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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think first-degree cousins should not marry?

283 replies

Onestonetogo · 05/03/2009 17:06

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SlightlyMadScotland · 05/03/2009 22:17

LOL.....TBH I know nothing of the inheritence of chin size....but surely there must be an optimum....

Onestonetogo · 05/03/2009 22:17

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Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:19

But you're talking about a tiny risk in first cousins, against a much larger risk with the known carrier - you're saying that the cousins shouldn't reproduce because of the tiny risk, whereas the carrier should despite the much larger risk - there's just no logic to your argument.

hobbgoblin · 05/03/2009 22:21

No they don't though do they, unless genetic blueprint is now barcoded on inner left thigh, thus visible before mating?

Desiderata · 05/03/2009 22:22

Ah, but a big wagger will be passed on for a couple of hundred years, mebe.

But after that, good bye chin

Or chinonara, as they say in Japan ...

Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:24

Not if the big wagger is considered sexually more attractive, Desi. What's your optimum chin size?

SlightlyMadScotland · 05/03/2009 22:26

I don't understand what you are saying in your last post OneStop...that the risks are lower with cousins because they get special privileges and are screened?

TheFallenMadonna · 05/03/2009 22:27

They wouldn't be eliminating risk. They would be reducing risk by a small amount.

Desiderata · 05/03/2009 22:29

Ah, Hab, my ideal chin size is irrelevant.

If a man doesn't chaw on raw meat, he's going to look like Maximillians III's sickly cousin by 2095.

But since you ask, I don't like a man with n chin. Who does?

I'd like a nice three inches, at least [chin]

Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:31

No - once the chin size has another evolutionary advantage (e.g. sexual attractiveness, ability to be used as a bayonet), surely the original reason for its evolution is moot?

Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:33

I mean, there's no evolutionary disadvantage to male nipples, is there, so isn't that one of the reasons they still exist?

Where are you measuring from, chinwise?

SlightlyMadScotland · 05/03/2009 22:40

Ok I know nothing about the evolution of the chin....so don't know hte "stories behind that one"

The nipples thing is to do with in utero development mainly - in that the bodies of boys and girls start out the same until testosterone turns a boy into a boy somewhere through the first trimester.

Evolutionarily there has been no selection against nipples which is an evolutionary rason they haven't disappeared (I guess it is why the Jimmy Hill chin hasn't disappeared either at the end of the day).

more extensive explaination...including some interesting references to action man.

Desiderata · 05/03/2009 22:41

The reason men have nipples, Hab, is because we all start as females.

Between 6-8 weeks in the womb, the Y chromosome determines malesness, and the testes and penis is formed, due to a huge dollop of testosterone.

Prior to that, your son was a female, and that's why he's got nips!

Onestonetogo · 05/03/2009 22:42

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Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:42

Yes - I think that's what I meant - even if ther chin evolved to eat raw meat, if there's no selection pressure against it, and even possibly some for it, as people prefer to sleep with chin rather than no-chin, surely there's no reason for it to die out?

Onestonetogo · 05/03/2009 22:44

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Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:45

But the person carrying the disease is also creating a genetic risk for future generations.

"from an ethical point of view, you have to differentiate between people who carry a disease and healthy individuals who decide to interbreed." What ethical pov would that be?

Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:45

Ok, male nips a bad example, but I still think chins won't die out, Desi.

Acinonyx · 05/03/2009 22:47

You don't create a genetic disease by marrying a cousin - either the disease is already there or it isn't.

Onestonetogo · 05/03/2009 22:47

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Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:49

But the people carrying the disease could also make that decision based on a Much Higher Risk of genetic disorders in future generations. It's a known quantity.

SlightlyMadScotland · 05/03/2009 22:50

Yeah but 2 totally independant people who are both carry recessive traits could have a disabled child....estimates suggest that cousins are only 1-2% more likely to have a child with severe genetic abnormality than Joe and Joanne bloggs. The impact on the couple, society and the population of that 1-2% increased risk is not worth worrying about and certainly not worth nearly 150 posts.

jimy Hill's chin on teh other hand......

Habbibu · 05/03/2009 22:51

The chins thing is very important. Needs hundreds more posts.

Desiderata · 05/03/2009 22:51

I think that chins will die out in the Western world, Hab.

I don't mean chins will simply disappear, leaving a loose blob of flesh

Just that they will get smaller and weaker as they are used less and less to masticate tough foods.

If you break your leg, it withers under the plaster. Why is a chin any different?

SlightlyMadScotland · 05/03/2009 22:52

Acinoxy - not strictly true......new diseases are discovered all the time, as a result of spontaneous mutation...but it would take more than 1 generation of inbreeding for it to become apparent (assuming it is recessive) - and therefore not really relevant in a society where cousins marring is not particularly prevalent.

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