Cousin couple

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A cousin couple is a pair of cousins who are involved in a romantic or sexual relationship. In some jurisdictions and cultures, such marriages are legal, accepted, or even actively encouraged, while in others cousin-cousin relationships are regarded as incest and marriages are prohibited. Still other cultures may tolerate marriages between first cousins, but at the same time these unions are not encouraged. Any random two people have a common ancestor and are cousins to some degree, but most people don't know their common ancestor. Usually, unless otherwise qualified, "cousin" means first cousin, someone with whom one shares one pair of grandparents.

History

In earlier times, and still today in some cultures, it was relatively common for cousins to get married. Since people tended not to move far from their place of birth, the closest eligible spouse was often a cousin. Marrying a cousin was also a way of keeping land and property in the family (endogamy). Traditionally, such arranged marriages are facilitated by the extended family.

In Islam

In some Muslim communities, marriages between cousins are allowed. The Qur'an states that "Marriages between first cousins are allowed". In surat an-Nisa' (4:22-24), Allah mentioned the women who are forbidden for marriage - to quote the Qu'ran, "… Lawful to you are all beyond those mentioned, so that you may seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock…" In surat al-Ahzab (33:50), Allah mentioned to the Prophet that he may marry the daughters of his uncles and aunts from the father's side or the mother's side. It is the consensus of the jurists that this permission was not only for the Prophet, but it is also a permission for other believers. Muslims have practiced marriages between first cousins in all countries since the time of the Prophet.

Many of the love stories included in Arabian Nights depict love between first cousins.

One form of cousin marriage, known in East Africa as absuma, is an arrangement made at birth.^[1]

In Judaism and Christianity

Cousin couples existed in the Old Testament. Two of the most famous are prominent in Genesis. Isaac was married to Rebekah, his first cousin once removed (Genesis 24:12-15). Rachel and Leah were both cousins of Jacob (Genesis 28-29). The Bible does not define cousin marriages as right or wrong, although it does firmly prohibit sex and marriage between other closer relatives, as incest (Leviticus 18:6-18).

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia refers to a theory by the Anglican bishop of Bath and Wells speculating that Mary and Joseph, the mother of Jesus and her husband, were first cousins.^[2]

In Hinduism

In Hindu culture, for the most part, a marriage alliance between cousins is looked down upon. However,there is the case of Arjuna marrying his first cousin Subhadra, the sister of Krishna.

Consanguinity

The percentage of consanguinity between any two individuals decreases fourfold as the most recent common ancestor recedes one generation. Consanguinity means the amount of shared (identical) DNA, the genetic material. For example, first cousins have four times the consanguinity of second cousins. First cousins once removed, have half the shared DNA as full first cousins. Half-fourth cousins sometimes cannot be detected at the DNA level.^[3]

Double first cousins share twice the consanguinity as first cousins. They are as related as half-siblings.

The children of Emma Wedgwood and Charles Darwin, and the children of Caroline Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood III, are genetically the same as full siblings from one woman and one man.

In Catholicism, before 1983, marriages between second cousins were prohibited. Rudy Giuliani received an annulment of his first marriage to Regina Peruggi after determining that his wife was his second cousin, once removed. Today, second-cousin marriages are allowed. No nation legally prohibits any marriages more distant than first-cousin marriages. The USA has the strictest cousin-marriage laws in the Western world, but still 1 in 1000 marriages in the country are between first cousins.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2002, the Journal of Genetic Counseling released a report authored by a team of scientists led by Robin L. Bennett, a genetic counselor at the University of Washington and the president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, which showed that the potential risk of birth defects in a child born of first cousins was slightly higher than the risk associated with a non-cousin couple. The report estimated the increased risk for first cousins at 1.7 - 2.8 % over the base risk of about 3%, or about the same as that of any woman over age 40,^[4] or of a still younger man (see paternal age). Put differently, first-cousin marriages entail roughly the same increased risk of birth defects as a woman faces when she gives birth at age 41 (roughly 6%) rather than at 30 (roughly 3%). Critics argue that banning first-cousin marriages would make as much sense as trying to ban childbearing by older women. These numbers were reported only for first instances of cousin mating; repeated generations of cousin coupling are thought to increase the risk substantially.^{[citation needed]}

A BBC report^[5] studied Pakistanis in Britain, 55% of whom marry a first cousin. Given the high rate of such marriages, many children come from repeat generations of first-cousin marriages. These children are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce children with genetic disorders. One in ten children of cousin marriages either dies in infancy or develops a serious disability. Thus Pakistani-Britons, who account for some 3% of all births in the UK, produce "just under a third" of all British children with genetic illnesses.

The BBC story contained an interview with Myra Ali, who is the product of at least two generations of Pakistani cousin marriages (and possibly three). She has a very rare recessive genetic condition, known as Epidermolysis bullosa 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.

Some cultures have an intermarriage taboo on parallel cousins but not on cross cousins. It has been suggested that the children of two brothers run the risk of actually being half siblings if there was clandestine sexual activity. The taboo against this type of cousin marriage prevents the possibility of an accidental incestuous marriage.

According to a statement by The Human Genetics Commission on cousin marriages:

One recent media report estimated that British Pakistanis were 13 times more likely to have children with genetic disorders than the general population. Taken out of context, this figure implies that ALL British Pakistanis are equally at risk irrespective of marriage patterns, and fails to clarify that the risk relates specifically to recessive genetic disorders which can arise in cousin marriages. Other types of genetic conditions, including chromosomal abnormalities, sex-linked conditions and autosomal dominant conditions are not influenced by cousin marriage.^[6]

Famous cousin couples

See also

• Genealogy
• Incest
• Inbreeding
• Prohibited degree of kinship
• Types of marriage
• Imprinting (psychology)
• Genetic sexual attraction
• Pedigree collapse
• Mahram

Notes

External links

• State Laws Regarding Marriages Between First Cousins compiled by the US National Conference of State Legislatures