ANSWERS: 36
  • I generally let my friends sort out their own love life.
  • hmmmmmmm her cousin? What will happen at the next family gathering if her brother starts moving in on the cousin's territory? You can always suggest going on the Jerry Springer show. They always seem to get issues of this very nature out in the open and in a public forum. I dont think you need to be a rocket scientist to know that falling in love with a cousin (first cousn especially) is a very very bad idea.
  • Maybe you could look up some information on the internet regarding genetics and send it to her. Let her know there could be complications as well as if this relationship didn't work out that it could cause immense pain for the families not to speak of turmoil. Maybe print out a few examples of situations that didn't work and the results. Good luck... you're a good friend.
  • thats bad but i have a crush on one of my cousins, u cant rele do anything
  • If its less than a first cousin, then she can go for it, although it will be awkward in the family. Otherwise just help her sort through the pros and cons.
  • Honestly, it wasn't that long ago that this was a common and acceptable form of relationship. Unless there is a serious genetic flaw in the family lineage that they both share, it's unlikely there will be any harm to offspring. She should check her local laws to see if there are any restrictions on that sort of relationship. And if their relationship becomes serious, they could always move somewhere that it is legal.
  • As far as advice to give, the legality varies by state. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest#Between_adult_cousins
  • As she is 22 i would advise her to try and stay away from him! I think it is legal for cousins to get married in most places. If it helps my great- great grandparents were cousins and had 13 healthy children. I guess you can't help who you fall for but i would tell her to proceed with caution, it is not really accepted these days, especially if they grew up together.
  • omg the same thing happened to me for a while.maybe she should do the same she does with a regular boy?
  • thats weird. Tell her that she needs to un-fall in love with her cousin. its just not right. There are reasons why it is illegal to get married to family members. It goes against nature.
  • Falling in love is beyond control. Acting upon it when it's inappropriate IS NOT beyond control. She should act like a responsible adult, stay away from the cousin she loves, and MOVE ON! Sympathy may be somewhat appropriate, but telling her to NOT act upon her 'love' is much more needed at this point.
  • incest!!!!start breeding
  • Well being in love with you cousin is better then being in love withn your sister or somththing. My boyfriend's nan and grandad are cousin's and marryed. They had to get a yes from the Queen to get marryed but yeh. Yes it is inter breeding b but cousins can still be together. So it's there call really. I wish her luck xx
  • Your friend needs to get out and see the world. The planet is populated with enough people for her to look for a partner outside of her own family...
  • Just make sure she doesn't get pregnant.
  • Lady Alathia has a rockstar Hubby is actually right. A most modern example of 1st cousins safely marrying is in Japan. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only available people for some was a 1st cousin. No large scale problems of any kind.
  • Mrs. C, tell her to move to West Virginia where that kinda thing is required by law
  • I do not agree with the relationship, but I will not show judgement. I have a few of them in my family, (myself , Not a part of)All I can say is..... I would probably get her out. Her & I go out somewhere, meet guys, You know. I'm pretty confused as you. Sorry
  • tell her the side effects if she has a child that the child could be messed up
  • wow thats a hard one mrs cleaver ,i doubt shell really listen to any advice if she has fallen in love with him but i dont think its the ideal relationship to have ,just tell her from the heart your feelings and the rest is up to her.
  • The cousin thing is because they are genetically closely related, of course. I would say, if you can't leave it alone, have fun and don't get pregnant. It might fizzle out. If it doesn't, there are plenty of families out there with cousin marriages with no genetic problems - I wouldn't worry about it too much.
  • Incest is wincest.
  • Does the cousin feel the same way? And how old is she? Is she in her teen years or early adult? Asking online about these type of things usually is the best place. We have parents you know.
  • If it is her real cousin then better to leave it, im not sure if it is legal actually, but it causes family conflicts, it could make things very awkward in the family, she should consider carefully what she is doing and stay away from him during her soul searching time
  • I think Scientific American is a better source than Wikipedia; FYI SciAm puts the number of states where cousin-incest is illegal at 31, not 26 :D Overall they seemed to side with repealing the bans. What they said about the increased risk of birth defects: "First cousins share about an eighth, or 12.5 percent, of their genes, according to a 2002 study in the Journal of Genetic Counseling. Because of that overlap, there's a 1.7 percent to 2.8 higher risk of intellectual disability and genetic disorders, including seizures and metabolic errors among children whose parents are first cousins than among the general population, says Robin Bennett, a certified genetic counselor and lead author of that research. That elevated risk is "comparable to a 40-year-old woman having children and we consider that perfectly acceptable," Spencer tells ScientificAmerican.com. "I can't imagine a law saying they're not allowed to have children." http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=incest-may-not-be-best-but-marriage-2008-12-22
  • incest grosses me out personally. and there is a chance of birth defects if they ever decided to have a child. can't they just be friends?
  • well if she's from Tennessee tell her to go for it!! LOL! sorry Mrs. C i couldnt resist. ;)
  • i'm not touching that one...
  • can't give any advice and my cousin's wife just recently told me that her husband (my first cousin on my mom's side of the family) has alwasy been in love with me, since we were young kids....we are all in our late 40's....it made a lot of pieces of the puzzle come together. I am flattered but that's about all. He is like and always will be like a brother to me.
  • Rush out to Blockbuster and pick up a copy of "Deliverance". Send it to her ASAP! Maybe she'll figure it out.
  • After spending the past 6 months on my family tree, it was very common for relatives especially cousins to marry & have families...but we're talking 1600-1800. Most of the reason for it was families lived close together after migrating to the states, and people were so spread out at that time there wasn't much choice. These days we have many choices and ways of meeting people...There are so many men/women out there why in the world would you want to be with a relative? I mean sure we've all thought we had a hot cousin but that didn't mean we wanted to fall in love with them in a romantic way. I just don't think it's right...but that would be more morale issues. Maybe she/he need to check what their religion thinks about it and the laws of course.
  • Yikes. I was in love with my cousin once but I was 5 and didn't know any better. I think it's kind of weird.. but if he doesn't feel the same way, drop it. If he does feel the same way, good luck and don't have kids- Adopt!
  • Wow, that's rather strange, and it would create turmoil on both sides of the family. I realize someone's love life is their own business, but I still wouldn't go there.
  • How far removed? 1st, 2nd, what? How old are they? If they carry through with this, they should not have kids.
  • See if she wants to buy some tires.
  • This is practiced in some areas to keep land in the family. "No European country prohibits marriage between first cousins. It is also legal throughout Canada and Mexico to marry your first cousin. The U.S. is the only western country with cousin marriage restrictions. " It may cause birth defects if they have kids though.

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