chapotraphouse

counter-point: Nah bro

The cultural taboo against first-cousin marriage is probably due to the fact that if you have too many people marrying first-cousins in a fixed community over generations it will eventually lead to inbreeding problems, which was a bigger issue when everyone lived in small agricultural communities. People who get weird about second or third cousin partnering are frankly silly, if you live in any sort of rural community finding a partner who isn't somehow distantly related to you is near impossible and inbreeding really not a problem with anyone beyond first cousins.

But first cousins, honestly it's one of those things that's mostly harmless on the micro but harmful on the macro, hence why it's been discouraged via social pressure for millennia.

There is totally a genetic problem caused by multiple generations marrying inside the family though, which is part of where the taboo comes from, isolated families or aristocrats marrying their first cousins for literally centuries.

You and your cousin are not gonna have flipper babies, but after doing this for several generations, your descendants will all have PCOS and astigmatism, they will need glasses for poor eye sight, and probably several of them will be physically and mentally disabled. There is a lot of research to back this up, and if you don't believe in research, you can compare the side of your family that have been inbreeding with the side that have not and you can see for yourself.

Edit:

I'm gonna add that if you are considering marrying your first cousin, you undoubtedly already have family members that have been marrying eachother for several generations and you probably also personally know several people with some or all of the issues highlighted above, which is all the more reason for your family, friends and wider society to bully you out of doing it again yourself.

Also relevant Dead South song.

It's especially weird when people get like that about second and third cousins. Like ffs, genetically those may as well be complete strangers. If you've had a lot of sex partners and still live near your family you've probably banged one of those without having any idea about it lmao

Ok but if everyone is having kids w their cousins, doesn't that compound?

Shelbyvillian detected

It’s funny how people get disgusted by breaking of arbitrary social taboos. What’s disgusting about it? They act like it’s making them physically sick just to think about which I just don’t understand.

Omw to fuck my cousin now

get their asses

a social critique of cousin marriage

i think this is something that cannot be placed within the auspices of consanguinity, the relationships people have with their cousins is wildly, wildly divergent even in the same culture and class. i'd rather have the rule be more like 'don't fuck someone that grew up in the same house as you' or similar

I don't believe you.

When you expect a bunch of Marxists to embrace cultural taboos

Well start making more cousins. With your cousins.

This is the shit I come to Hexbear for. Idk anywhere else where someone would put those two things together. I certainly wouldn't have thought about it.

Accusing southern people of being genetically inferior because of inbreeding is classist and also tacky.