What's the closest familial relationship a couple should be?

Question

I find it interesting that if you look back in history and literature, "taboo relationships" have gotten further and further apart.

In very old books of the Bible, half brothers and sisters married. In the slightly newer Bible books (by a few centuries), marriage between siblings wasn't moral.

Then you look at literature. In books like Cyrano de Bergerac and Pride and Prejudice you have cousins engaged or in love and this seems to be perfectly normal.

Nowadays it seems like even cousins are too closely related to be married by today's standards.

What do you all think? How far back is it culturally proper for a couple to get married? Everybody's related eventually. Could they be first cousins? Second cousins? Third cousins? 20th cousins?

For myself, I wouldn't think first cousins should be getting married, but I don't know about after that.

(In case you're wondering or judging, this question is nothing more than curiosity. I know no one marrying anybody they're related to.)

Answer 1

There are state laws regarding the allowable degree of consanguinity. I believe that the break point is usually (but not always) between second and third cousins.
For example, second cousins (people who share some of the same grandparents) are often prohibited from marrying, while third cousins (people who share the some of the same great-grandparents) are not. Of course, if you and your nth cousin are serious about each other, you should consult the laws of your state, and if you want to get married in a church, check their rules also.

As far as the greater power of the laws versus historic taboos, it is true. Before genetics were discovered, people had encountered unfortunate results of matched recessives in unions between close relatives. WIthout genetics, they didn't know why, but they could see the effects, so the nearly universal taboos were established. These taboos protect the tribe/group from a comparative flood of crippled, mentally retarded, or even nonviable babies that can result from reinforced recessive genes. The earliest taboos involved parent/child relationships. The child has 50% of the genetic material from each parent, so the proportion of matching recessives in their offspring is quite high, and children of these unions are the most strongly effected. Unions between siblings are more unpredictable, since each child has 50% of each parent, but they probably do not have the same 50% as each other. Still the possiblity of genetic damage is high enough to be obvious to people in biblical times. Modern laws guarantee a certain amount of genetic diversity in any marriage.

Answer 2

I have to agree that if its close enough that you know how you are related, its a no-go. Dont go looking for dates at family reunions.


We are all related somehow. At one point it was acceptable to marry your half sibling or cousin, but then the world wasnt as populated as it is today.. means of travel was not as convineient. If people lived in a small community, most of them were related one way or another. Along time ago too, royalty only married family because they wanted to keep the royal lines "true".


My parents are actually related somehow. Mom discovered it while doing some genealogy. The link is back like 6 generations tho.

Answer 3

It really depends on how confusing you can make the relationship sound. "She's my half-second-cousin thrice removed on my dad's side" works. I know it's legal to marry your third cousin in most places. Second cousins might be looked down upon.

As for how close, well, my English teacher noted that the only universal taboo is fathers having sex with their daughters. For some reason, it's the only thing that every culture considers taboo.

Answer 4

You shouldn't marry anyone that is at your Family Reuinion. I don't know exactly what to think is too close. But People have a lot of health issues, and unlike dogs, people rarely test for things, and often have kids before they develop health problems. You shouldn't marry anyone who you even know to be related to you in some way or another.

Answer 5

In my opinion, if it is close enough to know you are related without having to do some real detective work, it's too close.

Answer 6

Well you shouldn't be meeting them at a family reunion. No one in your family should expect to be related to them, and if no one in your (fairly direct) family knows about relations to theirs, it should be ok. basically, 10th cousin-ish