4 ms·
This is a tragic story, but I think the bigger issue is some places have high levels of cultural acceptance of consanguine relationships.
by searine 1y ago
This is a tragic story, but I think the bigger issue is some places have high levels of cultural acceptance of consanguine relationships.
- 0xcafefood 1y agoIt's extremely common in South Asian communities (https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/10yx3va/rate_of_cousin_marriages_in_south_asiapakistan/ https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/10yx3va/...). The UK has a large South Asian diaspora.
- thelastgallon 1y agoPakistan doesn't represent all of South Asia.
- 0xcafefood 1y agoNone of India is looking particularly good, but each state in southern India looks to have 20-25% rates of first-cousin marriages. Pretty high.
- dismalaf 1y agoYou mean it's extremely common in Muslim countries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_in_the_Middle_East https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_in_the_Middl... I love this site down voting facts if it doesn't conform to preconceived "progressive" notions. https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Cousin_Marriage_in_Islamic_Law https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Cousin_Marriage_in_Islamic_Law
- 0xcafefood 1y agoSeems so. Or more to the point of how data collected in the UK might reflect this trend (from the article you link): "According to a 2005 BBC report on Pakistani marriage in the United Kingdom, 55% of British Pakistanis marry a first cousin."
- secondcoming 1y agoThere was a recent debate in the UK Parliament about whether cousin marriage should be banned. It did not succeed. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztHyjdyWUOA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztHyjdyWUOA
- mnw21cam 1y agoBut there was a BBC documentary called "Should I marry my first cousin" for which the main conclusion was basically no.
- bakul 1y agoAFAIK this is far more common in muslims but not in hindus, jains etc. While growing up I had heard/read that as per the Vedas you can not marry someone with whom you have a common ancestor within 7 generations. [My scientifically minded atheist parents agreed with the idea.] Of course, in practice this isn't always followed but in any arranged marriage such proscriptions would presumably be checked.
- lazide 1y agoSouthern India has particularly low Muslim populations - and definitely doesn’t follow that guidance. The vedas have many sections which get widely ignored. Edit: HN throttling is terrible. Here is a link to a couple studies [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641190/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32641190/], [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Trends-in-consanguineous-marriages-in-states-of-South-India_tbl1_351228898 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Trends-in-consanguineous...] AP has the highest rate, around 28%
- bakul 1y agoI has asked friends who would know more about South India. If you have any references about statistics and causes please share. Thanks!
- bakul 1y agoI found one map that may be interest: https://araingang.medium.com/cousin-marriage-in-south-asia-fc83f9a6e912 https://araingang.medium.com/cousin-marriage-in-south-asia-f... But note that the article is really talking about first-degree incest/pedophila/sexual abuse which is taboo in pretty much every society.
- abhinavk 1y agoCross-cousin and uncle-niece marriage is prevalent among Hindus in most states of South India (except Kerala). 10-25% of all marriages. In religion, you can find your reasons for anything. e.g. In Mahabharata, Arjuna and Abhimanyu married their cousins.
- DoesntMatter22 1y agoI recently discovered that these relationships are legal in France. That's nuts
- mr90210 1y agoSame country that banned paternity tests unless authorised by a court.
- DoctorOetker 1y agoSame country where a series of scandals of sexual abuse by doctors on patients under narcosis in hospitals resulted in courts deciding that sex under narcosis is not traumatic and hence not rape...
- DoesntMatter22 1y agoWait what?? Is that real?
- mr90210 1y agoWow… really? Eww.
- giraffe_lady 1y agoCould you explain why you think that's a bigger issue than the one raised in the article: > In the overwhelming majority of cases ... the parents are a father and a daughter or an older brother and a younger sister, meaning a child’s existence was likely evidence of sexual abuse.
- kulahan 1y agoIncestual children can lead to a pretty significant number of medical issues.
- searine 1y agoCases like that described are very rare compared to 20-50% consanguinity in some communities. The disease burden from this is huge. Not saying SA isn't an issue, but if the issue is incest, then cultural acceptance of it is the biggest offender.
- novok 1y agoI think incest is usually understood as immediate direct family relations and means SA or something close. What your talking about with 1st cousins is called inbred. Inbred is the superset of incest. You can get that with no incest.
- searine 1y agoI guess? Label it whatever you want. It's still consanguinity and it causes a tremendous amount of disease and the largest offender by far is cultural acceptance if it.
- tialaramex 1y agoConsensual sex between adult brother and sister for example isn't abuse. If it results in a child it is also unacceptably likely to result in birth defects because that's 50% DNA commonality. Consensual sex between parent and (adult obviously) child is more arguable because there's a significant power imbalance which would usually not be present for siblings, but it might not be abuse. Cousin sex is just not a big deal, and especially beyond the 1st cousins with zero removal, ie the children of your parents' blood siblings. When it comes to stuff like "She's the daughter of my great-auntie's oldest boy" it's negligible. In some societies that wouldn't be tracked, everybody is a cousin and nobody is. Americans are weird about this. Rudy Giuliani for example married his second cousin. I don't even know the names of my second cousins. If I met one in a bar I'd have no idea. But in the US somehow that counts as strange.
- coliveira 1y agoThis is extremely common in the royal families of Europe. Many of them are the result of incest.
- kilroy123 1y agoNot wrong. My Turkish ex's parents were first cousins. Married for 50 years and they had two kids. No one cared. It wasn't that big deal.