Cousin Marriage

[mg123]

would you recommend cousins getting married? why or why not? (guys dad and girls mom are brother and sister).

[badgerchops]

i dont think anyone can recommend it !

Its awful for the parents of the cousins to have to comprehend it.  Often cousins are raised parallel in close families and its far too incesteous for my liking.  BLOOD relatives are exactly that - relatives !   There are plenty more women and men in the world so you dont need to get cosy with family !

Think of the grandparents - they love each grandchild and have to think of them together - sick !

And dont even get me started into the whole 'if they have children' thing. 

[justineo]

The Queen and Phillip are second cousins once removed and Queen Victoria and Albert were first cousins.  Its legal to marry your first cousin and I know two people who did that and have 2 healthy children.  Personally, I grew up with my cousins and they are like brothers and sisters to me but live and let live I say.

[Mistopheles]

It is perfectly legal if rather unusual. The main problems are firstly the reaction of their family as badgerchops says, and secondly, if they go on to have children. There is a higher chance that any child will have abnormalities. It's not a hugely greater chance, but it is still a risk. This is because if you have children with a non-relative, their genes will help 'cancel out' any abnormalities in your own, and vice versa. With cousins, there is more chance of them both carrying the same gene.

[Buddy]

Its not illegal - at least in the UK so what does that tell you?However it is illegal for your daughter (for arguements sake) to marry her father-in law if she splits with his son and there is no blood connection.

Hard as it is-unless you want to lose them let them live their life and there hasnt been any concrete proof any child would be genetically damaged according to documentaries and articles I have read.

Ask your Dr he/she will verify this.

[emailia]

I think it depends how close the family is. For some people their cousins are like brothers and sisters so marriage would be very strange in that situation. But it coulsd be different if perhaps the cousins only just met recently i.e. did not grow up knowing each other.

[Scarlett]

Here is an example of why it may not be the best idea!! My cousin was 7 when I was about 16. A cute little boy. I met him recently and he scares me how much he looks like me and my Mum. He has the same eyes, same "distinctive" nose and face shape. If I wanted to procreate I would instinctively go for someone with a more "average" face, to cancel out some of my family traits. If I was to procreate with him, it would be like doing it with a brother. With myself, genetically! I would be EMPHASISING my features so the poor kid wouldn't stand a chance.

[Solarjunkie]

Scarlett raises an interesting point, that she would want to marry someone obviously different from herself. But what about genetic recognition? This explains the attraction often felt between closely related people who meet for the first time - even siblings who have been brought up separately. Incidentally, more than one sibling couple apparently lives together in this country; provided that they have ensured there will be no children, the law feels there would be no benefit in prosecution.

I met my cousin for the first time a couple of years ago, and if it were not for the fact I am happily married, I would certainly have made sure we were "kissing cousins!" And no, it would not have felt like "doing it with a brother" - he was just a nice, attractive bloke - the fact we share grandparents is irrelevant. If however we had grown up together, the situaition may well have seemed strange.

[sallywalters]

My Grandparents (mums parents) were first cousins. They were both from big families, whose parents had moved here from abroad, so that could be why, but there is absolutely nothing wrong genetically with my mum or her sisters! Apparantly its wrong to keep marrying within the family cos then you really do narrow the gene pool, but once isnt going to hurt!