Comments on: Kissing Cousins as a Reproductive Strategy: Does Marrying Your Cousin Give You an Evolutionary Advantage?

By: Jerse

Jerse — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 01:09:11 +0000

The Arabs have been known to do this since ancient times - it’s called ??? ??? (bint ‘amee) which means “the daughter of my uncle”

Back in the day, when the Arabs primarily lived in familial tribes in the desert - patriarchs would try to marry their sons to the daughters of their brothers. In doing this, they would expand their own tribe and prevent other tribes from taking away their women.

This has been adopted into the culture and it’s not uncommon or taboo for Arabs to marry their first cousins.

By: RIVER

RIVER — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:31:24 +0000

I bet there were lot of kissing cousins in the age of early man…
Inbreeding worked out just fine.
Not that I support it… My cousins are ugly.

By: Pudifoot

Pudifoot — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:14:11 +0000

nate: I think if you check the voting record of the “free love” crowd, they tend to vote for the dems

By: Nate Deviate

Nate Deviate — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:25:03 +0000

thats why there are so many republicans…

By: Lea

Lea — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:40:07 +0000

I think marrying a first cousin could cause really complicated issues, like divorce. You’d still see each other (I assume) because you’re still family… I feel its an awkward situation that would just get more awkward (partially because of already instilled views but also human nature…)
And I agree that more kids does not necessarily mean a better anything. It’s an interesting trend but anything the researchers think it may indicate is pure speculation because there are too many variables, by family, region, country, culture, etc.

By: Pudifoot

Pudifoot — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:23:50 +0000

mindpimp: there is no evidence to suggest that sleeping with your second or third cousin increases genetic problems. medically there is very little wrong with having a kid with your first cousin. the only problem is a social issue, and different societies accept different things. There is a group called C.U.D.D.L.E. that is trying to legalize marrying your first cousin in all fifty states. (http://www.cousincouples.com/ for more info)

enjoy

(I know way too much trivia)

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:25:22 +0000

The study sounds like it would be susceptible to a LOT of cross-correlation error risk. It’s difficult to separate exactly what causes what — Here’s an example: Do these “kissing cousins” also tend to have lower levels of income or lower levels of education? I’m betting they might. Then you are in a quandary — are they poor because they are stupid? Or have lots of kids because they are i—educated (and maybe had more time)? Or married their cousin because their grandparents and great-grandparents each had lots of kids and thus the odds of them being in a “high cousin area” is higher? Or are poor because they have lots of kids? It goes on and on…. Just because two factors have positive correlation (when one happens, the other often does as well) doesn’t imply causality in one direction or the other. People who smoke tend to drink more and vice versa, but that doesn’t imply that nicotine increases the appetite for alcohol…

By: Mindpimp

Mindpimp — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:08:49 +0000

I don’t suppose they have a lot of kids because if they’re daft enough to sleep with their cousin, their offspring may sleep with anything in sight (such as their siblings?)

By: Skipweasel

Skipweasel — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:38:22 +0000

I wonder how they seperated cause from effect in this.[1]

Might it not be possible that the sort of family who has lots of kids is also the sort of family that intermarries? (I’m not going to insert a comment about rednecks here, ‘cos being British I don’t know enough about it!)

[1] Actually I wonder this about almost all the research I hear these days.

By: L

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:09:43 +0000

I’m not sure if quantity over quality is such a good thing in this day and age. Infant mortality if pretty low in the Western world, so having lots of kids as an insurance policy seems like overkill. Especially if you’re going to be passing on those undesirable traits to lots and lots of inbred babies.

Not that third cousins are that close, anyway. You’d have to share a great-great-grandparent with the other person. Much of the rest of the world marries closer cousins than that!