Incest Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ====Cousin relationships==== {{See also|Cousin marriage|List of coupled cousins}} [[File:Giuseppe Arcimboldi 003.jpg|thumb|[[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor]] married his first cousin [[Maria of Spain]].]] Marriages and sexual relationships between first cousins are stigmatized as incest in some cultures, but tolerated in much of the world. Currently, 24 [[US states]] prohibit marriages between first cousins, and another seven permit them only under special circumstances.<ref>Joanna Grossman, [http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20020408.html Should the law be kinder to kissin' cousins?]</ref> The United Kingdom permits both marriage and sexual relations between first cousins.<ref name=Ref1>{{cite web |last=Boseley |first=Sarah |title=Marriage between first cousins doubles risk of birth defects, say researchers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jul/04/marriage-first-cousins-birth-defects |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 March 2014 |date=4 July 2013}}</ref> In some non-Western societies, marriages between close biological relatives account for 20{{ndash}}60% of all marriages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.larasig.com/node/2020|title=Consanguinity Fact Sheet β Debunking Common Myths|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223160732/https://www.larasig.com/node/2020|archive-date=23 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2XgDgAAQBAJ&q=20+to+60+%25+of+all+marriages+between+close+biological+relatives&pg=PT282|title=Family Law: Theoretical, Comparative, and Social Science Perspectives|first=James|last=Dwyer|date=9 December 2014|publisher=Wolters Kluwer Law & Business|via=Google Books|isbn=9781454831556}}</ref><ref>"In some parts of the world 20β60% of all marriages are between close biological relatives (Bittles, 1998)" [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alan_Bittles/publication/226985985_Genetic_Counseling_and_Screening_of_Consanguineous_Couples_and_Their_Offspring_Recommendations_of_the_National_Society_of_Genetic_Counselors/links/0c960528ac23292963000000.pdf Genetic Counseling and Screening of Consanguineous Couples and Their Offspring: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors]</ref> First- and second-cousin marriages are rare in Western Europe, North America, and Oceania, accounting for less than 1% of marriages, but reach 9% in South America, East Asia, and South Europe, and about 50% in regions of the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.paed.2008.02.008 |title=Consanguinity and child health |url=http://www.channel4.com/microsites/D/Dispatches/when_cousins_marry/cousins_10.pdf |year=2008 |last1=Saggar |first1=A |last2=Bittles |first2=A |journal=Paediatrics and Child Health |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=244β249}}</ref> Communities such as the Dhond and the [[Bhittani]] of Pakistan clearly prefer marriages between cousins due to the belief they ensure purity of the descent line, provide intimate knowledge of the spouses, and ensure that [[Property|patrimony]] will not pass into the hands of "outsiders".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, Body, Sexuality and Health |first1=Suad |last1=Joseph |author-link=Suad Joseph |first2=Afsaneh |last2=Najmabadi |author2-link=Afsaneh Najmabadi |publisher=Brill |year=2003 |isbn=978-90-04-12819-4 |page=261 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bzXzWgVajnQC}}</ref> [[Parallel and cross cousins|Cross-cousin]] marriages are preferred among the [[Yanomami]] of Brazilian Amazonia, among many other tribal societies identified by anthropologists. There are some cultures in Asia which stigmatize cousin marriage, in some instances even marriages between second cousins or more remotely related people. This is notably true in the culture of [[Korea]]. In South Korea, before 1997, two people with the same last name and clan were prohibited from marrying. In light of this law being held unconstitutional, South Korea now only prohibits up to third cousins (see [[Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code]]). [[Hmong people|Hmong]] culture prohibits the marriage of anyone with the same last name{{nbsp}}{{ndash}} to do so would result in being shunned by the entire community, and they are usually stripped of their last name.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgaGCwAAQBAJ&q=Hmong+culture+prohibits+the+marriage+of+anyone+with+the+same+last+name&pg=PA192|title=Hmong Refugees in the New World: Culture, Community and Opportunity|last=Vang|first=Christopher Thao|date=16 May 2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476622620}}</ref> In a review of 48 studies of children parented by cousins, the rate of birth defects was twice that of non-related couples: 4% for cousin couples as opposed to 2% for the general population.<ref>{{cite news |last=Towie |first=Narelle |url=http://www.perthnow.com.au/kissing-cousins-ok/story-fna7dq6e-1111116504749 |title=Most babies born to first-cousins are healthy |newspaper=Perth Now |date=31 May 2008 |access-date=5 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202060753/http://www.perthnow.com.au/kissing-cousins-ok/story-fna7dq6e-1111116504749 |archive-date=2 February 2012 }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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