to differentiate whether the close relationship between parents was the cause of any disabilities their children . Speaking for myself,I can't imagine wanting to marry any of the cousins I was brought up with as they seem more like brothers to me, but I could understand why someone may be attracted to a 1st cousin who they first met as adults. Or does it give you the instant 'Yuk' ? Also is banning 1st cousin marriage the same as banning 1st cousin sexual relationships and children, or would that become illegal? Maybe there's no need for a legal ban as the tradition will just die out over time

But having that first drink is a choice? Now we know that the WHO has said no level of alcohol is acceptable?

Sure there are still sibling relationships going on they just don’t get married, how would you track these people down?

@sweetpickle2 It makes no difference whoever does it; the fact remains that statistically offspring are more likely to unwell as a direct result.

Aside from Queen Victoria who else married their first cousin in the direct royal family line?

@Catpuss66 The major difference being sibling marriage is of course illegal but first cousin marriage currently isn't.

Queen Victoria married Albert in 1840.... that's basically 200 years ago...

I'm surprised that Victoria's marriage is getting used to justify cousin marriage in this day and age....

What else do we want to bring back from 1840? Slavery? Women not getting the vote?

Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, married his first cousin.

Now that was a surprise.

@nomas You really would have thought he'd have known better?!!

Darwin married his cousin in 1839....

I'm really not understanding why Victoria and Darwin marrying cousins 2 centuries ago justifies modern cousin marriage....

It's basically incest.

Stopping alcohol can kill an alcoholic just as much as drinking it. That puts it in the same category as other chronic illnesses where the body becomes dependent on a substance or behaviour.

Diabetes caused by lifestyle, COPD caused by smoking, liver disease caused by diet, and heart disease caused by long‑term habits are all legally and medically recognised illnesses.

They’re “self‑inflicted” in the sense that behaviour contributed to them, but the law still treats them as medical conditions because once the illness exists, the person cannot simply “choose” their way out of it.

Alcohol dependence works the same way. The body adapts to alcohol to the point where stopping without medical supervision can cause seizures, delirium and death.

That’s why the legal system classifies it as an illness: it has a recognised pathology, predictable risks, and requires clinical management.

Courts and employers don’t care about moral opinions; they follow medical definitions. If the law recognises diabetes caused by lifestyle or lung disease caused by smoking as illnesses, then alcohol dependence — which can kill you both through use and withdrawal — sits firmly in the same category.

What has that got to do with the royal family? The PP said it had been happening for generations on the royal family - I can’t see any evidence of this

i am sure the odd other person did so also but it was rare

It was just a comment 😳

🤣

Yes it absolutely should be banned

we only have to look at the high level of generational first cousin marriages and high levels of disabilities to know that it’s not the right choice

some people need laws to correct their poor choices

I think incest is pretty gross and there's a higher chance of disabled offspring so im all up for the ban 😊

There were two first cousin marriages in my Mum's family a couple of generations back.

The first couple vowed not to have children as part of being allowed to marry. (They did not have children). The second couple married in their early 50s.

The question here is whether you would allow this. Or allow first cousin marriages in gay couples.

One of the arguments against this is not just about children - it's also about how domestic abuse within a cousin marriage can be harder to escape because the extended family who you might rely on for such support, has divided loyalties. In some families one of the reasons for the cousin marriage is about protecting financial assets too (the European Royal families were a good example of this until fairly recently).

We shouldn't forget this aspect of the arguments but as I said previously, banning cousin marriage wouldn't stop children born to unions of cousins because lots of people don't legally marry for a variety of reasons.

I agree with it needing to be banned for the reasons mentioned. I worked as a SEN assistant in a primary school with around 90% Muslim kids and the ramifications of the suffering of so many of the kids was heartbreaking to see. Children who were blind, had brittle bone disease, profound autism, global developmental delay, undiagnosed genetic conditions etc. The strain on their families, their teachers, the lifelong management of complex conditions and the worry about what the future holds for them, is very worrying. It’s so unfair that children are needlessly suffering.

Bunch of useless cunts. I loathe those men.

Either they feel strongly against laws around what we can and can not do we should be able to decide

Or they are trying to appeal to voters so I’m guessing in an area where there is a high number of first counts on marriages

i think the second point is more likely

Yeah, but it keeps the men folk happy, so, y’know, it’s a-ok. 🙄

Can you please explain what gay marriage has to do with incestuous cousin marriage?

Should be banned.

I can't imagine being with any of my cousins, they're all grim.

The reason it should be banned though is the health implications and often that people who marry their cousins are often forced into it.

Definitely the latter. Labour have courted the Muslim vote for years.

And many of the genetic conditions causing the defects in the children of consanguineous couples are not detectable by genetic testing because they are rare and therefore no tests for them exist, yet they go from 1/1,000,000 chance or less of a child inheriting two copies of the defective gene if the parents had married someone unrelated, to 1/8 if they are cousins, so the two situations are not remotely comparable.

I am brown..Prohibiting cousin marriage is not racist.
Cousin marriage is prohibited in India for Hindus, for instance.