What's wrong with marrying your cousin?

What's wrong with marrying your cousin?: - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine "The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Surname

Slate.com, Posted Wednesday, April 10, 2002, at 5:32 PM ET

A new group is struggling for acceptance. The group is people who are married to their cousins. These people note that 20 percent of marriages around the world are between first cousins, that Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin married their first cousins, and that first-cousin marriage, while prohibited in half the United States, is legal in Canada and throughout Europe. Now a study by the National Society of Genetic Counselors says that having a child with your first cousin raises the risk of a significant birth defect from about 3-to-4 percent to about 4-to-7 percent. According to the authors, that difference isn't big enough to justify genetic testing of cousin couples, much less bans on cousin marriage. From this, the media have concluded that marrying your first cousin is "OK." Is it?

As Frame Game has argued before, topics such as sex with animals, dog-eating, and sex with cousins are never as simple as they're made out to be. You can't just say the practice in question is icky. You have to state a principle and think through its implications. Often, you have to change your opinions on related issues in order to honor that principle, or you have to throw out the principle and change your mind about the original question.

Is cousin marriage icky? Why? You can't appeal to Victorian morality; Queen Victoria married her first cousin. You can't appeal to the Bible; in the Bible, God commands marriages between first cousins. Instead, advocates of laws against cousin marriage appeal to science. To let cousins marry, they argue, is "to play Russian roulette with genetics." Many genetic diseases are caused by recessive genes. To get the disease, you have to get the bad gene from both parents. The greater the genetic similarity between your parents, the greater your chance of getting two copies of the bad gene.

But if that's your reason for banning cousin marriage, you've drilled into a mother lode of problems. Many cousin couples can't pass on genetic diseases, since they're infertile. Are you going to ban them from marrying? If not, maybe the 24 states that ban cousin marriage should follow the lead of the five states that allow it if either party is sterile. And if procreation between first cousins is too dangerous, why stop there? Six states ban marriage between first cousins once removed, i.e., marrying the son or daughter of your first cousin. Theoretically, that's half as risky as marrying your first cousin, in terms of increasing the probability of passing on a genetic disease to your kids. How about marriage between second cousins? Theoretically, that's one-fourth as risky. No state bans such marriages. Should we change that?

If your purpose is to prevent people with dangerous genes from marrying each other, why use a crude standard such as kinship? Why not test everybody for bad genes, ban marriage between carriers, and let cousins without bad genes marry each other? Banning cousin marriage keeps these couples in the closet, deterring them from seeking genetic screening, which would help them decide whether they could safely have kids. And as the NSGC study notes, the crude assumption that children of cousins will turn out badly leads to unnecessary abortions.

If you're afraid of mandatory genetic testing and you'd prefer to ban marriage among people in high-risk categories, why not start with fertile women over 40? And what about ethnicity? Cousin couples compare laws against cousin marriage to laws against interracial marriage. They've got it backward. Sickle-cell anemia runs in blacks. Tay-Sachs runs in Jews. The best way to curtail such diseases would be to ban marriages within ethnic groups.

The New York Times, CNN, and their journalistic brothers in arms have spun the increased risk found by the NSGC study as no big deal. Why is an increase of 50 to 100 percent no big deal? At worst, said one of the study's authors, when cousins procreate, "'93 percent of the time, nothing is going to happen." What about the other 7 percent? One doctor calculated from the study's findings that "almost 10,000 children will be stillborn or born with birth defects this year in the United States from first-cousin marriages. Not marrying a cousin is a more potent remedy than many of the medications we prescribe for heart attacks." Perhaps states should at least require cousins to get genetic counseling before marrying, as Maine has done.

The study's authors and its trumpeters in the media suffer from the congenital liberal conceit that science solves all moral questions. The authors instruct genetic counselors to focus on "validating feelings" and helping cousin couples "normalize" their relationships by explaining how common cousin marriages are. In the Times, USA Today, and other publications, the authors declare that laws against cousin marriage are baseless. According to headlines and TV reports, "science" has proved that cousin marriages are "OK." No, it hasn't. Science has deflated the scientific objections to cousin marriages. Moral problems remain.

Start with the problem of double first cousins. Suppose your mom and my mom are sisters. If cousin marriage is legal, you and I can marry. What if, in addition, your dad and my dad are brothers? It isn't that hard to imagine: Boy meets girl, girl's sister likes boy's family, girl's sister gets interested in boy's brother, both couples end up getting married. The first couple produces me; the second couple produces you. North Carolina and West Virginia explicitly prohibit me from marrying you, but 20 other states don't. Is that OK? Because if it is, bear in mind that you and I have as many genes in common as an uncle and niece do. If you and I can marry, why can't an uncle and an adult niece? Science says there's no difference.

Would you rather restrict marriage to ordinary first cousins? That won't get you out of the woods. First cousins have as many genes in common as a man and his half-brother's child do. We're talking Roger and Chelsea Clinton. If first cousins can marry, why can't Roger and Chelsea? Science says there's no difference.

If you still won't cry uncle, let's look at hard-core incest. Advocates of cousin marriage say they're against sex between siblings, but they can't explain why. Cousincouples.com, the Web site to which the NSGC study refers couples for support services, wants to keep Big Brother out of the bedroom. The site argues that "sexual relations between consenting adults [are] no one's business but their own." Aunt Kate, the site's advice columnist, tells a reader who's shacking up with her half brother that "if you are consenting adults there is no prohibition on simply enjoying your relationship." The site's "Statement of Principles" touts the "special intimacy" of romance between cousins: "The love and chemistry of cousins is typically astronomical as compared with other couples. If non-cousin couples would take the time to educate themselves, they would be jealous of cousin couples!" By that logic, wouldn't sibling couples be even better?

Yes, the risk of disease in offspring of sibling couples is much higher. But why couldn't genetic screening take care of that problem? As cousincouples.com points out, "Current studies indicate that cousin couples have a lower ratio of miscarriages—perhaps because body chemistry of cousins is more similar." Wouldn't the chance of miscarriage be even lower for siblings?

Many advocates of cousin marriage dismiss bans on the practice as racist. The authors of the NSGC study urge counselors to be "culturally respectful" of immigrant communities in which cousin marriage is "traditionally preferred." Why do these traditions promote cousin marriage? In some cases, because it promises "better treatment by in-laws" or because it keeps "goods and property within a family," says the study. That sounds more like pressure than freedom. Maybe we should worry more about whether people in these communities are free not to marry their cousins.

If cultural respect is your principle, how far do you carry it? According to the study, some African, Asian, and Middle Eastern cultures prefer marriages "between an uncle and niece." Should we respect those cultures by permitting those marriages? The question isn't just hypothetical: Minnesota law has a grandfather clause allowing uncle-niece marriages when "permitted by the established customs of aboriginal cultures." And what about people from Jewish or Christian traditions that stigmatize cousin marriage? Should their genetic counselors reflect that stigma?

As Frame Game found in the case of bestiality, the best argument against a questionable practice comes, inadvertently, from within it. In this case, the answer comes from Aunt Kate's advice column at cousincouples.com. "I tell almost ALL my correspondents who are considering expressing a more than casual affection for their cousin to remember a few important things," she writes. "The first one is that you already have a guaranteed, life long relationship that you will live with for a very long time. Don't mess it up."

This is the problem with sleeping with your cousin. You can move on from an ex-spouse or ex-lover, but there's no such thing as an ex-cousin. How are your parents and your ex's parents supposed to handle a nasty divorce or a breakup? How can they support their kids without antagonizing their siblings and their siblings' kids? You've wrecked your whole family. It isn't as bad as if you'd slept with a sibling, but it's a lot worse than if you'd slept with a friend or an officemate. We don't ban you from dating people at the office, but we don't tell you it's a great idea, either.

If you get into bed with your cousin, there's no need for Uncle Sam to throw you in jail. If it works out, great. If not, you'll find yourself in a jail no uncle will let you out of.

William Saletan is Slate's national correspondent and author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2064227/
Copyright 2008 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC

The way we present the topic of slavery to young people is all wrong

Marc Aronson: Face the Facts - 7/1/2008 - School Library Journal

The way we present the topic of slavery to young people is all wrong
By Marc Aronson -- School Library Journal, 7/1/2008

Kinship and Human Society

Research and Markets: Discover the Fundamental Questions About the Emergence of Human Society; DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b08325/early_human_kinshi) has announced the addition of the "Early Human Kinship" report to their offering.

Questions of 'kinship' have always been at the center of anthropology. Was there a connection between the beginnings of language and the beginnings of organized 'kinship and marriage'? How far did evolutionary selection favor gender and age as abstract principles for regulating social relations within and between ancient bands of our early ancestors? This book debates these and other fundamental questions about the emergence of human society.

Early Human Kinship brings together original studies from leading figures in the biological sciences, social anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. The volume takes as its starting point the evolutionary link between enlarged brain capacity and the ability of human ancestors to support increasingly large population groups. It then moves beyond traditional Darwinian questions to ask how far early humans might have organized these groups according to rules about mating and social reproduction that we would recognize today.

Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute, in conjunction with the British Academy, Early Human Kinship provides a major breakthrough in the debate over human evolution and the nature of society.

Key Topics Covered:
- Kinship and Material Culture: Archaeological Implications of the Human Global Diaspora: Clive Gamble (Royal Holloway College, University of London).

- Deep Roots of Kin - Developing the Evolutionary Perspective from Prehistory: John A. J. Gowlett (University of Liverpool).

- Early Human Kinship was Matrilineal: Chris Knight (University of East London).

- Alternating Birth Classes: A Note from Eastern Africa: Wendy James (University of Oxford).

- Tetradic Theory and the Origin of Human Kinship Systems: Nicholas J. Allen (University of Oxford).

- What Can Ethnography Tell us about Human Social Evolution: Bob Layton (University of Durham).

- Kinship in Biological Perspective: Robin Dunbar (University of Oxford).

- The Importance of Kinship in Monkey Society: Mandy Korstjens (University of Bournemouth).

- The Meaning and Relevance of Kinship in Great Apes: Julia Lehmann (University of Oxford).

- Grandmothering and Female Coalitions: A Basis for Matrilineal Priority?: Kit Opie and Camilla Power (both University of East London).

- A Phylogenetic Approach to the History of Cultural Practices: Laura Fortunato (University College London).

- Reconstructing Ancient Kinship in Africa: Christ Ehret (University of California at Los Angeles).

- The Co-evolution of Language and Kinship: Alan Barnard (University of Edinburgh).

- Epilogue: Reaching Across the Gaps: Hilary Callan (Royal Anthropological Institute, London).

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b08325/early_human_kinshi.

DNA of Criminals: Kinship Analysis - Should Close Relatives Be Profiled?

From Suite101.com; link chain-Home » Science & Nature » Forensic Science » DNA & Trace Analysis » DNA of Criminals

DNA of Criminals: KinHome » Science & Nature » Forensic Science » DNA & Trace Analysis » DNA of Criminals ship Analysis - Should Close Relatives Be Profiled?

© Karen Lotter
Jun 16, 2008

Should close relatives of criminals be DNA profiled or is it a violation of civil liberties? Will kinship analysis aid the criminal justice system or abuse human rights?

Earlier this year, in Science Daily, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, voiced his concerns over the ethics of a DNA database. One of the issues that concerned him was whether close relatives of criminals should be profiled. . . .

The rest of this article discusses the ethical ramifications of using DNA from innocent family members to convict criminals. It presents two prominent cases in which this was a successful strategy for law enforcement members.

Genealogists can adapt this type of strategy as well; when one doesn't have the DNA of the person of interest to one's research, one can find a "surrogate" by seeking DNA from other family members.

Louisiana Genealogical Journals

The Advocate and Channel 2 WBRZ News at 2theadvocat.com (Baton Rouge, Louisiana); 2theadvocate.com:

Louisiana’s genealogy magazines outstanding
By DAMON VEACH
Special to Magazine; Published: Jun 22, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.


"Louisiana has long been noted for some of the finest genealogical societies in the country, and these groups, in turn, each have outstanding publications that are included with membership fees. This is not only characteristically true for the larger groups, but even the smaller societies are coming up with some excellent and previously unpublished materials." . . .

A listing of journals and examples of articles from those journals are contained in the remainder of this article.

Loving v. Virginia and the Secret History of Race

Loving v. Virginia and the Secret History of Race - New York Times
By BRENT STAPLES
Published: May 14, 2008

Americans born in the 21st century will shake their heads in disbelief on learning that 40 states once had laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The Supreme Court struck down the last of these statutes in the 1967 case of Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman and a white man who were arrested and banished from Virginia for the crime of being married.

{Click on link for remainder of article. Mildred Loving recently died.}

Bliss Broyard's book, One Drop

Memoir explores roots, prejudices, and New Orleans' peculiar racial history.

by Susan Larson for the Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
October 22, 2007

A review of Bliss Broyard's book about the revelation that her famous father had been "passing" for white most of his life. She only found out the truth after his death. This article includes excerpts from an interview with Bliss Broyard.

Who knew you could find ethnicity in fingerprints?

Discovery Channel :: News :: Da Vinci Fingerprint Reveals Arab Heritage?
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Part of article (for full article, click on link)
. . . After scouring manuscripts and notebooks, the researchers found two other fingerprints that matched and completed the Ermine markings. The result was an entire fingertip, possibly belonging to the left forefinger.

Fingerprints are unique and don't change over a lifetime. Analysis of the skin's arches, loops and whorls — a science known as dermatoglyphics — has shown that there is a link between fingerprints and populations.

In the case of Leonardo's fingertip, patterns and ridges pointed to the Middle East, the researchers concluded.

"The fingerprint features patterns such as the central whorl that are dominant in the Middle East. About 60 percent of the Middle Eastern population display the same dermatoglyphic structure found in the fingerprint," Capasso said.

The discovery would support Vezzosi's claim that Leonardo's mother was not a local peasant girl as previously thought, but a Middle Eastern slave. . . .

Defining Mixed-Blood Indians

Defining Mixed-Blood Indians

“A Rose by any other name is a Cactus”
~ Defining mixed-blood Indians in colonial Virginia and the Carolinas ~By Steven Pony Hill

Augusta County, VA (Orders 1773-1779)
19 AUG 1777….Nat, an Indian boy in the custody of Mary Greenlee who detains him as a slave complains that he is held in unlawful slavery. Commission to take depositions in Carolina or elsewhere.
17 SEP 1777….On the complaint of Nat an Indian or Mustee Boy who says he is to be set free from service of Mary Greenlee…nothing appeared to this Court but a bill of sale for ten pounds from one Sherwood Harris of Granville County, NC that through several assignments was made over to James Greenlee deceased, late husband to the said Mary….said Mulattoe or Indian Boy is a free man and no slave. ( Nat was most likely half-Indian, so therefore Mulatto or Mustee could be used interchangeably, use of these terms were influenced by the status of his servitude)

Charles City County, VA (Orders 1687-95)
DEC 1690….Thomas Mayo an Indian belonging to Jno. Evans is adjudged 14 years old.
Chesterfield County, VA (Orders 1767-71)
6 APR 1770…On motion of Sibbell, an Indian woman held in slavery by Joseph Ashbrooke, have leave to prosecute for her freedom in forma pauperis. -
Sibbell an Indian wench V. Joseph Ashbrooke, for pltf. To take deposition of Elizabeth Blankenship and Thomas Womack. -
Sybill a Mulatto V. Joseph Ashbrooke – dismissed. (Sibell was most likely less than full blooded Indian…she was described as Indian up to the point it was determined that she was legally a slave, then she was described as mulatto…use of the term is influenced by the status of her servitude)

NOTE: The above is just a fraction of the similar items posted at this site. Click on link for the rest of the data.

Project to safeguard Aboriginal secrets

Project to safeguard Aboriginal secrets - 03 Apr 2008 - NZ Herald: World / International News:

Partial quotations [follow link for entire article]:

"Vines says that most Aborigines do not make wills, and that inheritances can be enmeshed in issues such as property and children.

'Is it common law property or native title? What happens to children and other relatives in a kinship system totally unlike that of Western society?

'Without a will, there is no executor to make decisions about disposal of the body and if there is a dispute, it has to go to court. 'That's a difficulty in itself.'

Vines says the Australian system reflects Western kinship structures, not the Aboriginal family structure, in which words indicating kinship often do not exactly match Australian legal meanings."

Clue to early Americans lies in origin of the feces | Seattle Times Newspaper

Clue to early Americans lies in origin of the feces | Seattle Times Newspaper

Archaeologists have found 14,300-year-old fossilized feces in a cave in Oregon.

DNA analysis of the dried excrement shows the people who lived in the caves were closely related to modern Native Americans. Their genetic roots reach across the Bering Strait to Siberia and eastern Asia.

"These are probably the ancestors of some of the Native Americans living in America now," said Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen.

[For full article, click on link.]

The Deliveryman: An Ill-Fitting Tongue

The Deliveryman: An Ill-Fitting Tongue

Thursday, April 3, 2008
An Ill-Fitting Tongue

Today I attended a guest speaker seminar about radio and the internet and learned about Melungeons, an ethnic group of mixed-race people living in Appalachia. They are generally considered a tri-racial mix of European, African, and Native American descent, though hereditary lines vary from family to family. In his study, the researcher found that various Melungeon people living throughout the region and in diaspora had sort of found each other through the internet after a few of them had linked up while studying their genealogy. They have had several annual gatherings since.

This is an interesting group, certainly marginalized -- as the researcher put it, they were 'other' to the 'others,' spited even among the maligned Appalachian and Black populations. I realized as I looked them up this evening that I served my mission in a couple places with Melungeon populations. If I met any at the time, I wasn't aware of it.

[Continued on other topics]

Cyndie's Musings: William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, TX

William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, TX

Cyndie discusses her ancestor William Goyens Jr and his family origins in North Carolina. She speculates on white versus black, but notes her family were free people of color and considered to be Croatan or Lumbee. She relates an interesting story of a NC cemetery, where some of her family are buried, stating that the bodies were buried in a standing up position. It looks as if some of her other posts may be quite interesting too.

Kinship Studies: New Book

Kinship Studies

A new book entitled The Genius of Kinship: The Phenomenon of Human Kinship and the Global Diversity of Kinship Terminologies by German V. Dziebel; From Cambria Press, published on January 28, 2008.
You can purchase it on Amazon.com
(Uunfortunately, the price is $139.95! )
What’s new about this book?
+It is a new theory of human kinship
+It contains a new historiography of kinship studies that takes into account related disciplines
+It offers a new look at American Indian kinship systems
+It attempts to synthesize anthropology, linguistics and population genetics
+It critisizes the Out-of-Africa theory and outlines a new model of human origins and dispersals
+It is built on a new database and a new bibliography
+It exemplifies a new methodology of social sciences as applied to human origins
+It is a new step in the critique of anthropology
+It overcomes post-modernism
+It is not nostalgic
+It leads to a new vision of anthropology and reconciles it with its roots
+It is creative and optimistic

NOTE by CEB: I have not yet read this book. This information is from the author's site.
Another site has information about the author's theories and explains the book in more detail. Frankly, it sounds a little wacky to me, so, at this point, I'm going to wait to see if it gains any momentum in the anthropology world and what kind of reviews it gets.

Ariela Gross | "Of Portuguese Origin": Litigating Identity and Citizenship among the "Little Races" in Nineteenth-Century America

Ariela Gross "Of Portuguese Origin": Litigating Identity and Citizenship among the "Little Races" in Nineteenth-Century America Law and History Review, 25.3 The History Cooperative


ABSTRACT: The history of race in the nineteenth-century United States is often told as a story of black and white in the South, and white and Indian in the West, with little attention to the intersection between black and Indian. This article explores the history of nineteenth-century America's "little races"—racially ambiguous communities of African, Indian, and European origin up and down the eastern seaboard. These communities came under increasing pressure in the years leading up to the Civil War and in its aftermath to fall on one side or the other of a black-white color line. Drawing on trial records of cases litigating the racial identity of the Melungeons of Tennessee, the Croatans/Lumbee of North Carolina, and the Narragansett of Rhode Island, this article looks at the differing paths these three groups took in the face of Jim Crow: the Melungeons claiming whiteness; the Croatans/Lumbee asserting Indian identity and rejecting association with blacks; the Narragansett asserting Indian identity without rejecting their African origins. Members of these communities found that they could achieve full citizenship in the U.S. polity only to the extent that they abandoned their self-governance and distanced themselves from people of African descent.

PowerPointers Blog

A weblog about using Microsoft PowerPoint software to design effective presentations.

This blog is designed as a communication tool and a repository of training resources on the Microsoft PowerPoint software package and effective presentation design. I plan not only to discuss the mechanics of using the PowerPoint software, but also to discuss proper design techniques.

Quotations: Personal Favorites

The central organizing principle in the discipline of genealogy is the reconstruction and analysis of kinship. ~ Carolyn Earle Billingsley

It is better to be liked for the true you, than to be loved for who people think you are.

It's better to BURN OUT than fade away . . .

So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key. ~ Eagles' song lyric

A family's photograph album is generally about the extended family and, often, is all that remains of it. ~Susan Sontag (1933-2004)

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. ~ C.S. Lewis, (1898-1963)

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~ William James

The sad truth is that excellence makes people nervous. ~Shana Alexander

He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad, being methodical. ~ G. K. Chesterton

Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind. ~ Marston Bates

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

History" isn’t just what happens in the past,” but what we choose to remember. ~Paraphrased from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in We’re No Angels, by Kathryn Harrison (2007)

If you don’t know your history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree. ~ Michael Crichton, from "Ancestry Weekly Journal," 1 October 2007 (email newsletter)

Third Cousins Have Greatest Number Of Offspring, Data From Iceland Shows

ScienceDaily (2008-02-08) -- Scientists have established a substantial and consistent positive correlation between the kinship of couples and the number of children and grandchildren they have. The study, which analyzes more than 200 years of deCODE's comprehensive genalogical data on the population of Iceland, shows that couples related at the level of third cousins have the greatest number of offspring. These new findings suggest that the recent and dramatic demographic shift experienced in Iceland -- from a rural society to a highly urbanized one -- may serve to slow population growth, as individuals are exposed to a much broader range of distantly related potential mates. ... > read full article

Iceland Shows." ScienceDaily 8 February 2008. Accessed 8 February 2008, online at .

Citation: "Iceland Shows." ScienceDaily 8 February 2008. Accessed online, 8 February 2008, at www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2008/02/080207140855.htm.

Colon cancer risk traced to common ancestor

Colon cancer risk traced to common ancestor | U.S. | Reuters:

LONDON (Reuters) - "A married couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 are the reason why thousands of people in the United States are at higher risk of a hereditary form of colon cancer, researchers said on Wednesday.

Using a genetic fingerprint, a U.S. team traced back a so-called founder genetic mutation to the couple found among two large families currently living in Utah and New York."

Follow link to read full article.

Ethics in Publishing Family Histories

Steve’s Genealogy Blog » Ethics in Publishing Family Histories

Not only is the article of interest, but the numerous comments by readers add much to the discussion of what can be published and what should be published. Do we continue to hide family secrets, because someone might be upset or ashamed, or do we publish the truth as we find and can document it? How do we deal with people who "steal" our research? Weighty questions and some great opinions, well expressed.