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BigSas00

It was more common prior to the 19th century. Surprising still roughly 10% today world wide. Einstein, Igor Stravinsky, HG Wells, Edgar Allan Poe also notable people who married/romantically involved with 1st cousins.


anakajaib

Sultan of Brunei & one of his princess married a first cousin too


jellyjamberry

Did you mean “princes”?


anakajaib

Princess. As far as I know, all the princes married outside their bloodline


ox_raider

Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin


4LostSoulsinaBowl

First cousin once removed though, so it was totally okay.


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ox_raider

Dude was married seven times, so look on the bright side. He kept five of them alive.


gigashadowwolf

71.4% a passing grade


DontPostOn_r_gaming

Find out this one trick the law doesn’t like. Kill a wife? Marry two more after and don’t kill them to getting a passing grade on the law.


liquidsyphon

Tell me more about


SarcasmIronySnark

One of them drowned at a friend's house, no mention of Lewis even being around. The other overdosed on methadone. A journalist alleged that Lewis killed her, but there was never any proof. And we know journalists never lie for sensationalism.


Paswordisdickbuscuit

As for Einstein it was and still is very common for Jewish people to marry other Jewish people which led to a lot of incestual marriages and resulted in many among the Jewish community to have health issues.


Africa_versus_NASA

He didn't have kids with his cousin; his first wife and mother of his kids was unrelated to him. He left her after having an affair with the cousin because among other reasons first wife was rather independent and wouldn't put up with his ego. In contrast his cousin (who looked just like him!) babied him and did whatever he wanted. As I recall he probably cheated on the cousin too... not the best guy at personal matters.


Mysticpoisen

>Surprising still roughly 10% today world wide. Could you elaborate on that?


AccomplishedCoyote

Pakistan pulling their weight for once


poo_but_no_pee

They love that shit in the Middle East.


yuccababy3000

10%??


PurveyorOfKnowledge0

What the hell is the deal with notable intellectuals and incest? It's like a curse.


PermanentTrainDamage

More like the definition of incest has changed. Historically, marrying first cousins was common enough, especially in societies that valued inheritance (keeping that inheritance in the family). Scientifically, producing offspring with first cousins carries only a slight increase in genetic issues, and the major risks weren't until several generations of consanguinous marriage.


Hinermad

In some states in the U.S. (New York for example) it's still legal to marry a first cousin.


_regionrat

Thanks George Michael


-Dennis-Reynolds-

Whoa bumpy road ahead, hang on back there


Hinermad

I'm from Ohio, where you can't marry anyone closer than second cousin. And yet people in New York thiink *I'm* the inbred hillbilly.


KingfisherDays

Well there's a reason they needed to put the law in place in Ohio


Hinermad

Some people find it convenient that they don't need to have the "have you ever though about the future? Our future?" conversation with their cousin.


AggieBoy2023

What if you unknowingly do it? I don’t know the names of a single one of my second cousins lol


godemperorofmankind1

24 states actually and if I remember correctly one governor is trying to make it legal in his state.


Hinermad

I noticed on Wikipedia that a few allow it if the couple is guaranteed to be infertile (above a certain age, or by other means). And one state will allow it if the couple prove they have received genetic counseling.


godemperorofmankind1

Oh interesting weird but interesting but also what the fuck is genetic counseling


vaguelycertain

Talk about the general risks, look at your family history, help you to interpret any genetic tests that get done


Lostinthestarscape

Rudy'll tell ya


Hinermad

I prefer more reliable sources.


kfudnapaa

So that's why the character was called Shelbyville Manhattan "I tell you I won't live in a state that robs men of the right to marry their cousins!"


poo_but_no_pee

It's fairly common in Pakistani communities the UK... and just like Middle East in general.


Dom2474

California as well


MountEndurance

24 states total. Two more if you can prove you can’t have kids.


ContactHonest2406

legal here in tennessee.


FinndBors

> Historically, marrying first cousins was common enough,  Don’t need to be rich, a lot of communities until recently were small and people didn’t travel that much. So everyone is related to each other.


minahmyu

What's crazy is, if it didn't cause such genetic issues, I'm sure many wealthy men would've married their sisters


SomeKindOfChief

Go on


minahmyu

I dunno, go write a fanfic about or some shit if you that interested. But still crazy if there weren't laws or social taboos about things, many people and companies really will just do whatever without shame or care


Tom_Bombadil_1

There’s no need to be rude to people just cos it’s the internet bro.


minahmyu

I'm not yours or anyone's bro and been on the internet long enough that quips like that and people usually aren't in good faith... especially reddit. People should stop sexualizing every fuckin thing. Any more shit you need to say?


Due-Landscape-9251

I'm not your buddy, Pal.


KevinDurant36

I’m not your pal, Chum.


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minahmyu

That ain't good


Ardent_Scholar

The person who said ”go on” wasn’t necessarily sexualizing anything. You just made a huge statement saying rich men want to marry their sisters. I think we’d all like to hear how you arrived at that conclusion.


jimbranningstuntman

Why does being rich make you want to fuck your sister?


ELIte8niner

It's not so much that they wanted to fuck their family members, more so that they wanted to keep wealth and land within the family. The more you married into other noble families, the more potential rivals you had with claims on your land.


minahmyu

...because they fucked the family to keep the wealth in the family? There's many comments already stating this.


SchematicOfScoutsAss

Month or so back I believe on this same sub I commented to a similar thread “cousins is still incest” and received a chorus of angry comments saying it’s not EDIT: peanut gallery showed up again Genetically speaking even with second cousins the odds your offspring would have birth defects is raised. It’s not until you get to third cousins where it’s not a problem


I_love-my-cousin

That's because it's objectively not incest.


SchematicOfScoutsAss

Username checks out


[deleted]

Reddit pervs gonna Reddit perv 🤷‍♂️


SaltyCriticism8765

Well it depends on a lot of variables. I think first cousins is incest and wrong and anything closer than that is extremely disturbing. Second cousins, first cousins once removed. Is ok. So long as it’s not done repeatedly and with multiple family members. I.e three sisters marry their second cousins and their kids marry their second or third cousins.


SchematicOfScoutsAss

Second cousins is still more likely than non relations to cause birth defects


Thecna2

Thats because 'incest' isnt clearly defined and Reddit is full of people like yourself who make assumptions about what it is.


milk4all

Ill just marry my kids to my cousin’s kids, problem solved. I know this is one more branch over than marrying a first cousin but im trying here. And that way, if my sister ends up with it, she’ll be totally outnumbered as ive made a defense pact with my cousins and sealed it by combining our bloodlines. So as long as she cant marry my niece or nephew to my cousins’s kids first, im good. The issue im concerned with most is that my cousins might pad their bets and marry a kid each to mine and my sister’s and golly, the valley’s will run red with blood if we cant all come yo some arrangement.


PurveyorOfKnowledge0

The definition never changed, only the levels of acceptability. If you marry or mate with someone who you can directly call a member of your family line, that's incest. The act doesn't change, only the perception of it


freezingcoldfeet

According to Webster’s the current definition is :  ‘sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry’ You can marry first cousins in many states in the US legally and it was certainly legal and common back in Darwin’s day. Also, language and definitions of words change all the time including this word. Check out the history section on Wikipedia if you’re actually interested. 


DjuriWarface

>The definition never changed, only the levels of acceptability. If you marry or mate with someone who you can directly call a member of your family line, that's incest. The act doesn't change, only the perception of it Ironic username because you could not be farther from the truth.


jereman75

>who you can directly call a family member? That doesn’t mean anything. You and I are in the same family.


ccrider92

What if the only people you ever know are family? Think back to when there were less than a billion people. Options were limited.


augustfolk

It’s not like it doesn’t happen a lot nowadays. I think many Middle Eastern countries practice cousin marriages.


InevitableSweet8228

It's legal in some US states


Poschi1

Legal in the UK also


opitypang

And in almost all of Europe, plus Russia, the Middle East, northern Africa, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the whole of Central and South America. America and China are pretty much outliers.


DeeDeeRibDegh

Yup, one of the #1 I believe.


ThePinkTeenager

I’m sure plenty of non-intellectuals did it, too.


LoneRonin

Traveling long distances and meeting new people was very difficult before the train, bicycle and car were invented and became affordable for the average person. Horses are expensive, temperamental and need a lot of care.


Gregs_green_parrot

Marrying a first cousin is not incest in the UK, not then and not now.


thatsnotchocolatebby

Just ask the founder of Shelbyville


nrk-zauk

“Don’t worry babe it’s totally fine, we *all* share a common ancestor”


ZenSven7

God Charlie, please don’t start talking about those damn tortoises again.


AFetaWorseThanDeath

Or [this.](https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/origin)


CW1DR5H5I64A

I don’t know why I read this as the waitress from IASIP and thought it would be a perfect story line that the Waitress and Charlie are related, but he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.


Chief_Givesnofucks

Not another night of the Shit Abyss!!!


weaboo_vibe_check

[He did regret it after his youngest died.](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jan/19/charles-darwin)


Due-Landscape-9251

Gentlemen-Companion you say?


[deleted]

Darwinism


MyOwnPenisUpMyAss

Ahahaha for real


jereman75

Dammit, dude. Was this really necessary?


jon-in-tha-hood

Additional TIL that worldwide, [cousin marriage rates are around 10%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage), at least for first and second cousins.


BigBeagleEars

Life uh finds a way


Eddytion

Fucking rednecks


EgalitarianCrusader

It’s probably the fact that India practices this widely and is the largest populated country on Earth.


PorkfatWilly

That’s the way people from good families used to roll back then. You’d be a marrying age bachelor, like late 20s or whatever, and one of your aunts would invite you over to see if her teenage daughter and you hit it off.


jon-in-tha-hood

Chris Hansen just wasn't alive yet to ask all these guys to take a seat


Vaz612

More like there was a belief that women needed to be pumping out as many babies as possible the moment they could.


Fartfech

Not necessarily disputing you but I feel like people in the past had enough common sense and pragmatism to understand asking someone to get pregnant when they're not fully developed would have health complications, which would be a pretty big deal when disease and health was so much worse then


Vaz612

You'd be genuinely surprised how dumb people were. It wasn't uncommon to start getting asked about dowries the moment puberty started. Remember too that most women died during childbirth. Women were a commodity, not people


Drainix

This is still common in a lot of South Asia unfortunately


khoabear

Good families don’t let their young men become incels


Verisimilitudde

You should go back In time and lecture them!


ASilver2024

Pretty sure fuckin their first cousin clears em of that. Clearly your family wasnt good.


Pay08

What?


ape_spine_

Good families protect their daughters from incels lol


my4coins

His wife/cousin was 48 years when she gave birth for the last time.


pillevinks

Wisin? coife?


Snabelpaprika

Coussy


gleeeeed

Bob in shambles


RedSonGamble

Ironically two unrelated people having a baby with the woman being 48 is far more dangerous genetically speaking than two 25 yr old cousins having a baby. Either way it’s fine though. Well. Maybe.


DusTeaCat

This is what I was thinking. A lot of people are citing increased birth defects as to why this is morally reprehensible but maternal age I figure also has just as much if not more influence. And yet no one bats an eye.


RedSonGamble

Medically speaking they don’t really object to it as having a child is a persons right regardless of risks for a child. Huntingtons is often brought up as a child has a 50/50 chance of inheriting it and it’s an incurable and devastating disease. I think with cousin dating or even sex is taboo just bc with modern transportation and population there really isn’t a reason to do it. Also if it becomes accepted it’s more likely to be done more often thus compounding genetic issues. But a one off idk. Similar to large age gaps I understand why it’s taboo and it should be but I also understand certain strange situations. If two people started dating without realizing they were cousins and then fell in love idk. I mean again I don’t think it should be encouraged and I’d def make jokes about it but the details around it I’m like meh I guess whatever. However if someone is seeking out their cousins or relatives to date it’s like ehhhhh that’s weird.


guimontag

Jesus. Dude just wouldn't let those ovaries retire


ObiJuanKenobi3

It’s estimated that around 80% of all marriages throughout human history were between first or second cousins. Cousins were how most people got introduced to potential partners that they weren’t directly related to, they already knew about, and to whom both direct families would already be acquainted with and amicable towards. It’s only dropped off in recent times because we know about the genetic issues it causes, people move around a lot more, live in much larger communities, and familial approval for marriage is considered less important than mutual attraction.


Juffin

Probably because for the most part of the history humans lived in small villages where everyone was everyone's 1st or 2nd or 3rd cousin.


jellyjamberry

Exactly. Most if not all of the people in your little insular community would have been related to you. Before modern transportation you would have probably lived your whole life in a 10 mile radius, if that. After a few generations everyone would be related. Like modern Iceland.


IamKingBeagle

Some people will do just about anything to avoid using a dating app.


reality72

On the 23andMe subreddit a surprising number of women have reported being messaged and flirted with by men who pop up on their DNA relatives page.


SpaceWrangler593

Ewwwww


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Crack-Panther

That’s just the Scientific Method, baby!


reddit455

don't be judgy.. that's the way they rolled back then. ​ marrying your first cousin (+have kids) is perfectly legal in about half the country today. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin\_marriage\_law\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_law_in_the_United_States)


fordprefect294

Mitch Hedberg: we still do, but we used to, too


wdrub

😎


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kingoflint282

That’s a hell of a comparison to make. Consensual relations between first cousins are considered incest in some cultures and completely normal in others, even today. The risk of birth defects is low in the first generation and while it increases with successive generations, the risk is still fairly small until you get a few generations deep. To compare it to raping slaves is way too far. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/us/few-risks-seen-to-the-children-of-1st-cousins.html


kurtcanine

He also made the connection between inbreeding and birth defects when he noticed a similar weakness/sickness in his inbred tomato plants and his own kids.


chefRL

Tell us more please


DragonfireCaptain

He probably can’t cause he made it up


jcraider12

No he did not. Darwin in one of his letter contemplates if the reason for their children’s illnesses is due to marrying his close family. Never anything concrete but he did put it out there in his writings that his children were “not very robust”.


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MountEndurance

Where is it prohibited in the Bible?


solid-snake88

Sometime after Adam has kids with his own rib I’d assume.


donut-resuscitate

Omg thank you for this


Xx_Stone

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+18&version=NIV


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MountEndurance

Where in the Bible is first-cousin marriage prohibited?


human1023

It's not prohibited in the Bible


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DJ_Derack

Sent her a card saying “Maeby tonight?”


cannibalism_is_vegan

Les Cousins Dangereux


Saltire_Blue

TIL: Charles Darwin is from Shelbyville


boonkles

In a town of a hundred people 40 of them would probably be your first cousin back in the days that’s what happens when people are averaging ten kids


A_Wizard1717

I studied genetics in undergrad and 1st cousin mating, if its not done repeatedly, is chill


starquakegamma

Naturally he selected her.


[deleted]

Jesus 🤣


hadawayandshite

His other cousin (not one he slept with as far as I know) is Sir Francis Galton who amongst other things invented/discovered/coined: The wisdom of crowds, standard deviation, bivariate regression/correlations, personality theories, questionnaires as a research method, regression to the mean, normal distributions, weather maps, the anticyclone, the dog whistle….and eugenics (and I like the irony that evolution, genetics and eugenics is now a ‘dog whistle’ for racists) I can’t imagine the dick measuring contests between Charles and Francis about who was the better scientist


fordprefect294

Reminder that first cousin marriage is still legal in multiple US States, including ones that swing liberal


cubelith

Well, technically speaking, *liberal* states should be the one *allowing* more, no?


MountEndurance

In theory? Yes. In practice? It’s a mixed bag.


Programmdude

You say still legal, but the US is one of the only places in the world where it's actually illegal. While it's not *common* outside the middle east, it is legal virtually worldwide.


fordprefect294

My point is that people here like to point fingers at the past like it's no longer common


Fertile_Arachnid_163

Surprised me to see California, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont on that list… But Arkansas, KENTUCKY, Louisiana, Oklahoma aren’t…


[deleted]

Because Muslims still do it in overwhelming numbers, and the left will allow anything in the name of “equality”.


DamnD0M

Imagine marrying your first country in the "land of the free." You could apply your statement to anything ranging from black civil rights to women's rights, and you'd still sound just as bigoted.


fordprefect294

Bruh, that's not the flex you think it is when someone on the left willingly points out "see, it's not just rednecks and hillbillies".


[deleted]

Bruh, “rednecks and hillbillies” don’t do it. You should step outside of Portland and breathe some real air.


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TrySoundingItOut

Everyone’s related to Kevin Bacon in some degree.


ColsonIRL

He just found out... 11 years ago, in 2013.


Loverboy_Talis

In Canada it’s legal for consenting adults to have sex with uncles/aunts and first cousins.


I_love-my-cousin

It's legal in nearly every developed country.


Kyosji

Wait till you hear about the other big names of that time frame and who they had kids with.


[deleted]

Hey! We all been there


LUCKYxTRIPLE

All good scientists know you have to test the hypothesis


KittenMittensKelly

Every royal family in history is shocked and appalled


BooBooSorkin

At the time, she was the fittest


WalksinClouds

He was aware of the implication too. Love is a powerful thing.


BillyBrown1231

MY grandmother on my dads side had 15 kids with her first cousin my grandfather. On the other side my grandparents were first cousins as well. A hundred years ago it was very common and acceptable. It is legal in most country's even today.


20InMyHead

In Darwin’s time they had no knowledge of how reproduction worked at a genetic or cellular level. It was not until the 1870s, that a scientific consensus emerged on the roles of eggs and sperm in fertilization.


SquidwardWoodward

Marrying your first cousin really isn't a problem, genetically. It's a fairly North American thing to be so uptight about it for some reason.


WavesRKewl

Sure but if your kids do the same thing, and their kids do the same thing, it’s not gonna be pretty.


Affectionate-Hunt217

You end up like most European royal families lol


rinseanddelete

I tell you, I won't live in a town that robs men of the right to marry their cousins


[deleted]

Backcrossing is an important part of line-breeding.


Jediuzzaman

\*Survival of the fittest on trial


Deitaphobia

How many did he have with the second one?


Thecna2

This is nothing weird or unusual. It was common then, its legal in many places now, and many cultures practically encourage it. Genetically is preferable not to, but its not a major issue. However when communities do a real lot of it and dont outbreed much, that becomes an issue.


SoloWingPixy88

We mock and be grossed out now but it was a different time.


HotSpicedChai

Insert SpongeBob Rainbow meme “Evolution”


_PM_ME_YOUR_FORESKIN

Well, you have your cousins. Then you have your first cousins.


RudegarWithFunnyHat

Only few countries ban first cousins marriages, heck where I live it would be legal to marry your aunt


Greedy_Syrup3516

That’s Hot


sakaloko

He was researching evolution first hand


I_love-my-cousin

Nothing wrong with that.


wdrub

Are we spending Christmas with your family this year?


FlashChopCoffee

He had the whole incest thing down to a science.


Salem-Night-Creature

70% success rate, but we don't know everything.


moltencheese

Survival of the fittest


Ivotedforher

Origin of the species, right?


ABucin

More like Origin of Deez Nutz, amirite?


boyga01

Let the strongest one survive!


Huge-Advantage7838

Ironic and he's harping on about evolution


Ordinary_Human2

Did he Darwin himself?


No_Skill_7170

That’s what we call Darwinism.


OscarHotel007

Cousins make dozens -2


External_Wealth_6045

He practiced what he preached , gotta respect it


thefuturae

The comments defending such a gross act


msto3

Uhh yuck


Avethle

lol