Is it okay to date 2nd or 3rd cousins?

Geralt Isiberis wrote:

Legal answer: yes, it is perfectly legal and fine.

Real life answer: no, it's not and never will be.

It's ok in West Virginia!

FDR married his 5th cousin once removed, and he was president. Go for it.

Read your post again. Trying to be so fancy you messed up.

Also seems passable in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Notice the inverse relationship with intelligence though. It's your gamble as to whether you think inbreeding causes stupid or stupid causes inbreeding. Hint: It's both.

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

Just wondering if there is an acceptable limit for dating someone in your own family? I think maybe 3rd cousins is okay and I'm sure that a ton of people have probably done so unknowingly.

In traditional family organization, your first cousin is the child of your aunt or nephew while your second cousin is a grand-niece or grand-nephew of your grandparents. And your son/daughter would be a third cousin of your second cousin's son or daughter.

So would it be okay for your son/daughter to date your grand-aunt/grand-uncle's grandchild's son/daughter?

It is not advisable from a scientific, actuarial and genetic standpoint! Have your partner or prospective partners take an ancestry test. Den ar et, der vises Sten!

Your offspring will have Maple Syrup Piss (technically the medical term is: Maple Syrup Urine Disorder).

My 2nd cousin is really cute so I wouldn't complain about it. We live in a shallow world where there is stigma about literally everything. People are always trying to objectify and disrespecting. If the couple are happy leave them alone.

jminshoud wrote:

FDR married his 5th cousin once removed, and he was president. Go for it.

I don't know the rules but I'm pretty sure you're allowed to bang your 5th cousin.

Nothing wrong with that. It's just like any girl, except she is related. You just don't want to reproduce and produce a retard kid.

Paul Bunyan wrote:

jminshoud wrote:

FDR married his 5th cousin once removed, and he was president. Go for it.

I don't know the rules but I'm pretty sure you're allowed to bang your 5th cousin.

You are allowed to bang anyone, including your own sister if you are both adults.

It doesn't mean it is right. First , second, and third degree cousins are too close from a family point of view. 5th degree cousin is basically a stranger.

Josh_99 wrote:

Bro nothing wrong, my cousin is a legit 8/10 and if only I could somehow get her drunk n smash. Would give her the best sex of her life. I'm getting turned on just thinking about it.

You are admitting she would never consider it in a normal state since you are part of her family. She is normal but you have a psy problem.

Biologist would not recommend procreation by second or third cousins. The risk for birth defects are greater than two non-relatives mating. Would not dating a second or third cousin be awkward at family/social gatherings?

Biologists ... wrote:

Biologist would not recommend procreation by second or third cousins. The risk for birth defects are greater than two non-relatives mating. Would not dating a second or third cousin be awkward at family/social gatherings?

I agree. 3rd is probably the upper limit. Meaning 4th and 5th degree would be no issue. They're so far removed that they're practically strangers. We're talking about only 1/20th or so genetic similarity between you and your 4th adn 5th degree cousins. Heck it's probably smaller than that.

I don't think anyone could even figure out who their 4th and 5th degree cousins are.

Actually this breaks it down. It's too complicated beyond the 2nd cousin.

https://www.familytreemagazine.com/premium/how-to-calculate-cousinhood/

https://www.familytreemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/how_to_calculate_cousinhood.jpg

At only 3.125% genetic similarity, there is probably not much disk from a deformity standpoint of dating your second cousin, but you're too close to them from a societal standpoint and it would be awkward at familg gatherings. You'll probably both be pariahs.

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

At only 3.125% genetic similarity, there is probably not much disk from a deformity standpoint of dating your second cousin, but you're too close to them from a societal standpoint and it would be awkward at familg gatherings. You'll probably both be pariahs.

Who gives a sh!t about the pariah thing? For many people a black person married to a white person makes them both social pariahs. But all that says a whole lot more about those doing the shunning (and not good things) than about the people in the relationship.

Biologists ... wrote:

Biologist would not recommend procreation by second or third cousins. The risk for birth defects are greater than two non-relatives mating. Would not dating a second or third cousin be awkward at family/social gatherings?

Who has family gatherings with their 3rd cousins? I have 2nd cousins that I was friends with for years before I found out we were 2nd cousins. All of my holiday family gatherings were with my grandparents and their descendants.

The actual scientific statistics-based arguments I've seen in the past on this topic say that while marrying 1st cousins might be legal it's somewhat risky and not advisable. But I've never seen anyone argue from data or statistics that there's any issue at the 2nd cousin level or beyond.

Personally I wouldn't ever date anyone that I knew was a cousin of any kind because there's such a big social stigma about it--whether that stigma is justified or not. But I personally wouldn't stigmatize someone else or think they're disgusting if they were with a 2nd or 3rd cousin. I personally don't buy any arguments about there being some reason why it's gross to marry someone you grew up with, because that same rationalization should mean people can't marry unrelated friends that they knew in childhood. For me it's just a question of science and statistics and probabilities. Based on the data I've seen, there shouldn't be issues with 2nd cousins or beyond, but I'd be happy to change my mind if it turns out that data isn't correct. I don't see any reason to be grossed out or to be stigmatizing anyone based on this stuff. Just make rational decisions based on the data.