Is dating your cousin wrong

Dating > Is dating your cousin wrong

Click here: ※ Is dating your cousin wrong ※ ♥ Is dating your cousin wrong

Lévi-Strauss thought that this proved that the origin of the incest prohibition is purely social and not biological. I havn't even told my parents yet, the only people that know are my close friends.

Weitere Informationen und Einstellungen finden Sie im. XXXVIII Part II: 153—184. Hiroshima This sub-section about Pakistan possibly contains inappropriate or misinterpreted that do not the text. In-marriage was less frequent in the late pre-Islamic Hijaz than in ancient Egypt. As of February 201424 U. In ancient China, some evidence indicates in some cases, two clans had a sincere arrangement wherein they would only marry members of the other clan. I've liked her every since the first time I actually knew what love is.

This dichotomy may be a legacy of the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, when substantial Muslim migration to occurred from the eastern parts of the former unified state of Punjab. Manchester University Press ND.

Dating first cousin - A male reader, anonymous, writes 26 December 2009 : NO!! Daily Proverb Proverbs 5: Relevant Content Bible Passages The Reigns of Manasseh and Amon The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving Culture and the Bible A Fresh Start Daily Portion Cain's Wife.

Cousin marriage is between i. Opinions and practice vary widely across the world. In some cultures and communities, cousin marriage is considered ideal and actively encouraged; in others, it is subject to. In some countries, this practice is common; in others it is uncommon but still legal. In others, it is seen as and is : it is banned in and , , , the and 24 of the 50. Supporters of cousin marriage where it is banned may view the prohibition as , while opponents may appeal to or other arguments. Worldwide, more than 10% of marriages are between first or second cousins. In the past, cousin marriage was practised within indigenous cultures in Australia, North America, South America, and. Various religions have ranged from prohibiting sixth cousins or closer from marrying, to freely allowing first-cousin marriage. Cousin marriage is an important topic in and. Children of may have an increased risk of , particularly if their parents both carry a harmful mutation, but this can only be estimated empirically, and those estimates are likely to be specific to particular populations in specific environments. Children of more distantly related cousins have less risk of genetic disorders. In fact, a study of records indicated that marriages between third or fourth cousins people with common great-great- or great-great-great-grandparents may produce the most children and grandchildren. According to Professor of Rutgers University, 80% of all marriages in history may have been between second cousins or closer. The founding population of Homo sapiens was small, 700 to 10,000 individuals; therefore, a certain amount of inbreeding is inevitable. Proportions of first-cousin marriage in Western countries have declined since the 19th century. In the Middle East, cousin marriage is still strongly favoured. Cousin marriage has often been chosen to keep cultural values intact, preserve family wealth, maintain geographic proximity, keep tradition, strengthen family ties, and maintain family structure or a closer relationship between the wife and her in-laws. Many such marriages are see also pages on , , and. The Americas United States Cousin marriage was legal in all states before the. Writers such as 1758—1843 and ministers like 1775—1852 and Joshua McIlvaine helped lay the groundwork for such viewpoints well before 1860. This led to a gradual shift in concern from affinal unions, like those between a man and his deceased wife's sister, to unions. To many, Morgan included, cousin marriage, and more specifically marriage, was a remnant of a more primitive stage of human social organization. Morgan himself had married his cousin in 1853. This study implicated cousin marriage as responsible for idiocy. Within the next two decades, numerous reports e. Despite being contradicted by other studies like those of and Alan Huth in England and Robert Newman in New York, the report's conclusions were widely accepted. These developments led to 13 states and territories passing cousin marriage prohibitions by the 1880s. Though contemporaneous, the movement did not play much of a direct role in the bans. George Louis Arner in 1908 considered the ban a clumsy and ineffective method of eugenics, which he thought would eventually be replaced by more refined techniques. By the 1920s, the number of bans had doubled. Since that time, Kentucky 1943 and Texas have banned first-cousin marriage and since 1985, Maine has mandated genetic counseling for marrying cousins to minimise risk to any of serious health defect to their children. The unanimously recommended in 1970 that all such laws should be repealed, but no state has dropped its prohibition. Europe Europe continued the late Roman ban on cousin marriage; under the , couples were forbidden to marry if they were within four degrees of consanguinity. In 1215, the reduced the number of prohibited degrees of consanguinity from seven to four. The method of calculating prohibited degrees was changed also. Instead of the former practice of counting up to the common ancestor then down to the proposed spouse, the new law computed consanguinity by counting back to the common ancestor. In the , unknowingly marrying a closely consanguineous blood relative was grounds for a , but during the 11th and 12th centuries, were granted with increasing frequency due to the thousands of persons encompassed in the prohibition at seven degrees and the hardships this posed for finding potential spouses. After 1215, the general rule was that while fourth cousins could marry without dispensation, the need for dispensations was reduced. For example, the marriage of and was a first-cousin marriage on both sides. It began to fall out of favor in the 19th century as women became socially mobile. Only Austria, Hungary, and Spain banned cousin marriage throughout the 19th century, with dispensations being available from the government in the last two countries. First-cousin marriage in England in 1875 was estimated by George Darwin to be 3. The 19th-century academic debate on cousin marriage developed differently in Europe and America. The writings of Scottish deputy commissioner for lunacy claiming that cousin marriage had injurious effects on offspring were largely contradicted by researchers such as Alan Huth and George Darwin. In fact, Mitchell's own data did not support his hypotheses and he later speculated that the dangers of might be partly overcome by proper living. Later studies by George Darwin found results that resemble those estimated today. His father, Charles Darwin, who did marry his first cousin, had initially speculated that cousin marriage might pose serious risks, but perhaps in response to his son's work, these thoughts were omitted from a later version of the book they published. When a question about cousin marriage was eventually considered in 1871 for the census, according to George Darwin, it was rejected on the grounds that the idle curiosity of philosophers was not to be satisfied. Ancient Rome Cousin and sibling marriage were legal in ancient Rome from the 218—201 BC , until it was banned by the Christian emperor in 381 in the West, and until after the death of 565 in the East, but the proportion of such marriages is not clear. Anthropologist said that cousin marriage was a typical pattern in Rome, based on the marriage of four children of Emperor Constantine to their first cousins and on writings by and indicating the proscription of cousin marriage in the early Republic. Professors and Richard Saller, however, counter in their more comprehensive treatment that cousin marriages were never habitual or preferred in the western empire: for example, in one set of six stemmata genealogies of Roman aristocrats in the two centuries after , out of 33 marriages, none was between first or second cousins. Such marriages carried no social stigma in the late Republic and early Empire. They cite the example of Cicero attacking Mark Antony not on the grounds of cousin marriage, but instead on grounds of Antony's divorce. Shaw and Saller propose in their thesis of low cousin marriage rates that as families from different regions were incorporated into the imperial Roman nobility, was necessary to accommodate them and to avoid destabilizing the Roman social structure. Their data from tombstones further indicate that in most of the western empire, parallel-cousin marriages were not widely practiced among commoners, either. Jack Goody claimed that early Christian marriage rules forced a marked change from earlier norms to deny heirs to the wealthy and thus to increase the chance that those with wealth would will their property to the Church. Shaw and Saller, however, believe that the estates of aristocrats without heirs had previously been claimed by the emperor, and that the Church merely replaced the emperor. Their view is that the Christian injunctions against cousin marriage were due more to ideology than to any conscious desire to acquire wealth. For some prominent examples of cousin marriages in ancient Rome, such as the marriage of Octavian's daughter to his sister's son, see the. Cousin marriage was more frequent in , and marriages between uncle and niece were also permitted there. One example is King of Sparta, who married his. A Greek woman who became , or heiress with no brothers, was obliged to marry her father's nearest male kin if she had not yet married and given birth to a male heir. First in line would be either her father's brothers or their sons, followed by her father's sisters' sons. According to Goody, cousin marriage was allowed in the newly Christian and presumably also pre-Christian Ireland, where an heiress was also obligated to marry a paternal cousin. From the seventh century, the Irish Church only recognized four , and civil law fewer. This persisted until after the in the 11th century and the at in 1101. Finally, states that marriage among the ancient was apparently prohibited only in the ascending and descending lines and among siblings. In ancient China, some evidence indicates in some cases, two clans had a longstanding arrangement wherein they would only marry members of the other clan. Some men also practiced , that is, a marriage to a former wife's sister or a polygynous marriage to both sisters. This would have the effect of eliminating parallel-cousin marriage as an option, but would leave cross-cousin marriage acceptable. In the ancient system of the dating from around the third century BC, the words for the two types of cross cousins were identical, with father's brother's children and mother's sister's children both being distinct. However, whereas it may not have been permissible at that time, marriage with the mother's sister's children also became possible by the third century AD. Eventually, the mother's sister's children and cross cousins shared one set of terms, with only the father's brother's children retaining a separate set. In some periods in Chinese history, all cousin marriage was legally prohibited, as law codes dating from the Ming Dynasty attest. However, enforcement proved difficult and by the subsequent Qing Dynasty, the former laws had been restored. The following is a Chinese poem by A. There are only two clans there Which have intermarried for many generations. Anthropologist Francis Hsu described mother's brother's daughter MBD as being the most preferred type of Chinese cousin marriage, mother's sister's daughter MSD as being tolerated, and father's brother's daughter FBD as being disfavored. Some writers report this last form as being nearly incestuous. One proposed explanation is that in FBD marriage, the daughter does not change her surname throughout her life, so the marriage does not result in an extension of the father's kinship ties. In Chinese culture, these patrilineal ties are most important in determining the closeness of a relation. In the case of the MSD marriage, no such ties exist, so consequently this may not even be viewed as cousin marriage. Finally, one reason that MBD marriage is often most common may be the typically greater emotional warmth between a man and his mother's side of the family. Later analyses have found regional variation in these patterns; in some rural areas where cousin marriage is still common, MBD is not preferred but merely acceptable, similar to MSD. Middle East Main article: Cousin marriage has been allowed throughout the Middle East for all recorded history. 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. Very little numerical evidence exists of rates of cousin marriage in the past. Here the girl is not forced to marry her male cousin, but she cannot marry another unless he gives consent. The force of the custom is seen in one case from Jordan when the father arranged for the marriage of his daughter to an outsider without obtaining the consent of her male cousin. When the marriage procession progressed with the bride toward the house of the bridegroom, the male cousin rushed forward, snatched away the girl, and forced her into his own house. This was regarded by all as a lawful marriage. In Iraq, the right of the cousin has also traditionally been followed and a girl breaking the rule without the consent of the male cousin could have ended up murdered by him. The Syrian city of during the 19th century featured a rate of cousin marriage among the elite of 24% according to one estimate, a figure that masked widespread variation: some leading families had none or only one cousin marriage, while others had rates approaching 70%. In-marriage was less frequent in the late pre-Islamic than in ancient Egypt. It existed in during Muhammad's time, but at less than today's rates. In Egypt, estimates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries state variously that either 80% of married first cousins or two-thirds married them if they existed. One source from the 1830s states that cousin marriage was less common in than in other areas. In traditional Syria-Palestina, if a girl had no paternal male cousin father's brother's son or he renounced his right to her, the next in line was traditionally the maternal male cousin mother's brother's son and then other relatives. Raphael Patai, however, reported that this custom loosened in the years preceding his 1947 study. In ancient Persia, the kings habitually married their cousins and nieces, while between the 1940s and 1970s, the percentage of Iranian cousin marriages increased from 34 to 44%. Cousin marriage among native Middle Eastern Jews is generally far higher than among the European , who assimilated European marital practices after the. According to anthropologist , cousin marriage is not an independent phenomenon, but rather one expression of a wider Middle Eastern preference for agnatic solidarity, or solidarity with one's father's lineage. Close agnatic marriage has also been seen as a result of the conceptualization of men as responsible for the control of the conduct of women. Pragmatic reasons for the husband, such as warmer relations with his father-in-law, and those for parents of both spouses, like reduced bride price and access to the labor of the daughter's children, also contribute. Throughout Middle Eastern history, cousin marriage has been both praised and discouraged by various writers and authorities. A 2009 study found that many Arab countries display some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriages in the world, and that first cousin marriages which may reach 25—30% of all marriages. In Qatar, Yemen, and UAE, consanguinity rates are increasing in the current generation. Research among Arabs and worldwide has indicated that consanguinity could have an effect on some reproductive health parameters such as and rates of congenital malformations. Middle Eastern parallel-cousin marriage claimed that Islamization was a strong and significant predictor of parallel cousin father's brother's daughter — FBD marriage. He has shown that while a clear functional connection exists between Islam and FBD marriage, the prescription to marry a FBD does not appear to be sufficient to persuade people to actually marry thus, even if the marriage brings with it economic advantages. According to Korotayev, a systematic acceptance of parallel-cousin marriage took place when Islamization occurred together with Arabization. Africa Cousin marriage rates from most African nations outside the Middle East are unknown. An estimated 35—50% of all sub-Saharan African populations either prefer or accept cousin marriages. In Nigeria, the most populous country of Africa, the three largest tribes in order of size are the , , and. The Hausa are overwhelmingly Muslim, though followers of traditional religions do exist. Muslim Hausa practice cousin marriage preferentially, and polygyny is allowed if the husband can support multiple wives. The book presents one prominent portrayal of Hausa life: according to its English coauthor, it is unknown for Hausa women to be unmarried for any great length of time after around the age of 14. Divorce can be accomplished easily by either the male or the female, but females must then remarry. Even for a man, lacking a spouse is looked down upon. Baba of Karo's first of four marriages was to her second cousin. She recounts in the book that her good friend married the friend's first cross cousin. The Yoruba people are 50% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 10% adherent of their own indigenous religious traditions. A 1974 study analyzed Yoruba marriages in the town Oka Akoko, finding that among a sample of highly polygynous marriages having an average of about three wives, 51% of all pairings were consanguineous. These included not only cousin marriages, but also. Reportedly, it is a custom that in such marriages at least one spouse must be a relative, and generally such spouses were the preferred or favorite wives in the marriage and gave birth to more children. However, this was not a general study of Yoruba, but only of highly polygynous Yoruba residing in Oka Akoko. Finally, the Igbo people of southern Nigeria specifically prohibit both parallel- and cross-cousin marriage, though polygyny is common. Men are forbidden to marry within their own patrilineage or those of their mother or father's mother and must marry outside their own village. Igbo are almost entirely Christian, having converted heavily under colonialism. In Ethiopia, most of the population was historically rigidly opposed to cousin marriage, and could consider up to third cousins the equivalent of brother and sister, with marriage at least ostensibly prohibited out to sixth cousins. They also took affinal prohibitions very seriously. Though Muslims make up over a third of the Ethiopian population, and Islam has been present in the country since the time of Muhammad, cross-cousin marriage is very rare among most Ethiopian Muslims. In contrast to the Nigerian situation, in Ethiopia, Islam cannot be identified with particular tribal groups and is found across most of them, and conversions between religions are comparatively common. Exceptions to these rules include the overwhelmingly Muslim Somali and Afar peoples, who respectively make up 6. The Afar practice a form of cousin marriage called absuma that is arranged at birth and can be forced. No available data 1For information on US states see the map below. Brazil Recent 2001 data for indicate a rate of cousin marriage of 1. The geographic distribution is heterogeneous: in certain regions, the rate is at typical European levels, but in other areas is much higher. In his 1957 study, the rate varied from 1. Consanguinity has decreased over time and particularly since the 19th century. For example, in in the mid-19th century, the rate of cousin marriage apparently was 16%, but a century later, it was merely 1. East Asia In the Far East, is especially restrictive with bans on marriage out to third cousins, with all couples having the same surname and region of origin having been prohibited from marrying until 1997. It is allowed in , though the incidence has declined in recent years. China has banned it since passing its 1981 Marriage Law although cross-cousin marriage was commonly practiced in China in the past in rural areas. Limited existing data indicate some remaining cousin marriage of types besides father's brother's daughter in many villages, with percentages usually in the lower single digits. The overall rate appears to be declining. India Attitudes in India on cousin marriage vary sharply by and. The family law in India takes into account the religious and cultural practices and they are all equally recognized. For , governed by uncodified personal law, it is acceptable and legal to marry a first cousin, but for , it may be illegal under the 1955 , though the specific situation is more complex. The Hindu Marriage Act makes cousin marriage illegal for Hindus with the exception of marriages permitted by regional custom. Practices of the small minority are also location-dependent: their cousin marriage rates are higher in southern states such as with high overall rates. Apart from the religion-based personal laws governing marriages, the civil marriage law named governs. Those who do not wish to marry based on the personal laws governed by religious and cultural practices may opt for a marriage under this law. It defines the first-cousin relationship, both parallel and cross, as prohibited. Conflict may arise between the prohibited degrees based on this law and personal law, but in absence of any other laws, it is still unresolved. Cousin marriage is proscribed and seen as incest for Hindus in. In fact, it may even be unacceptable to marry within one's village or for two siblings to marry partners from the same village. The northern kinship model prevails in the states of , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and. However, for some communities in , it is common for Hindu cross cousins to marry, with mother's brother's daughter marriages being especially favored. In many North Indian communities such as , , , , , etc. These surnames are known as the candidate's lit. Any two candidates who want to marry cannot have a common gotra. The marriage is allowed only when all these shakha branches are different for both the candidates, so this automatically rules out closer cousin marriages. Cousin marriage is discouraged amongst Telugu Brahmins in Andhra Pradesh, such as Gauda and Dravida Brahmins. Practices in overall are closer to the northern than the southern, but differences exist here again. For instance, in , studies done in 1956 showed 7. By contrast, in the northern city of , only 0. At the other extreme, studies done in the South Indian state of Karnataka, which contains , during that period show fully one-third of Hindus married to a second cousin or closer. Pre-2000 Madhya Pradesh, from which Chhattisgarh has now split, and , which contains Mumbai, are states that are intermediate in their kinship practices. India's Muslim minority represents about 14% of its population and has an overall rate of cousin marriage of 22% according to a 2000 report. This dichotomy may be a legacy of the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, when substantial Muslim migration to occurred from the eastern parts of the former unified state of Punjab. In south India, by contrast, the rates are fairly constant, except for the South Indian Muslims of Kerala 9% who claim descent from Arab traders who settled permanently in India in the eighth century. Most Indian Muslims, by contrast, are the result of Hindus' to Islam in the 16th century or later. The lowest rate for a whole Indian region was in East India 15%. Consanguinity rates were generally stable across the four decades for which data exist, though second-cousin marriage appears to have been decreasing in favor of first-cousin marriage. Middle East Main article: The Middle East has uniquely high rates of cousin marriage among the world's regions. Certain Middle Eastern countries, including , have rates of marriage to first or second cousins that may exceed 70%. Iraq was estimated in one study to have a rate of 33%, and figures for have been estimated in the range of 30—40%. All in the currently require advance genetic screening for all prospective married couples. The current rate of cousin marriage there is 54%, an increase of 12—18% over the previous generation. A report by the Dubai-based Centre for Arab Genomic Studies CAGS in September 2009 found that Arabs have one of the world's highest rates of genetic disorders, nearly two-thirds of which are linked to consanguinity. Research from Ahmad Teebi suggests consanguinity is declining in , , and among in Israel, but is increasing in the. Ahmad Teebi links the increase in cousin marriage in Qatar and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf to tribal tradition and the region's expanding economies. One anthropologist, , argues that it is important to distinguish between the ideal of FBD marriage and marriage as it is actually practiced, which always also includes other types of cousins and unrelated spouses. Holý cites the of the Sudan, who consider the FBD to be the closest kinswoman to a man outside of the prohibited range. If more than one relationship exists between spouses, as often results from successive generations of cousin marriage, only the patrilineal one is counted. Marriage within the lineage is preferred to marriage outside the lineage even when no exact relationship is known. Of 277 first marriages, only 84 were between couples unable to trace any genealogical relationship between them. Of those, in 64, the spouses were of the same lineage. However, of 85 marriages to a second or third wife, in 60, the spouses were of different lineages. The have a very limited set of incest prohibitions that includes only lineal relatives, the sister, and aunts except the mother's brother's wife. Female members of the mother's lineage are seen as only loosely related. Finally, the Arabs favor MBD marriage first, followed by cross-cousin marriage if the cross cousin is a member of the same surra, a group of agnates of five or six generations depth. Next is marriage within the surra. No preference is shown for marriages between matrilateral parallel cousins. The Netherlands The has also had a recent debate that has reached the level of the proposing a cousin marriage ban. Critics argue that such a ban would contradict Section 8 of the , is not based on science, and would affect more than immigrants. While some proponents argue such marriages were banned until 1970, according to Frans van Poppel of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, they are confusing cousin marriage with. Pakistan This sub-section about Pakistan possibly contains inappropriate or misinterpreted that do not the text. Please help by checking for citation inaccuracies. April 2016 In , cousin marriage is legal and common. Reasons for consanguinity are for economic and cultural reasons. As Pakistan is a diverse country, consanguineous marriage is therefore favoured by 50—60% of the population in Pakistan. In some areas, higher proportion of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan has been noted to be the cause of an increased rate of blood disorders in the population. United States Further information: Several have bans on cousin marriage. As of February 2014 , 24 U. Six states prohibit first-cousin-once-removed marriages. Some states prohibiting cousin marriage recognize cousin marriages performed in other states, but despite occasional claims that this holds true in general, that explicitly void all foreign cousin marriages or marriages conducted by state residents out of state. It was estimated in 1960 that 0. It is unknown what proportion of that number were first cousins, which is the group facing marriage bans. To contextualize the group's size, the total proportion of interracial marriages in 1960, the last census year before the end of anti-miscegenation statutes, was 0. While recent studies have cast serious doubt on whether cousin marriage is as dangerous as is popularly assumed, professors Diane B. Paul and Hamish G. According to the 's The Wake, Kahn was aware the bill had little chance of passing, but introduced it anyway to draw attention to the issue. She reportedly got the idea after learning that cousin marriage is an acceptable form of marriage among some cultural groups that have a strong presence in Minnesota, namely the and. In contrast, delegates and sponsored a bill to ban first-cousin marriages in 2000. It got further than Kahn's bill, passing the House of Delegates by 82 to 46 despite most Republicans voting no, but finally died in the state senate. In response to the 2005 marriage of Pennsylvanian first cousins Eleanor Amrhein and Donald W. Texas actually did pass a ban on first-cousin marriage the same year as Amrhein and Andrews married, evidently in reaction to the presence of the polygamous FLDS. And when it happens you have a bad result. It's just not the accepted normal thing. The new statute made sex with an adult first cousin a more serious felony than with adult members of one's immediate family. However, this statute was amended in 2009; while sex with close adult family members including first cousins remains a felony, the more serious penalty now attaches to sex with an individual's direct ancestor or descendant. In the other 25 states permitting at least some first-cousin marriage, double cousins are not distinguished. States have various laws regarding marriage between cousins and other close relatives, which involve factors including whether or not the parties to the marriage are half-cousins, double cousins, infertile, over 65, or whether it is a tradition prevalent in a native or ancestry culture, adoption status, in-law, whether or not genetic counselling is required, and whether it is permitted to marry a first cousin once removed. In the 1980s researchers found that children to Pakistani parents had an condition rate of 4% compared to 0. Robin Bennett, a researcher, has said that much hostility towards married cousins constitutes. It's a form of discrimination that nobody talks about. People worry about not getting health insurance — but saying that someone shouldn't marry based on how they're related, when there's no known harm, to me is a form of discrimination. A recent article by Sarah Kershaw documents fear by many married cousins of being treated with derision and contempt. It gives the example of one mother, Mrs. Spring, whose daughter Kimberly Spring-Winters, 29, married her cousin Shane Winters, 37. She stated that when she has told people about her daughter's marriage, they have been shocked and that consequently she is afraid to mention it. They live in a small Pennsylvania town and she worries that her grandchildren will be treated as outcasts and ridiculed due to their parental status. Another cousin couple stated that their children's maternal grandparents have never met their two grandchildren because the grandparents severed contact out of disapproval for the couple's marriage. This couple withheld their names from publication. In most societies, cousin marriage apparently is more common among those of low socio-economic status, among the illiterate and uneducated, and in rural areas. This may be due in part to the token or significantly reduced dowries and bridewealths that exist in such marriages and also the much smaller pool of viable marriage candidates in rural areas. Some societies also report a high prevalence among land-owning families and the ruling elite: here the relevant consideration is thought to be keeping the family estate intact over generations. The average age at marriage is lower for cousin marriages, the difference in one Pakistani study being 1. In Pakistan, the ages of the spouses were also closer together, the age difference declining from 6. A marginal increase in time to first birth, from 1. Predictions that cousin marriage would decline during the late 20th century in areas where it is preferential appear to have been largely incorrect. One reason for this is that in many regions, cousin marriage is not merely a cultural tradition, but is also judged to offer significant social and economic benefits. Where permissible, marriage to a close relative is hence regarded as a more economically feasible choice. Second, improvements in public health have led to decreased death rates and increased family sizes, making it easier to find a relative to marry if that is the preferred choice. Increases in cousin marriage in the West may also occur as a result of immigration from Asia and Africa. In the short term, some observers have concluded that the only new forces that could discourage such unions are government bans like the one China enacted in 1981. In the longer term, rates may decline due to decreased family sizes, making it more difficult to find cousins to marry. Cousin marriage is important in several anthropological theories by prominent authors such as , , and. Lévi-Strauss viewed cross-cousin marriage as a form of exogamy in the context of a unilineal descent group, meaning either or descent. Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage in societies with matrilineal descent meant that a male married into the family his mother's brother, building an between the two families. However, marriage to a mother's sister daughter a parallel cousin would be , here meaning inside the same descent group, and would therefore fail to build alliances between different groups. Correspondingly, in societies like China with patrilineal descent, marriage to a father's brother's daughter would fail at alliance building. And in societies with both types of descent, where a person belongs to the group of his mother's mother and father's father but not mother's father or father's mother, only cross-cousin marriages would successfully build alliances. Lévi-Strauss postulated that cross-cousin marriage had the two consequences of setting up classes which automatically delimit the group of possible spouses and of determining a relationship that can decide whether a prospective spouse is to be desired or excluded. Whereas in other kinship systems one or another of these aspects dominates, in cross-cousin marriage they overlap and cumulate their effects. It differs from incest prohibitions in that the latter employs a series of negative relationships, saying whom one cannot marry, while cross-cousin marriage employs positive relationships, saying whom should marry. Most crucially, cross-cousin marriage is the only type of preferential union that can function normally and exclusively and still give every man and woman the chance to marry a cross-cousin. Unlike other systems such as the levirate, the sororate, or uncle-niece marriage, cross-cousin marriage is preferential because for obvious reasons these others cannot constitute the exclusive or even preponderant rule of marriage in any group. Consequently, cross-cousin marriage can be a normal form of marriage in a society, but the other systems above can only be privileged forms. This makes cross-cousin marriage exceptionally important. Cross-cousin marriage also establishes a division between prescribed and prohibited relatives who, from the viewpoint of biological proximity, are strictly interchangeable. Lévi-Strauss thought that this proved that the origin of the incest prohibition is purely social and not biological. Cross-cousin marriage in effect allowed the anthropologist to control for biological degree by studying a situation where the degree of prohibited and prescribed spouses were equal. In understanding why two relatives of the same biological degree would be treated so differently, Lévi-Strauss wrote, it would be possible to understand not only the principle of cross-cousin marriage but of the incest prohibition itself. For Lévi-Strauss cross-cousin marriage was not either socially arbitrary or a secondary consequence of other institutions like dual organization or the practice of exogamy. Instead, the raison d'etre of cross-cousin marriage could be found within the institution itself. Of the three types of institution of exogamy rules, dual organization, and cross-cousin marriage, the last was most significant, making the analysis of this form of marriage the crucial test for any theory of marriage prohibitions. Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage has been found by some anthropological researchers to be correlated with patripotestal jural authority, meaning rights or obligations of the father. According to some theories, in these kinship systems a man marries his matrilateral cross-cousin due to associating her with his nurturant mother. Patrilateral cross-cousin marriage is the rarest of all types of cousin marriage, and there is some question as to whether it even exists. In contrast to Lévi-Strauss who viewed the exchange of women under matrilateral cross-cousin marriage as fundamentally egalitarian, anthropologist held that such systems by nature created groups of junior and senior status and were part of the political structure of society. Under Leach's model, in systems where this form of marriage segregates descent groups into wife-givers and wife-takers, the social status of the two categories also cannot be determined by a priori arguments. Groups like the exhibiting matrilateral cross-cousin marriage do not exchange women in circular structures; where such structures do exist they are unstable. Moreover, the exchanging groups are not major segments of the society, but rather local descent groups from the same or closely neighboring communities. Their thesis is the converse of 's, who describes the fission as leading to the cousin marriage. This practice is said to possess advantages such as resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. A recent research study of 70 nations has found a statistically significant negative correlation between consanguineous kinship networks and. The authors note that other factors, such as restricted genetic conditions, may also explain this relationship. This follows a 2003 essay published for The American Conservative, where he claimed that high rates of cousin marriage play an important role in discouraging political. Sailer believes that because families practicing cousin marriage are more related to one another than otherwise, their feelings of family loyalty tend to be unusually intense, fostering. The also contains several examples of married cousins. Two of the most famous are prominent in. Also, and were both cousins of Isaac's son. Jacob loved Rachel and worked seven years for her father Laban in return for permission to marry Genesis 28—29. Jacob's brother also married his cousin , daughter of. For example, the Catholic and differ in Numbers 36:10—12. During the apportionment of Israel following the journey out of Egypt, gives his daughter to his brother's son according to the NAB Joshua 15:17 , though the Jewish argues Othniel was simply Caleb's brother Sotah 11b. The daughters of Eleazer also married the sons of Eleazer's brother Kish in the still later time of David 1 Chronicles 23:22. Finally, Tobias in the book of has a right to marry Sarah because he is her nearest kinsman Tobit 7:10 , though the exact degree of their cousinship is not clear. In , all marriages more distant than first-cousin marriages are allowed, and first-cousin marriages can be contracted with a dispensation. This was not always the case, however: the Catholic Church has gone through several phases in kinship prohibitions. At the dawn of Christianity in Roman times, marriages between first cousins were allowed. For example, , the first Christian Roman Emperor, married his children to the children of his half-brother. First and second cousin marriages were then banned at the in AD 506, though dispensations sometimes continued to be granted. By the 11th century, with the adoption of the so-called method of computing consanguinity, these proscriptions had been extended even to sixth cousins, including by marriage. But due to the many resulting difficulties in reckoning who was related to whom, they were relaxed back to third cousins at the in AD 1215. In Catholicism, close relatives who have married unwittingly without a dispensation can receive an. There are several explanations for the rise of Catholic cousin marriage prohibitions after the. One explanation is increasing influence on church policy. At least one King, , apparently viewed close kin marriages among nobles as a threat to his power. Whatever the reasons, written justifications for such bans had been advanced by by the fifth century. Since the 13th century the Catholic Church has measured consanguinity according to what is called, perhaps confusingly, the civil-law method. Under this method, the degree of relationship between lineal relatives i. However, the degree of relationship between collateral non-lineal relatives equals the number of links in the family tree from one person, up to the common ancestor, and then back to the other person. Thus brothers are related in the second degree, and first cousins in the fourth degree. This includes most of the major US denominations, such as , , , , and. The has also allowed cousin marriage since its inception during the rule of. According to Luther and Calvin, the Catholic bans on cousin marriage were an expression of Church rather than divine law and needed to be abolished. Protestants during the Reformation struggled to interpret the Biblical proscriptions against in a sensible manner, a task frustrated by facts like their omission of the daughter but inclusion of the granddaughter as a directly prohibited relation. John Calvin thought of the Biblical list only as illustrative and that any relationship of the same or smaller degree as any listed, namely the third degree by the civil-law method, should therefore be prohibited. The reached the same conclusion soon after. But in contrast to both Protestantism and Catholicism, the prohibits up to second cousins from marrying. The 1913 refers to a theory by the speculating that and , the mother of and her husband, were first cousins. Islam See also: The does not state that marriages between first cousins are forbidden. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. In a few countries the most common type is between paternal cousins. One was a first cousin, , who was not only the daughter of one of his father's sisters but was also divorced from a marriage with Muhammad's adopted son,. It was the issue of adoption and not cousinship that caused controversy due to the opposition of pre-Islamic Arab norms. Many of the immediate successors of Muhammad also took a cousin as one of their wives. Even though many Muslims practice cousins marriage now, two of the schools, four in total like about 33. Hinduism bans all kinds of first cousin marriage, but allows these type of marriages when allowed by local custom. North Indian Hindus treat all kinds of first cousin marriage as , but same is not the case with South Indian Hindus. Marrying cross cousins is common and favoured among South Indian Hindus. Marriage between maternal uncle and niece was formerly practised among South Indian Hindus, which is considered as incest by other Hindus. Major like and also ban all kinds of cousin marriage. In Hinduism marriage within the same is prohibited, where a gotra is believed to be the group of descendants of a sage who lived in the remote past. Two persons in the same gotra cannot marry even if they come from different linguistic areas. However, same-gotra marriages have been legal under Indian civil law since the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. Additionally, marriages within certain degrees of are considered and banned in Hinduism. Hindu lawgivers differ in the definition of sapinda: at one extreme, according to some sources marriages are prohibited within seven generations on the father's side and five on the mother's side. In contrast, other sources allow to marry, including first cross cousins. The Hindu Marriage Act prohibits marriage for five generations on the father's side and three on the mother's side, but allows cross-cousin marriage where it is permitted by custom. Hindu rules of are often taken extremely seriously, and local village councils in India administer laws against in-gotra endogamy,. Social norms against such practices are quite strong as well. In the 18th and 19th Centuries, of and are known to have been influenced by their Muslim neighbors and taken up extensively the custom of cousin marriage. In the , one of the two great , took as his fourth wife his first and cross cousin , the sister of. Arjuna had gone into exile alone after having disturbed and in their private quarters. It was during the last part of his exile, while staying at the Dvaraka residence of his cousins, that he fell in love with Subhadra. While eating at the home of , Arjuna was struck with Subhadra's beauty and decided he would obtain her as his wife. Subhadra and Arjuna's son was the tragic hero. According to Andhra Pradesh oral tradition, Abhimanyu himself married his first cross-cousin Shashirekha, the daughter of Subhadra's brother. Cross cousins marriages are evident from Arjuna's marriage with Subhadra, 's Eldest son of Krishna marriage with Rukmi's Brother of daughter. Also Krishna married his cross cousin Daughter of 's sister Rajadhi who was Queen of Avanti and Bhadra Daughter of Vasudeva's sister Shrutakirti who was the Queen of Kekaya Kingdom. Other religions This section needs expansion with: Buddhism. You can help by. Genetics Cousin marriage has genetic aspects that do not arise in the case of other marriage-related political and social issues like interracial marriage. This is because married couples that possess higher than normal , shared identical and material, have an increased chance of sharing genes for recessive traits. The percentage of consanguinity between any two individuals decreases fourfold as the recedes one generation. First cousins have four times the consanguinity of second cousins, while first cousins once removed have half that of first cousins. In April 2002, the Journal of Genetic Counseling released a report which estimated the average risk of in a child born of first cousins at 1. In terms of mortality, a 1994 study found a mean excess pre-reproductive mortality rate of 4. Put differently, a single first-cousin marriage entails a similar increased risk of birth defects and mortality as a woman faces when she gives birth at age 41 rather than at 30. Repeated consanguineous marriages within a group are more problematic. After repeated generations of cousin marriage the actual genetic relationship between two people is closer than the most immediate relationship would suggest. In Pakistan, where there has been cousin marriage for generations and the current rate may exceed 50%, one study estimated infant mortality at 12. Among double first cousin progeny, 41. Even in the absence of preferential consanguinity, alleles that are rare in large populations can randomly increase to high frequency in small groups within a few generations due to the and accelerated in a breeding pool of restricted size. For example, because the entire population is descended from only a few hundred 18th-century settlers, the average coefficient of inbreeding between two random Amish is higher than between two non-Amish second cousins. First-cousin marriage is taboo among Amish, but they still suffer from several rare genetic disorders. In 's , Amish make up only about 10 percent of the population but represent half the special needs cases. In the case of one debilitating seizure disorder, the worldwide total of 12 cases exclusively involves Amish sufferers. Similar disorders have been found in the , who do allow first-cousin marriage and of whom 75 to 80 percent are related to two 1830s founders. Studies into the effect of cousin marriage on and complex diseases of adulthood have often yielded contradictory results due to the rudimentary sampling strategies used. Both positive and negative associations have been reported for breast cancer and heart disease. Consanguinity seems to affect many polygenic traits such as height, body mass index, and cardiovascular profile. However, these results may principally reflect village rather than consanguinity per se. Endogamy is marrying within a group and in this case the group was a village. The marital patterns of the Amish are also an example of endogamy. The Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformation found an association between consanguinity and hydrocephalus, postaxial polydactyly, and bilateral oral and facial clefts. A consistent positive association between consanguinity and disorders such as ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect has been demonstrated, but both positive and negative associations with patent ductus arteriosus, atrioventricular septal defect, pulmonary atresia, and have been reported in different populations. Associations between consanguinity and Alzheimer's disease have been found in certain populations. Studies into the influence of inbreeding on anthropometric measurements at birth and in childhood have failed to reveal any major and consistent pattern, and only marginal declines were shown in the mean scores attained by consanguineous progeny in tests of intellectual capacity. In the latter case, it would appear that inbreeding mainly leads to greater variance in IQ levels, due in part to the expression of detrimental recessive genes in a small proportion of those tested. A report discussed , 55% of whom marry a first cousin. Given the high rate of such marriages, many children come from repeat generations of first-cousin marriages. The report states that these children are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce children with , and one in ten children of first-cousin marriages in either dies in infancy or develops a serious disability. Published studies show that mean in the Pakistani community of 15. Congenital anomalies account for 41 percent of all British Pakistani infant deaths. The BBC story contained an interview with Myra Ali, whose parents and grandparents were all first cousins. She has a very rare recessive genetic condition, known as which will cause her to lead a life of extreme physical suffering, limited human contact and probably an early death from skin cancer. Knowing that cousin marriages increase the probability of recessive genetic conditions, she is understandably against the practice. Finally, in 2010 the Telegraph reported that cousin marriage among the British Pakistani community resulted in 700 children being born every year with genetic disabilities. The increased mortality and birth defects observed among British Pakistanis may, however, have another source besides current consanguinity. This is among different Pakistani groups. Population subdivision results from decreased gene flow among different groups in a population. Because members of Pakistani biradari have married only inside these groups for generations, offspring have higher average even for couples with no known genetic relationship. Instead they are 13 times more likely to develop recessive genetic disorders. Both however, also carry a biological risk. They key difference, GIG argue, is that cousin marriage is more common amongst a British minority population. Increased focus on genetic disease in developing countries may eventually result from progress in eliminating environmental diseases there as well. Comprehensive genetic education and premarital genetic counseling programs can help to lessen the burden of genetic diseases in endogamous communities. Genetic education programs directed at high-school students have been successful in Middle Eastern countries such as. Genetic counseling in developing countries has been hampered, however, by lack of trained staff, and couples may refuse prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion despite the endorsement of religious authorities. In Britain, the Human Genetics Commission recommends a strategy comparable with previous strategies in dealing with increased maternal age, notably as this age relates to an increased risk of Down Syndrome. All pregnant women in Britain are offered a screening test from the government-run national health service to identify those at an increased risk of having a baby with Down syndrome. The HGC states that similarly, it is appropriate to offer genetic counseling to consanguineous couples, preferably before they conceive, in order to establish the precise risk of a genetic abnormality in offspring. Under this system the offering of genetic counseling can be refused, unlike, for example, in the US state of Maine where genetic counseling is mandatory to obtain a marriage license for first cousins. He states that the social, cultural, and economic benefits of cousin marriage also need to be fully considered. Fertility Higher total fertility rates are reported for cousin marriages than average, a phenomenon noted as far back as during the late 19th century. There is no significant difference in the number of surviving children in cousin marriages because this compensates for the observed increase in child mortality. The total fertility increase may be partly explained by the lower average parental age at marriage, and age at first birth, observed in consanguineous marriages. Other factors include shorter birth intervals and possibly a lower likelihood of using reliable. There is also the possibility of more births as a compensation for increased child mortality, either via a conscious decision by parents to achieve a set family size or the cessation of following the death of an infant. According to a recent paper the fertility difference is probably not due to any underlying biological effect. In Iceland, where marriages between second and third cousins were common, in part due to limited selection, studies show higher fertility rates. Earlier papers claimed that increased sharing of , as well as of deleterious recessive genes expressed during pregnancy, may lead to lower rates of conception and higher rates of miscarriage in consanguineous couples. Others now believe there is scant evidence for this unless the genes are operating very early in the pregnancy. Studies consistently show a lower rate of in cousin marriages, usually interpreted as being due to greater immunological compatibility between spouses. Main article: Cousin marriages in the United Kingdom include , and. In royalty, marriage between cousins was common. King , also husband of Queen , had first married his first cousin on both sides,. Famous cousin marriages in the United States include , , , and. In Latin America, famous figures who married their cousin include prominent author and 2010 laureate , and former beauty queen. Retrieved 4 June 2016. The New York Times. Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. Bouchard, 'Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries', Speculum, Vol. Bouchard, 'Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries', Speculum, Vol. Baldwin, The Language of Sex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200 Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994 , p. Bouchard, 'Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries', Speculum, Vol. Brundage, Law, Sex, and Christian Society in Medieval Europe Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995 , p. Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. Constitutional Court of Korea: 242 p. Archived from PDF on 19 February 2012. Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China. Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York. Retrieved 1 July 2012. Ministry of Justice Vietnam. Retrieved 28 June 2013. Hsu 28 October 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2017. Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation. Genetic Disorders of the Indian Subcontinent. Kluwer Academic Publishers: AA Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2000. Wolf, Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century , 2005 , p. Why marriage matters: America, equality, and gay people's right to marry. Texas Legislature 79 R. § 51—3 West 2009. National Conference of State Legislatures. Retrieved 10 September 2013. In Manners, Robert Alan; Kaplan, David. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. The American Conservative: 20—22. Coriden and Thomas J. New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2000. A History of Matrimonial Institutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. The Development of the Family and Marriage in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages. New York: Harper and Row. Archived from on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2013. Retrieved 10 September 2013. Government of Punjab: Department of Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management. Retrieved 27 March 2010. The Indian Express Limited. Retrieved 15 January 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010. American Journal of Human Biology. Vargas Llosa: otra historia de un deicidio. Retrieved 13 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 February 2010. The CIA World Factbook. US Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 7 February 2010. Journal of the Statistical Society. XXXVIII Part II: 153—184. The Economics of Consanguineous Marriages. World Bank, Development Research Group, Poverty Team. Retrieved 10 February 2010. Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia. Archived from PDF on 14 February 2012. National Council on Family Relations. The development of the family and marriage in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 13 February 2010. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Manchester University Press ND. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China. Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York. Retrieved 21 June 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010. University of Texas Press. Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. The Family in Greek History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Archived from on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010. Save the Children USA. Retrieved 8 February 2010. Kinship and Social Organization. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 7 February 2010. Journal of Medical Genetics. Retrieved 26 Apr 2016. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Washington, DC: Endowment of the United States Institute of Peace. Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing, University of Kent at Canterbury. Retrieved 8 February 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2017. New York: Allerton Book Co.