Are Cousin Marriages Ethical?

[Joker37]

Despite many great scientific minds having undertaken cousin marriages in the past, notably Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, there appears to be this skeptism within our modern Western society that it is somehow "icky" and wrong. Where do these ideas come from and are these feelings justified or are they just irrational?

 

And I understand in many countries/cultures cousin marriages are seen to be morally acceptable.

 

But what does everyone think? Would you marry one of your cousins?

[Qfwfq]

Despite many great scientific minds having undertaken cousin marriages in the past

Scientific minds haven't always been the priests of society. Far from it, actually.

 

Where do these ideas come from and are these feelings justified or are they just irrational?

Cousins are somewhat borderline. The risk of offspring having genetic problems, although not terribly high, is significant. I knew of a couple who were related, I think even a bit less closely than cousins, certainly not closer; they had one son that was absolutely fine and then a daughter that only survived several weeks. Doctors had identified the problem early, so the baby's death was expected and the mother prepared to face it. At that point they decided not to attempt any further pregnancy.

 

And I understand in many countries/cultures cousin marriages are seen to be morally acceptable.

It has never been recomended for cousins to have children. In all cultures, the custom of marriage has always been to the aim of raising children and sterile couples are seen as being a pity. It follows that societies would always disapprove of marriages between cousins, though this may vary quite a bit in degree. I've heard of societies with criteria as to which cousins a guy may choose to marry, but I don't know the details.

 

But what does everyone think? Would you marry one of your cousins?

I think that in many cases, one would need a good dose of narcissism and in others, it seems psychologically much like marrying anyone else. Not that this indicates where genetic problems are likely, the couple I mentioned above looked much like unrelated man and woman, at least it wasn't obvious and noticeable. I have also seen many people who display quite a bit of narcissism in choosing a totally unrelated partner.

 

Instinctively, there is a wide range of acceptance, which evolved as a balance between seeking a partner of the same species and not seeking incest. This balance varies widely between individuals. Some people would never choose a partner that wasn't of their own racial/ethnic group, others find an interracial marriage more attractive. Similarly, some people find a cousin to be up their line and others find the idea of it totally uncanny.

[CraigD]

Would you marry one of your cousins?

I, and every married person, have married a cousin, though in my and most peoples cases, a distant cousin.

 

By itself, the term cousin tells nothing about two individuals' cousanguinity. It must be qualified by at least a degree number. The degree of a cousin is one less than the number of generations since one shared a common ancestor. In my and my wife's case, we know my family tree back only 5 generations, so we know we're not closer than fifth cousins, but not that we're not sixth or more distant cousins.

 

Genetic science and simple reasoning tell us that we all share common ancestors, so are all, technically cousins.

 

I suspect, Joker, that by "cousin" you meant first or second cousin - someone who shares a grand or great grand parent with you. Answering this question, I'd say I'd most likely not intentionally marry a first or second cousin, because, in my culture, this is, as you say, considered "icky", and would strongly disturb some of my relatives and neighbors. In my culture, strongly disturbing ones relatives and neighbors is considered ethically wrong, so as an ethical person, I try to avoid doing so.

 

Biologically, having children with close relatives increases the likelihood of reinforcing recessive genes, some of which can result in serious disease, so my culture's perception of it being "icky" is reasonable. However, unless many of your ancestors had children with their close relatives, or you and the close relative have reason to suspect you have a dangerous recessive gene, having children with a close relative is not substantially riskier than having children with someone of no known family relation (a very distant cousin). So, had I felt overwhelmingly attracted to a first or second cousin, I might have married and had children with her, despite my cultures' thinking it "icky", because it's not, I think, unethical to have children unless you have strong grounds to suspect they will be unhealthy.

[Turtle]

Despite many great scientific minds having undertaken cousin marriages in the past, notably Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, there appears to be this skeptism within our modern Western society that it is somehow "icky" and wrong. Where do these ideas come from and are these feelings justified or are they just irrational?

 

And I understand in many countries/cultures cousin marriages are seen to be morally acceptable.

 

But what does everyone think? Would you marry one of your cousins?

 

i think that if cousins, 1^st, once removed, or more distant want to marry it's no skin off my teeth and aint nobody's business if they do. as to genetic problems, having children is not a prerequisite of being married any more than being married is prerequisite to having children.

 

there is much more @wiki than i am quoting below, but it's worth reading. i did not include material about cousin-marriage & other inbreeding in european royalty as i presume it is common knowledge. moreover, a simple one-off marrying of a cousin is not likely to produce the genetic problems that inbreeding does, where inbreeding is a train of related couplings producing offspring.

 

Cosuin Marriage

Cousin marriage is marriage between two cousins. In various jurisdictions and cultures, such marriages range from being considered ideal and actively encouraged, to being uncommon but still legal, to being seen as incest and legally prohibited.

 

Such marriages are often highly stigmatized today in the West,[1] but marriages between first and second cousins nevertheless account for over 10% of marriages worldwide.[2] They are particularly common in the Middle East, where in some nations they account for over half of all marriages.[3]

...

 

Cousin marriage in the Middle East

Cousin marriage is at least allowed throughout the Middle East.[1] Anthropologists have debated the significance of the practice; some view it as the defining feature of the Middle Eastern kinship system while others note that overall rates of cousin marriage have varied sharply between different Middle Eastern communities. There is very little numerical evidence of rates of cousin marriage in the past.[2] In many cases there is not only a preference but a right to marry the father's brother's daughter, wherein if the girl's family wishes to marry her to anyone else they must first get the permission of the father's brother's son. This custom may be upheld even despite a great age difference between cousins.

...

Raphael Patai reports that in central Arabia no relaxation of a man's right to the father's brother's daughter (FBD) seems to have taken place in the past hundred years before his 1962 work. Here the girl is not forced to marry her ibn 'amm but she cannot marry another unless he gives consent. Among the Jews of Yemen this rule is also followed albeit not as rigidly. In northern Arabia the custom is very strong and any outsider wishing to marry a girl must first come to the ibn 'amm, ask his permission, and pay him what he wants, and a man who marries his daughter without the consent of the ibn 'amm risks his life. The right of the ibn 'amm is so strong that even a powerful shaykh may not be able to prevail against it.

...

In her discussion of the city of Aleppo during the Ottoman Empire, Meriwether finds a rate of cousin marriage among the elite of 24%. Father's brother's daughter was most common but still only represented 38% of all cousin marriages, while 62% were with first or second cousins. But most families had either no cousin marriages or only one, while for a few the rate was as high as 70%. Cousin marriage rates were higher among women, merchant families, and older well-established families.[7] Meriwether cites one case of cousin marriage increasing in a prominent family as it consolidated its position and forging new alliances became less critical. Marriage patterns among the elite were, however, always diverse and cousin marriage was only one option of many. Rates were probably lower among the general population.

 

In Egypt cousin marriage may have been even more prevalent than in Arabia in past periods, with one source from the 1830s observing that it was common among Egyptian Arabs but less so in Cairo than in other parts of Egypt. Reportedly the husband and wife would continue to call each other "cousin" because the tie of blood was seen as indissoluble while the marriage was not. In the upper and middle classes the young man was seldom allowed to see the face of his female cousin after she reached puberty. Cousin marriage was not only common among Muslims but also among the Egyptian Copts.[8] Estimates from the late 19th and early 20th century state variously that either 80 percent of the Egyptian fellahin marry first cousins or two-thirds marry them if they exist. Cousin marriage was also practiced in the Sinai Peninsula, where a girl is sometimes reserved by her cousin with money long before puberty, and among Bedouins in the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea. In-marriage was less frequent in the late pre-Islamic Hijaz than in ancient Egypt, where during the late Roman Republic it not only included cousin marriage but also, in one of the exceptional cases of history, full sibling marriage. Cousin marriage was practiced in Medina during Muhammad's time, but out of 113 recorded marriages in one sample only 15 were between abnaa 'amm or paternal cousins of any degree.[9]

 

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[Eclogite]

.......there appears to be this skeptism within our modern Western society that it is somehow "icky" and wrong.

I sometimes think I live on another planet with a population of one. The other responses to your post seem to cofirm that there is a general aversion to cousin marriage. It seems perfectly reasonable me. I've contemplated, for the convenience of this thread, the notion of one of my children marrying one of their cousins and the balance of feeling is a slightly positive one. (Maybe this is why people give me strange looks in bars and lock up their wives when I'm in town.)

 

Where do these ideas come from and are these feelings justified or are they just irrational?

It is not unreasonable to suppose that a tendency to inbreeding would be positively selected for. That does not mean that cousin coupling would automatically be bad. I have no citations I can offer, but I strongly suspect the risks of consequent genetic defects are relatively minor.

 

But what does everyone think? Would you marry one of your cousins?

Since my wife would probably object, most of my cousins are female and the rest are old, I wouldn't. However, when I was a mere teenager I did find one of cousins quite attractive. I don't think I would have had any intrinsic objection to the idea.

[Joker37]

Something I forgot to mention was, with my earlier post I meant purely first cousin marriages only. Does this make a big difference?

[CraigD]

I've contemplated, for the convenience of this thread, the notion of one of my children marrying one of their cousins and the balance of feeling is a slightly positive one.

You sentiment is shared by many, arguably most cultures in most times. However, it’s not shared by the legal system of about half the states of the US, such as Texas.

 

There, sexual contact between first cousins in Texas is a 3rd or 2nd degree felony. Marriages are illegal, and not honored if performed in another country or US state, except if both spouses are 65 or older, or both are 55 or older, and one or both are sterile. (source: wikipedia article Cousin marriage law in the United States by state)

 

My own US state of Maryland allows marriage to a first cousin, but weirdly in my eyes, not to the ex-spouse of a grandparent.

 

US state and federal sex and marriage law is a weird, complicated legal maze. I find it vastly amusing. I imagine people whom it criminalizes find it less so.