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Americans completely losing their shit about cousin intermarriage

IaculusIaculus
edited 2011-07-04 17:55:30 in Meatspace
OK, I get that there are some disadvantages to marrying (or even just boning) a cousin. Your kids are going to be slightly more vulnerable to birth defects (to be specific, about as vulnerable as children born to a woman past thirty-five), and it could hurt family dynamics if your clan's particularly close-knit. It could, in short, conceivably be viewed as a bad idea.

What I don't get, though, is the utter, screaming horror that so many Americans have for the idea. Nowhere else in the world is cousin intermarriage illegal (though, to be fair, that only applies to about half the states). Nowhere else is the taboo about cousin relations as severe. Nowhere else will the reaction to a fictional couple be 'BUT THEY'RE SECOND COUSINS OH DEAR GOD MAKE IT STOP'.

So what gives, guys?
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Comments

  • ForzareForzare
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.

    I'm American and I'm okay with cousin intermarriage.
  • ChagenChagen
    edited 2011-07-04 17:56:01
    [tɕagɛn]
    They're in your family.

    Ergo, it's incest.
  • DonZabuDonZabu
    edited 2011-07-04 17:57:01

    They've heard the birth defects are more severe than they actually are?

    ^ That too.

  • DYREDYRE
    edited 2011-07-04 17:57:22
    ^^ Everyone is in your family, for a certain definition of "family".

    But cousins are very rarely family members in the same way as siblings or parents.
  • vacasamavacasama
    Woki mit deim Popo.
    Okay, but isn't cousin marriage in, say, Japan considered normal?
  • IaculusIaculus
    The taboo does exist, though. Just look at the entries on TVTropes's Kissing Cousins page. Especially the Anime and Manga section.
  • DYREDYRE
    edited 2011-07-04 17:59:34
    ^^ Well, I think it's still considered a little weird there, but not anything people would freak out about.  At least not to the same extent as certain other countries (like, America).
  • PonicalicaPonicalica
    (void)
    The only thing that bugs me about cousin marriage is that it's more legal than gay marriage.
  • IaculusIaculus
    edited 2011-07-04 18:00:26
    @vacasama: Not just Japan. Again, the US is the only place in the world to legally ban it, and even then only half the states did it.
  • IaculusIaculus
    @Ponicalca: Doesn't that apply to just about any form of marriage, though? ;)
  • MyrmidonMyrmidon
  • vacasamavacasama
    edited 2011-07-04 18:02:36
    Woki mit deim Popo.
    @ ;DYRE

     Yeah but in the US seems like a marriage like that is "UNCLEAN! SHUN THEM!" a lot of other places it's like, "Okay, that's a bit weird but they're still family".
  • DonZabuDonZabu
    edited 2011-07-04 18:07:41
    ^^ You heard it, folks. Incest leads to classic movie scenes and excellent musicianship.
  • RaddRadd
    Why do incest lovers have such giant persecution complexes?
  • IaculusIaculus
    Regarding the whole 'incest' thing, though, what does that actually mean without family dynamics to upset and without a genepool to muddy? Again, it's only first-cousins who are closely-related enough to experience notably higher numbers of birth defects, and even then the difference is pretty tiny.
  • DonZabuDonZabu
    Well which are we referring to, first or second-cousin marriage? 'Cause if you just say "cousin marriage", people are probably going to assume first.
  • IaculusIaculus
    @Zabu: Except that this does not appear to matter to the taboo.

    Examples cropped from Kissing Cousins:

    Shiratori and Kozue-chan, the Official Couple of the heartwarming romantic-comedy Mahoraba
    are actually second-cousins; a fact that is mentioned once in the
    beginning but quickly forgotten, making the ending of the manga wherein     they marry and have four adorable daughters rather Squick if you do remember.


    In The Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga (a much lighter, happier and less Angel-focused alternate universe version of Neon Genesis Evangelion), Shinji and Rei are distant relatives. That doesn't get in the way of attraction, though.


    Harry Potter:
    Sirius and Regulus Black's parents Orion and Walburga were second
    cousins. Mrs. Black didn't have to change her name when she got married.
    It's implied that purebloodism leads to frequent inbreeding. Even Teddy
    Lupin and Victoire Weasley are fourth cousins once removed.


    Now, I think the attitude towards first-cousin marriages is an overreaction, too, but I really don't get the squick implied by these entries.
  • BlackHumorBlackHumor
    I'm just gonna second what Forzare said.
  • MadassAlexMadassAlex
    One foot in front of the other, every day.
    I really wish I wasn't attracted to one of my cousins.
  • CommandoDudeCommandoDude
    edited 2011-07-04 19:25:23
    CRIMINAL SCUM!
    It's just part of our natural American charm!

    "GET THE GUBMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES! STOP TELLING US WHAT TO DO BIG GUBMENT LEFTISTS! AND BAN THOSE GAYS! IF WE DON'T THEN OUR CHILDREN WILL CATCH THE GAY!

    THINK OF THE CHILDREN!"


  • VorpyVorpy
    ☭Unstoppable Sex Goddess☭
    Why do incest lovers have such giant persecution complexes?

    The less comfortable they are with their incest love, the more likely that they won't be spouting "incest is wincest" and more "don't tread on me". If they think anything they are doing is wrong in anyway they might get oversensitive to people rejecting it.

    By the way, lonely guys, look for a lonely female cousin at the next funeral/wedding you go to and talk to them. You might get a kiss or hand-holding out of that, with all of the emotional energy flowing around.
  • ViviVivi
    $80+ per session
    I've made out with two cousins. That's it though.
  • BlackHumorBlackHumor
    My only female cousin is pretty hot.

    And lives across the country, and has a boyfriend already...
  • DonZabuDonZabu
    All my cousins are 20 or so years older than me.
  • ForzareForzare
    Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the last Day.
    All my cousins are 15 or so years younger than me.
  • NyarlyNyarly
    Likes cheesecake unironically.
    Because Americans are totally the only ones, who have a problem with relationships between cousins, right? If I, as German, would want to marry my own cousin, people would be totally cool with it.

    Oh, wait. They wouldn't.

    "Kissing Cousins" relationships are nothing but incest. It's nonsense to try to deny it. Granted, my views on incest aren't so... antagonistic as most other people's, but still.
  • CommandoDudeCommandoDude
    edited 2011-07-05 02:17:39
    CRIMINAL SCUM!
    Haha, I found a funny picture!


  • TheConductorTheConductor
    I've slept with my cousin.
  • Tnu1138Tnu1138
    I don't see the problem with it. But I'm very Free Love myself. Marry your sister for all I care. Marry both your cousins.
  • IaculusIaculus
    edited 2011-07-05 06:26:23
    Thing is, a persecution complex would imply persecution. Except that that's not what's happening here. Again, the rest of the world is fine with it, if a little weirded out sometimes. So why is it only America with a massive, horrified mad-on for the whole thing?

    That is what puzzles me here.

    Also, @Nyarly, America is the only place where it's illegal. The only place with that degree of taboo against it. Sure, it's generally considered a bad idea in most parts of the world, but without quite the same level of 'you want to do WHAT?' attached to it.
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