quote:Originally posted by snopes: The couple already had one child, and after getting the husband a vasectomy, they decided to stay together.
Over here, there have been cases of brother and sister meeting after having been brought up separately due to adoption. Because they weren't raised together, the usual revulsion at brother-sister matings wasn't there and they ended up as partners. If this happens and the incestuous couple refuse to separate, they are not prosecuted, but they must undergo sterilisation ops. Canvey Island (near Southend) used to be an "uncertain parentage" hotspot, at least until it got causeways that weren't submerged for part of the time.
I've never heard of blood tests before marriage in the UK. I had heard it was becoming more common in the American Orthodox Jewish community because of increasing genetic diseases due to not marrying outside of the faith ("inbreeding" sounds uncomplimentary). Some Punjabi families here are voluntarily having blood tests. Cousin-cousin marriages are the norm, but there's a problem of genetic disease including Prader-Willi and a painful and disfiguring skin disease whose name I can't recall.
Welsh Joke about almost incest: Dai Jones wants to marry Mary Williams. Dai's father takes young Dai aside and tells him he can't marry Mary, because Dai's dad and Mary's mother had an affair and Dai is Mary's brother. Heartbroken Dai talks to his mother who says the couple can go ahead and marry "he might be Mary's father, but he isn't yours!" (the indigenous Welsh being a randy bunch and adultery not being terribly frowned upon - I dated a married Welsh guy and can vouch for both points!)
posted
The difference between incest and animal inbreeding is simple. We cull the herd of animals we inbreed to weed out those nasty recessive genetic disorders. In other words inbreeding + culling allows you to 'clean' the genetic makeup of your herd.
There is a philosophy that suggests something similar be applied to human bloodlines but it is generally regarded as the epitome of evil; it's called Nazism.
-------------------- 'Hello, assorted humanoid strangers. You are standing casually in our forest. This bewilders us.' Blatherskite Posts: 950 | From: Cincinnati, Ohio | Registered: Sep 2005
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