Is it Odd that Breeding between Cousins is allowed in my culture?

[100 beasts kaidou 321]

In my culture/religion It is okay to breed with your cousin (Only inside marriages) Which is taboo in most parts of the world. And I know alot of people in my village who married their cousins. Should I feel ashamed for living in this culture?

[Level3rd 128]

Hmm, although it's certainly an interesting concept, I find it a little bit weird.  I think from a scientific point of view, it wouldn't be healthy for the offspring.  If you've got 2 people re-producing who are very similar on a DNA level, the offspring would have very narrow DNA variation.  

However, I've always thought one of my cousins was really cute.  Never really did anything about that hahahaha!

I wouldn't feel ashamed at all if I were you.

[Metemponychosis 1,261]

Morality by consensus. 

Regardless of facts or whatever, societies determine what is right or wrong by the opinions of the majority or most influential.

 

Nothing wrong in it, by itself, so no reason to feel ashamed.

[Mutemutt 773]

Not really. It's just cultural differences as far as I'm concerned. Though there are certainly more risks that come along because of inbreeding especially if it's a continuous event across generations. If I remember correctly the birth defect rate for the children of 1st cousins is 4% while the rate for children of two who are unrelated is 2%. 

 

That being said, there are actually a fair amount of states in the US that allow the marriage of 1st cousins. It's still not something the general public, or even the average American family member, wants to hear their son/daughter/brother/sister/etc. engage in though. I personally have no problem with it and I don't think you should feel ashamed about it either.

[Evilshy 5,090]

Morality is decided purely by the society in which you reside. Therefore, it can't be immoral to your culture if it is accepted in your culture. Another culture might see it as immoral, but unless that culture has a strong effect on yours, it is unlikely to effect anything.

 

As has been said, this can increase the likelihood of birth defects, which I don't think anybody will disagree is a bad thing.

 

Immoral? No.

Bad idea? Probably.

Should you feel ashamed? That's really a personal thing. Don't let anybody tell you when to feel ashamed or guilty.

 

 

I honestly find it more odd that you refer to it as "breeding", a term almost exclusively used when talking about animals. Usually it is referred to as procreation when dealing with humans

Edited June 9, 2013 by Evilshy

[Nohbdy 4,108]

Depending on who you ask, it could be considered strange, and even wrong. Since cousins are genetically close, breeding could produce birth defects for the offspring. Is it wrong to simply have marriage without the child? Not necessarily. However, that also brings up the question of whether siblings can also marry, provided that they don't breed. Where does it stop? Ultimately, it's a good idea to consider the consequences of marrying a relative, regardless of legal or moral standpoint. 

[Argos 191]

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Edited March 16, 2014 by Argos

[Darkshift 85]

Yu should never feel ashamed of your culture because that is your way of life and if in your culture it is acceptable to marry your cousin so be it as long as you don't think it is wrong well then you're ok.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,673]

Shame is often a bigger burden than is necessary.

Just be aware that breeding with a cousin puts the offspring at a greater risk for birth defects. Because I'm far more concerned about the health of the offspring where your love interests fall outside of my concerns, the line is drawn at conceiving a child with a second cousin or closer. I forget where I got this but I remember this claim that scientifically, it becomes safe from 3rd cousin and further.

So then if you want a committed relationship of that sort with a family member without breeding then for me, there's nothing to be concerned about. You could always adopt a child if you want children under such circumstances.

 

Still, if I were to see or hear about it, it'd send a bad chill through me but the facts matter more than my useless subjective opinions. Kind of a knee-jerk reaction I can't do much about.

[Shanks 10,816]

No, because it is pointless to be ashamed of something you are not doing yourself. As to whether it is actually moral to do that no I do not believe it is precisely because as others have pointed out the odds of birth defects goes up and while sex is not always used for procreation there are cases where there are "accidents".

[AnonyPoni 564]

Personality and culture wise, you shouldn't feel ashamed. I mean SCIENTIFICALLY it's not considered a good idea because bad genes may be more likely to be expressed and it may seem a bit weird to everyone else, but you shouldn't feel ashamed.

 

I feel hypocritical though, I'm often embarrassed by my culture a lot. But I really shouldn't...

[Zygen 6,066]

Eh, not really, I don't think you should be ashamed, I don't know if its something that I find totally ok since its not something accepted in my culture, but I wouldn't be ashamed over a culture your a part of regardless anyways. 

 

I have heard it can make for some odd breeding though. And offspring or whatever, but idk.

 

I don't think you should exactly be ashamed of who you are though.

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

No. Its your culture and being ashamed of your culture is just wrong bro.... Personally i am against incest, and so are many others, but this shouldent make you ashamed of it bro.

[Jammo 986]

I won't judge. If cousins are close like that it's a very grey situation. Unusual yes. Wrong.. Tough call. I wouldn't. But I don't have a busty Thai woman who is always playing video games in her underwear on summer days for a cousin.

[hawkflame 3,310]

Well it's certainly not the norm as far as worldwide cultures go, but every culture has something that they do that's not shared by others.  Judge it with shame?  No.  No one's getting hurt, and it's just a different set of standards and beliefs than others. 

 

I personally would be very uncomfortable with the idea of marrying my first cousins, but that's just me.  The important thing is that you are secure and comfortable with how *you* feel about it. 

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,795]

Well, without mentioning ethics and morals...

 

There is a reason why most humans usually don't develop that kind of feelings for close relatives.

It is, from an evolutionary point of few, negligent to have children with people related to you, even if they are very distantly related to you. Our gene-pool degenerates with every generation that we "breed" just within our own ethnicity. Yeah... that's right; to have the healthiest, smartest and therefore fittest children, you should have children with someone who is as least related to you as possible.

 

But if it goes for morals...

 

The risk that the child suffers from the typical secondary effects of incest is always given. And I don't just talk about health, but also about social accaptance. If it is okay within a culture... well you can argue about that. But it's a different culture; to say that it's wrong when you are an outsider is always a delicate issue.

 

You shouldn't feel ashamed for living in this culture, but you have two advantages:

1) It is just allowed, right? You don't have to do so if you don't like it, right? Well, then don't do it and say so if you are asked.

2) You can judge it better because you are a part of it. Always keep that in mind.

Edited June 12, 2013 by StatesTheOblivious

[Big Brown 26]

Despite the stereotypes I can tell you that Kentucky is one of the few stares to NOT allow you legaly marry your first cousin. Even if basketball and inbreeding are what we're best known for lol.

[caramba2654 602]

Yeah. All in all it's just a society taboo. Biologically speaking there's so nothing wrong with it that plants, dogs, insects do that.

 

Anyways, this reminds me of Episode 8 of Friendship Is Witchcraft.

[Lucky Bolt 35,064]

On 6/9/2013 at 2:23 PM, Level3rd said:

Hmm, although it's certainly an interesting concept, I find it a little bit weird.  I think from a scientific point of view, it wouldn't be healthy for the offspring.  If you've got 2 people re-producing who are very similar on a DNA level, the offspring would have very narrow DNA variation.  

However, I've always thought one of my cousins was really cute.  Never really did anything about that hahahaha!

I wouldn't feel ashamed at all if I were you.

Yeah, I ditto this. 

[Misty Gust 708]

I mean, from a biological standpoint, not the best thing to do.

[ExplosionMare 18,065]

My only concern is that sometimes the kids come out with really bizarre disabilities. Inbred children aren’t always going to be healthy since there parents are in the family.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,617]

8 minutes ago, ExplosionMare said:

My only concern is that sometimes the kids come out with really bizarre disabilities. Inbred children aren’t always going to be healthy since there parents are in the family.

This is why I am against inbreeding of any kind. The whole point of genetics in that regard is to spread the genes apart, not doing so can have some...not good results. If cousins want to marry or something, whatever, more power to them I suppose, but them having kids is where it can be tricky.

[Xe__or 4,377]

Incest is nasty man; and the offsprings often say Oof

Edited June 26, 2019 by Xelto.r