Do you think it's acceptable for one to date their own cousin?

It depends on personal opinion, some people just find it weird, it shouldn't be illegal to marry your cousin though, in reality it's your choice, and people have to make their own choices on their own opinion.

It's one of these things that has to be decided by the individual.
 
I think more than if it is acceptable or not, you should see what everyone thinks about this. From me to do something like that would be impossible my cousins ​​are like my brothers and never cross my mind falling in love or have some kind of relationship with any of them.
 
I accept

Don't see its relation to me.

I heard there's biological problems regarding the offspring of incest, but it's unimportant compared to love.

People have to happy, so they need those they love even if it's a related person.
 
22sa said:
I heard there's biological problems regarding the offspring of incest, but it's unimportant compared to love.
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Hey, lets have kids even though they will turn out deformed and mentally challenged! It doesn't matter how many things are wrong with our kids because we love each other right?

*facedesk*

I don't have anything agesnt dating/sexing your cousins, but still... Your statement is numerous kinds of wrong.
 
I kinda like pushing genetic diversity, so, in my book, it's totally unacceptable to date one's cousin. I honestly don't have a problem with other people doing it though, as long as they understand the risks of taking that relationship to the next level. I would be lying if I said I wouldn't think less of someone if they did, but I wouldn't interfere unless it was a good friend or family member that was going to do this.

Also,
Toujours said:
Vendak made the point that I was thinking about when I first saw this thread. The only real reason for having marriage of cousins, etc. illegal is due to the genes and possible deformities. But, look at someone with a genetic disease that has a 50/50 chance of being passed on or something like that. Do we make it illegal for them to marry and have children? Why are the cousins any different?
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People with genetic diseases bear the risk of passing them on regardless of who they reproduce with. Cousins, however, do not bear the same risk. They can simply marry other people and avoid the risk of genetic deformaties. People born with genetic diseases do not have that choice.
 
PokéSwimmer said:
People with genetic diseases bear the risk of passing them on regardless of who they reproduce with. Cousins, however, do not bear the same risk. They can simply marry other people and avoid the risk of genetic deformaties. People born with genetic diseases do not have that choice.
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So there's someone who is planning on having children with their partner, who carries a genetic disease, would you say
"Oh, your partner has a genetic disease! don't have kids with him/her, you have a choice to go and have kids with someone else that's healthy, go and do that instead, who cares about love!"

It's not even like it's certain the children are going to have issues. Everyone acts like if cousins have kids it's going to create a goddamn Shrek look-alike that can't do anything but blow spit bubbles.
 
I honestly have no problem with people to go out with whoever, whether it be with someone related, someone of the same gender, or whatever. Whatever goes on between them, I have no business in. I have no right to tell them they are wrong for doing so, nor do I believe it is wrong.

In fact, I don't even see what's so wrong about incest at all. It's not like people haven't done it in the past, it's natural. The only reason it's bad is because society makes it out to be, for no real reason at all.

Hell, if, say, I got along really well with, say, a sister or something, assuming I had one, I would go out with her if she also agreed. As in, being really close. If people ask and I tell them, I would just tell them to **** off and stop trying to impose their own views on us like it matters, and who gives a ****?
 
Genetically? It depends how close you are. Morally? As long as you don't have children, I don't see any moral reason not to. My opinion? I don't really support it, but I've seen and heard cases of first cousins marrying.
 
To each his own. There's zero question if they don't plan to have children. If they do, I still don't see a problem with it. I'm not a supporter of eugenics, so I do not think people should be prohibited from having children for genetic reasons even if the research showed a statistically significant link (and for the record, 1950s pseudo-science doesn't qualify).

Incest is a cultural oddity and not something I'm really comfortable hearing about, but I really don't care what people do behind closed doors so long as nobody's getting hurt or taken advantage of.
 
Mr. X said:
Hey, lets have kids even though they will turn out deformed and mentally challenged! It doesn't matter how many things are wrong with our kids because we love each other right?

*facedesk*

I don't have anything agesnt dating/sexing your cousins, but still... Your statement is numerous kinds of wrong.
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I mean, the chances of this are there, but still slim right? (I don't know the percentage)

It's not guaranteed the children will have a bad life, but if you turn your back on love you're guaranteed .... well yeah. : D
 
There are several good reasons why any two given people shouldn't date and most of them deal with gross inequalities between the two people. That's why parent-child incest is often a bad thing, because the parent is likely to have too much authority in the relationship and the child too little freedom, but with cousins I don't see this happening outside of some individual circumstances.

The big leap from dating -> having children is a little extreme, too. Not everyone is going to want children in the first place, there are tests to check for lots of genetic abnormalities if that's the parents' worry, and denying people something solely because of their genetics is not a direction we want to head in.
 
I really could care less if someone wanted to marry their third, second, or first cousin, although it's not for me.

The thing that is tricky about the offspring issue is that short-term in-breeding and long-term in-breeding yield much different results. Also, how close is the cousin genetically.

More recent studies have shown a "slight" increase in venerability to inbreeding depending on how much blood percentage is shared. Like Scarf said, parent/children and siblings are not very good relationships, and have a much higher percentage for birth defects with about 25%.

Although I am not going to scream my support for first cousins to have children, I do not think that the risks are great enough for a right out ban like they should be for parent/child and sibling inbreeding. There is a 2-3 percent chance for non-related individuals of giving birth to a child with birth defects. There is about a 6 percent chance that first cousins will have birth defects. Although I would not recommend having children, I don't think it constitutes a ban. However, when we talk about anything closer than first cousins, like uncles, parents, children and siblings, the risks are great enough to be considered an unnecessary threat to the child's auto-immune system and cognitive/physical health, and I think that like smoking or drinking alcohol while pregnant, the act should be illegal. Sadly, most state, (not sure about other countries) allow women to drink and smoke as much as they would like during pregnancy.
 
I don't shun it, but I don't have any cousins I like that well anyway. Not to mention none of us would try it willingly if we knew we were cousins. So meh.

Genetically speaking:
The more distant the cousin, the more OK it is.
First and Second Cousin pairings should ideally consult a doctor before bearing children, just to evaluate the risks...but there's no need to forbid it if both like each other.
Third and beyond need not worry; unless the family has a history of genetic disorders which are deforming or dangerous.

Discouraging brother/sister couplings makes sense because the risk increase is greater but I believe that if both grow up together and stick together for that long...no need to forbid it if they're not bearing children.
 
I'm not going to tell someone, "Dude, you can't date your cousin!" but I won't say that I find it okay for them to do so. Honestly speaking, it's just the thought that dating someone from your family puts me off about it. Probably if this cousin became part of the family through marriage and not by blood, it'd be a bit easier to wrap my mind around, but otherwise, I just personally find it a bit weird.

To make what I just said a bit more clear, when I refer to dating in this case, I mean by being physically involved with said cousin. Using your cousin as a date, but not having any sort of intimate feelings toward them, I can say I've seen been done before and am okay with. It's just the other thought that I can't really seem to find absolutely right; to each their own I guess.
 
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