Marry yer cousins for N generations.

[lukemg]

'This here is ma wife and ma sister' - But there is only one person....

[up4it]

If my cousin was a babe then I would go for it! :-)

[shaunbhoy]

Interstingly, there's a book regarding inbreeding, called Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo which recently came to state Scotland had a huge issue with Inbreeding in which close cousin marriage was proscribed on religious grounds by the Roman Catholic Church.

Interesting really, but I guess no surprise...

Does make you wonder just what sort of person might read such a book, far less find it interesting.
Nowt as queer as folk as they say.

[SueEllen]

If my cousin was a babe then I would go for it! :-)

There is suppose to be some inbuilt mechanism to stop you going for anyone who you grew up very closely with which could include cousins but definitely includes siblings.

Which is why you get cases like this German one if siblings are separated.

[OwlHoot]

Does make you wonder just what sort of person might read such a book, far less find it interesting.
Nowt as queer as folk as they say.

I've read weirder books than that

[Sysman]

Prevalent amongst certain groups within major centres of Asian population in the UK.

It's causing sh!tloads of problems for the NHS.

Obligatory Daily Mail Linky

A maternity nurse I once met told me she had worked in an Arab country and every time a misformed baby was born she asked the mother who she had married. The answer was usually "Uncle" or "Cousin".

That kind of revelation is not one you easily forget.

[Sysman]

I thought that practice was reserved for European royality?

I watched a documentary on German artists last year and they covered the Hapsburg family portraits. That lot ended up so inbred that some of them couldn't even walk properly.

Closer to home, the local farms in one Yorkshire village I lived in were dominated by one family who had over the generations "kept it in the family" to keep hold of the land. There was nothing obviously odd with any of them, but you never needed to ask what their surname was, you could tell by their looks.

[SueEllen]

Closer to home, the local farms in one Yorkshire village I lived in were dominated by one family who had over the generations "kept it in the family" to keep hold of the land. There was nothing obviously odd with any of them, but you never needed to ask what their surname was, you could tell by their looks.

Same reason it happens in Arab countries as well. The article misses out the fact in Saudi Arabia first cousin marriages are thought to be the highest.

I ended up finding out all this stuff as a teenager as one of my mates was from a Pakistani background with relatives who lived in Saudi. Her oldest sister was given the "privilege" of marrying a Saudi more distant cousin. Though he unfortunately wasn't distant enough for their two children. (I think they were 3rd cousins.)

Strangely all the younger children in the family including my mate refused to be hitched to any relation after that.

[Diver]

There are quite a few insular, exclusive groups (where arranged marriages are common) that this relates to.

No I'm not marrying you Cojak, I don't care if you can bring pressure to bear as a moderator

Besides, I'm already spoken for and Sasguru would be upset.

[Sysman]

Webbed feet?

Dunno, never saw any of 'em without their boots on.

Which was nothing out of the ornery when we lived with horizontal rain,

But given the weather in them thar hills, webbed feet could have been considered an evolutionary advantage.

Never thought of it that way before.