Is it wrong for two cousins to love each other?

[dave_c]

I was chatting to my dad one day during a dinner with just the usual random topics until conversation moved on to talking about some distant relatives of ours and to my amazement he revealed to us we are related to both of them and the married couple were actually first cousins.

After I picked up my jaw from the floor, we had a healthy discussion about the subject. It's clear to everyone that they're genuinely in love, their kids look perfectly normal in fact, very intelligent (apparently the chances of malformed children are just a little bit increase with cousin couples) although the couple look genetically different from each other. And apparently it's legal in the UK for cousins to wed. Throughout history and in some cultures this is the norm. But what do the good people of answerbank think on this subject? In an open minded free thinking society where anyone could out with who they feel, we're a bit taboo on this particular scenario.

(PS no hillbilly jokes please!)

[tattoo1094]

Well joe the bloody lion strikes once again with his inccessant bloody whinging.You talk about the royal family.....well look at the god damn state of them!!!!!!!!.
Personally dave c i did cringe abit ,although, its because i dont have a very good looking cousin if i did who knows!!
Actually no , even still, i d rather pick some one out side of the family circle.
how ever we are not to judge and good luck with that cos i think they are gonna need it x

[dave_c]

Wow, one in eight, it's amazing all their kids turned out perfectly normal intelligent people. But like i said before the do look genetically different from each other, and also they were not raised together and met later in their lives.


I found this wiki article interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage

[fran2]

I don't agree with cousins marrying. I also grew up with mine and find the thought disgusting. I see no excuse's for the royal's to do it either. It's just not on and goes against nature.

[fran2]

I must agree with you tatoo!

[ummmm]

I have some cousins who got married. It was later in life though....out of child bearing age. My family is so big you couldn't possibly know all your cousins.

Oh...and PKU is mainly a celtic condition which they think comes from interbreeding.

More common in the west......sorry to any Mayo people..

[Skreecheeboy]

In germany this guy is trying to marry his sister and they already have 4 kids! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/642493 7.stm

[Le Chat]

Actually got my info from an American program centered around genetics and interbreeding.
I was never asked during both pregnancies whether my husband was my cousin!!!

[Le Chat]

Some people are fixated on the fallacy that cousin couples pose an intolerable risk to their offspring. However it is likely that we are all descendants of cousin marriages. Before our modern ability to travel furthur than the next town, it was preferable to marry a cousin in some communities as it is to this day in many countries. The notion �why marry a stranger" is just as prevalent in many countries as the cousin marriage taboo in the UK today - judging by some of the replies here too!!