Why you can't marry your relative?

@jeiay41 (674)
United States
September 7, 2009 7:58pm CST
I've been curious quite some time now thinking why this marriage is only for two different people without any blood relationship. I ask my mom about this and she said it a cousin married his cousin the baby they will created will be abnormal. So mylotters, what are you thoughts about this issue. I'll be happy to read each of opinion you had.
5 people like this
24 responses
• India
8 Sep 09
It doesnot have anything to with God or religion.It has to do with science and genes It has been proved geneticaaly that if people who are genetically closely related get married then it will have an affect on the children they will have.The effect may be some physical problem or regarding mind.That is why people advise us not to marry our relatives.Ofcourse it doesnot happen in every case but there are chances.Anyway when i say relatives i mean those who are very much close in bloodline not distant ones. That is it.When ppl say not to marry ur cousins its because for the children that you will have but not about religion or something.The main problem comes with ppl who marries their own sisters daughter that is girls who marry their maternal uncles.Those pairs are genetically closely related and so in those cases problem arises remaining cases I don't think there would be great problems.SO this is the reason for this but don't put it on God or religion...
2 people like this
@jeiay41 (674)
• United States
8 Sep 09
I just read all of the comments here and most of you give negative vibes towards having a baby. How about the two person have a genius genes from einstein and thomas edison, would it be great if your child will going to invent a futuristic device that no one can ever imagine like a "teleportation device". That would be fun.
@Realsmack (155)
• United States
8 Sep 09
Look, if you want to marry someone who is related to you then go right ahead. The only thing you have to deal with is society. Don't get me wrong it's pretty nasty to marry someone whom you are family with. But you have your wants so hey go for it. I don't understand out of all the people in the world why you want to marry someone you're related to. But it is what it is. Don't look for a reason why you can't because when it all boils down to it, you can do whatever it is you please. There is a loop hole around everything. If you're looking for clarity or clearance for this watn then I would advise you to let it go because more than likely you aren't going to find much.
1 person likes this
@agv0419 (3022)
• Philippines
8 Sep 09
If you marry someone related to you up to first degree your babies going to have a defect or abnormality. During the old days the rich and powerful people married their relatives so there power or fortune would not be transfer outside their kin. I think if you marry your relative the society going to judge you. My mother told us that in their province there's a rich family that married their relatives because they want to retain their fortune. There children have abnormalities.
• United States
8 Sep 09
And then that is whereI say if you are ok with your kids being abnormal then hey go for it. Not my kind of thing but for some people, it's a ok. I'll never understand but there are alot of things I won't understand.
@doulaworks (1079)
• United States
8 Sep 09
how would you feel if your parents were related? that might help you sort this out. think of the poor kid, hi, my name is XXXX and my mom and dad are cousins,/ brother & sister? that would be hard for them to deal with. I hope one who does this has tons of dough for a good shrink. life is had enough with out mixing family, with family. besides, I have met my cousins and none would even interst me. lol even the good looking ones lol,
1 person likes this
• India
8 Sep 09
if we marry a relative that is same blood relationship means , it will severely affected the new born baby . Because i m experience in this one . My mom and dad are same blood relationship . So i m affected by many diseases till now . so my point of view is not marry the same blood relationship
1 person likes this
• United States
8 Sep 09
I can't understand why anyone would WANT to marry a relative. Are you talking first cousins or distant cousins? A baby between cousins would not necessarily be abnormal, but if a certain medical condition runs in your family, the baby would have a greater chance of inheriting it, as it would be getting the same genes, or similar, from each parent. In this day and age with all the fertility clinics and sperm and egg donors out there, there is a possibility that some day somewhere, half siblings, or cousins, WILL meet and cultivate relationships with each other and never even know it.
@jeiay41 (674)
• United States
8 Sep 09
Ahh, i didnt know that. If you have a blood line problem it will be probably have high possibility that the children will get the bloodline diseases. I think this is the most relevant fact i didn't know up until now. Thanks for that info friend, your surely studying good when your in your school days.
@rg0205 (2636)
• Hong Kong
8 Sep 09
From a scientific standpoint, it's because the chances for birth defects are higher. This was only realized through advanced science. In the old days, many cultures and societies practiced marriage within the family to keep the fortune in their clam. Some still practice it today. It depends on what you believe in. Some people say it's religion, some say tradition.
1 person likes this
• Canada
8 Sep 09
I dont know about first cousins but the chances of defective babies occurring with perhaps your far cousin, meaning cousin of your cousing is very low, it is only when you continue to marry your cousins which was done long time ago in the Middle East wehre you start to get defective babies. I know in some cultures it is perfectly alrigt to marry your cousing.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
11 Sep 09
I have a little knowledge about that. If it is your first cousin, church are against it. Because it is all about the blood connection. About the effect on baby, I have seen in the news that a brother have a relationship with his sister nd she conceived their child. When he child was born it was normal. I hope we still learn something from your other responser. Nice topic!
@dreamr802 (985)
• United States
8 Sep 09
I think i have 2 2nd cousins that got married to one another...I know they have some sort of relationship through family...my grandmother tried explaining how they are related to one another but I didn't understand it lol. I don't really like those cousins, they are awful nasty to me and my boyfriend.
@david2005 (798)
• Canada
21 Sep 09
I think that it shouldn't matter as long as the people are in love but I have heard though that if the girl gets pregnant the child can be retarded!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
8 Sep 09
hi jeiay your mom is wrong as its been proven that first cousins dont produce any more abnormal babies than two people who are not iu the least related. now as far as other family members marrying brothers and sisters cannot marry, nor can a single parent marry on of his or her offspring. I see no problems at all in first cousins marrying. ihave a lotof relatives who married first cousins and they are intelligent decent beings like anyone else.
@jeiay41 (674)
• United States
9 Sep 09
Good for them, there not having problems on their babies. But some people say if they didn't get it from there babies the abnormalities will past thru generations like people comment earlier. Im not arguing with that if my mother is wrong, I just want answers to enlightened my thoughs regarding this confusing matter. Happy I hear that from you.
@marguicha (214281)
• Chile
8 Sep 09
It depends on how far the blood ties are. In my country you can´t marry a sister, brother, mother or father, but you can marry a cousin. Chances of having problems with the children are bigger. But it also happens, and worse, in secluded places because there´s a lot of inbreeding. I doubt that the chances of having an abnormal child are so much more if it´s just once. It´s worse if it ocurred during several generations as it happened with the european kings.
1 person likes this
@Jill22 (263)
• Philippines
8 Sep 09
It's immoral for our culture and religion! I don't know with yours!
@jeiay41 (674)
• United States
8 Sep 09
why in my home town living in the forest, its legal?
@Jill22 (263)
• Philippines
8 Sep 09
huh? I didn't quite get you!
• United States
8 Sep 09
more of a change of babes with with Birth Defends.
• South Korea
21 Sep 09
Hi. Where is the truth in babies being born abnormal if you married your own bloodline. Up until now i have not found any doctors that quoted" If u marry your own bloodline, your kids are gonna be born abnormal or retarded". It is just a myth. Some people have relatives they never met in their life (that answers the rest of the narrow viewing ones). Well, i agree that social image could be an issue in this case. You'll just have to find a way to deal with it. The retarded baby being born is just spme bullshit all older generations feed the younger ones. Cheers!
@iriscot (1289)
• United States
8 Sep 09
It's been a long time belief that you shouldn't marry anyone that is as close in relationship as a first cousin, but it was ok to marry a second cousin. Whether that is true or not remains a mystery. However, years ago several Kings had children who were idiots, the reason being that they married within their families to try and have a son to pass down the Kingship to. I read that one King (I don't remember his name) whose wife couldn't give birth to a son, married his own daughter trying to have a son. They tried to keep the wealth and power in the family, many married cousins of another royal family to maintain power within the dynasty.
@vingyan06 (2486)
• Malaysia
8 Sep 09
Hello Jeiay, In my culture here, we never get to marry our cousin or close relative. My mom told me exactly what your mom told you. The baby will be abnormal if two cousins get marry. So we just follow what the old folks say. But I always get to watch on the drama that cousins always married and get happy family. Even some of the novel I have read too have the same thing, cousins married and get happy ending... Very nice discussion and hope to see more responses from members all over the world too see what they think about this discussion : Why we can't marry our relative?
• Belgium
8 Sep 09
there are cultures that don't have a problem with this but i think its just something many people aren't used to see!
• China
8 Sep 09
Marriage between close relatives is not scientific. Because people who have blood relationship have similar genes, if the bad genes are passed on to the generation, then the generations will be significantly increased incidence of disease in the future. And marriage between close relatives are not allowed by religion and law.
• United States
8 Sep 09
Personally I don't think its a normal reaction if you wanted to marry a brother or sister - I think most people would just have a natural aversion to that. But it IS legal where I come from for cousins to marry. The thing in the Bible about not marrying close relations, which people have said about here, is not just 'a religious thing' - the laws given to the Israelites at that time were actually very practical, to keep them able to live in a community and control disease, manage justice and community - and that law was because if you have children with a closer relative there is a higher risk of genetic mutations and problems. I guess cousins are far enough apart, maybe.
@iceydon (342)
• Philippines
8 Sep 09
The offspring of such marriage would manifest abnormalities which are not too good for continuous proliferation of human race.Same genes arent compatible to create life suitable to live normally.By social standard isnt the norm to take relatives for marriage.