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

Yes of course it should be banned! Why would you knowingly put a childs,
life at risk through genetic abnormality.
How incredibly ignorant and selfish of those families that perpetuate cousin marriage order to keep chattels within the family.
So family wealth is more important than the health of any progeny. It’s a disgusting medieval practice.

Consanguineous parents, such as first cousins, face roughly double the risk of having a baby with serious birth defects or recessive genetic disorders compared to unrelated parents.

The "Born in Bradford Study": Research published in The Lancet tracked thousands of babies and showed that consanguinity (marriage between blood relatives) accounted for nearly 31% of all birth defects in children of Pakistani origin.

What on gods green earth has LGBT marriage got to do with incest????

That must have been quite the wedding!

As an American, my state is bigger than your Island so I understand the dating pool is small. But I also can pick out a Brit before they speak because of the bulging eyes. Even worse, the remnants of the Habsburg Chin. Inbreeding stands out.

I'm not sure why Brits would have Habsburg jaws, given they don't all descend from the royal family? (And the Habsburgs were Austrian anyway, and only very distantly related to the English royal family) 🤔

Bulging eyes I don't get either. Such nonsense.

Haven’t RTFT, but in some American states, it’s legal to marry your first cousin if you undergo genetic counseling first, or if the wife is past a particular age and therefore can’t get pregnant anymore. (Other states allow first-cousin marriage without restrictions, and yet a third group of states bans it outright.) What are people’s thoughts on that?

l have mixed feelings on the topic. I understand the genetic risks to any children the couple might have, but I don’t think it’s necessarily emotionally unhealthy to be in love with your first cousin.

My DC’s cousins on their dad’s side are children of a 1st cousin marriage. Their parents grew up in different countries, so hadn’t grown up together or really seen a lot of each other. It was an arranged marriage in the respect the parents planned it. They are very happy 30yrs on, and luckily have 5 healthy children. I do think anyone going into a 1st cousin marriage should have genetic testing prior.

I'm not entirely sure that is right.

If you take two random people getting married then they will typically have eight grandparents between them (four each).

When first cousins marry they will have six grandparents between them. The two grandparents via the siblings who are the parents and then two other grandparents each via the people the siblings married, for a total of six grandparents between them.

In the case of two siblings from family A marrying two siblings from family B then if their children (who are first cousins) were to marry then they would only have four grandparents between them.

So, what happens when each of those couples in these different situations then have children?

I would suggest that any gene carried by one of those four grandparents is much more likely to be inherited in the situation where that grandparent is one of four rather than when that grandparent is one of eight or one of six.

I don't think that @IsAStart was asking a daft question.

I'm not just thinking about this in terms of the current UK debate but also historically. This was historically a large issue in certain communities such as French Canadians, Acadians (now Cajuns) and Ashkenazi Jews. The results of this can still be seen in DNA testing today.

The same can be seen in places like the Isles of Scilly and also among the Huguenot refugees in London. The results can still be seen in DNA testing among descendants today.

The change in law will target some groups but applies to all

and the issue is what exactly? the education so far has not done enough as we are still taking about thousands of children and thousands of marriages why because for some keeping to a cultural norm is more important within the community than doing something that is considered for some a western influence

how many more children have to suffer unnecessarily there is simply no reason why it is necessary at all

Thanks. When I thought it out, I did think it was a daft question - but can see the bigger links through generations.

I have this situation in my extended family, no suggestion of any disorders in the children, but very awkward now that one of the couples have divorced! 😉

I didn’t say it was daft did you see my follow up post ? I can’t make head nor tail of yours sorry

"If we were to ban it, it would have the added advantage of maybe getting rid of the royal family - two birds with one stone."

I'm only aware of two first-cousin marriages in modern times. Are there more?

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were first cousins, they married in 1840. Before them there was George IV who married his first cousin Princess Caroline in 1795.

Before that, I can only think of King Stephen who married his first cousin Matilda in 1125.

I think that quote was supposed to be satirically humourous, but I may be wrong.

I agree it should be strongly discouraged due to risks. Banning it will make it difficult to police.
Education and highlighting risks is important and perhaps the way forward.
However, we need to target those at highest risk. Like you said, the focus always tends to focus on Asians (perhaps an easy target)
Within the UK Pakistani Asians the practice of first cousin marriages has drastically reduced. More and more youngsters in the UK are choosing their own spouses who are not first cousins.

Therefore, the education needs to be more universal. It needs to focus also on other communities, namely the Irish Travellers and Jewish community. No statistics on it reducing there is available to my knowledge.