Marrying your first cousin

[throathummer]

I often hear people say that it is sick, illegal, risky (for children of marriage) or immoral to marry one's first cousin. There is nothing wrong with first cousins marrying. It is not against the law in most jurisdictions and it is not incest. Strictly speaking, incest involves sex with members of one's own immediate family, i.e., your parents, your brothers and sisters, your grandparents, and your own children. We also consider other legally banned relationships to be "incestuous." Also, although people believe that marrying a cousin is likely to produce children with "problems," this is not really true. This only happens if there are already defective genes present, and, as we know, this often happens when non-cousins marry. It is common in many cultures for cousins to marry. Our "distaste" for cousin intermarriage is just one of our cultural prejudices. Of course, if there is constant intermarriage within a small family group, the odds of having problems are much worse. This is the truth in the idea that "intermarriage" between relatives produces "idiots." But this is confusing inbreeding with intermarriage.

In case, you're wondering, I didn't marry (or have sex with) any of my first cousins or with any other cousin. I've skipped incest, too.

 

[The Gimp]