Uncomfortable Topic.

[ccc123]

Several years ago I worked with a young couple who were expecting their first baby, eventually they let it slip that they were first cousins. The first baby appeared to be healthy but then they went on to have a second child who had some serious health problems that the pediatrician told them was caused by them being cousins. This was not in a rural area but a small city.

[Escort Rider]

In some parts of the world it is still common for first cousins to marry. Egypt is one of those countries, I have been told.

[Jukesgrrl]

An extreme example, but something that has happened and worsens as people fail to confront the issue:

Polygamist community faces rare genetic disorder | Reuters

Forbidden Fruit - - News - Phoenix - Phoenix New Times

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by FlowerPower00

I grew up in the suburbs of Southern New England...everyone was sort of an island. We exchanged pleasantries etc.


Fast forward. I am rural Northern New England. I don't know if it's because I interact more with people here, but while I have read about stuff like this, I meet more people who are affected by this problem.

I was doing an field placement in the local nursing home, and, well, there were two young ladies,16 and 17,sisters, in the nursing home. I am not entirely sure what the diagnosis is, but it's a neurological problem. No one is very certain what the problem is.

Due to the nature of this town information is spread quickly. The young ladies parent's are 1st cousins. It appears 3 of the girl's close family are in the nursing home as well with this mysterious "illness".

Different situation, but same area, I was informed a person's sister was a result of a cousin raping the sister's mother.

I have not encountered such before in my life.

Is it because this is a small town and people's live's are transparent? OR is this a problem that is more prevalent in rural areas?



Does this happen elsewhere and we simply don't hear about it?


* some of the identities of this question are changed to protect people's privacy.

It would be far too simplistic to say these things have happened because of life in a "rural area".

They happen in closed off societies/cultures that can be either in the country or in a city.

There is a big problem with the kind of sicknesses and syndromes you would expect from family members marrying/procreating with too closely related family members in a place in New York state called Kiryas Joel.

It is a very cloistered Hasidic Jewish enclave. Of course the folks there are very private and do not want to discuss the problem, but the medical community in the nearby towns and county know there is a problem there.

[Tintlelli]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

In some parts of the world it is still common for first cousins to marry. Egypt is one of those countries, I have been told.

This is true, but you won't hear many people say it because it's not PC. Cousin marriage is extremely common in Muslim populations. Most of these cousins are also "double first cousins" basically meaning they are the progeny of multiple generations of cousin marriages--the cousins are related on the mothers' and fathers' side.

[Mikala43]

Talk to any cop who works sex crimes in any city.

This stuff happens everywhere unfortunately.