1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:10,000 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to step Mom Never Told You? 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: From housetop works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: This is Molly and I'm Kristen Christine over Holliday break 5 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: a spect some time. We're paying myself with all my 6 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: favorite television shows. It's not on the air anymore. It's 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: called arrested development. Oh, such a good one. And uh 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: one of one of my favorite plot lines and arrested 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: development is some some cousin lust. Cousin lust, so I'm 10 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: going to define it. There's a character named George Michael. 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:46,319 Speaker 1: It's a character named Maybe the first cousins, and yet 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: they can't deny the feelings between them. Well, I think 13 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: George Michael can't deny his feelings to it. And maybe 14 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: we were not entirely sure of if Maybe wants him back. 15 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: I believe in season two the whole reason she wants 16 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: to get with Steve Holt is because she's got the 17 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,840 Speaker 1: crush on George Michael. See, obviously I need to reoquait 18 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,160 Speaker 1: myself with the rest of development as well. And I mean, 19 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: I don't know is it a spoiler alert of the 20 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: show has been off for like a few years now. No, 21 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:13,119 Speaker 1: people should have watched it by now. Guys, you hear 22 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,080 Speaker 1: that you should have watched it by now, and maybe 23 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: it's still be on the air. But I just want 24 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: to say, there's a point when these cousins get married 25 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,400 Speaker 1: and the whole you know, George Michael really struggles with 26 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: this guilt he's got first cousin because it just doesn't 27 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: seem right, It doesn't seem proper, the marriage, you know, 28 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: it freaks both of them out. But the fact of 29 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: the matter is that show takes place in California, which 30 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: makes a marriage between first cousins perfectly legal. Yes, throw 31 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: away your preconceived notions of hillbilly's marrying their cousins, which 32 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: I think is a very common stereotype. But cousin marriage 33 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: is legal in California, but not in Kentucky. Right, It's 34 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: kind of weird. It's uh, it's illegal in states A 35 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: K A half the Union, you know, so it's kind 36 00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: of a roll of the dice. Maybe you can get married, 37 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 1: maybe not here in our fair state of of Georgia. 38 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 1: It is kind of unsurprisingly legal. Um, but it's also 39 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: legal in all of Europe and Canada. You know, the 40 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: US is kind of you know, just holding out on 41 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: the rest of the world with his cousin marriage. Right. 42 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: Maybe that's why Arrested Development didn't catch on outside the US, 43 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: because they watched the show and they're like, so he 44 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: so he likes his cousin. I mean, Michael takes maybe 45 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: to see this movie. It's a French movie about love 46 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: between cousins. He keeps going, I like the way they think, 47 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: but that's how a lot of the world thinks. It's 48 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: like the U s didn't get this memo that cousins 49 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: are okay, but are they? As soon as you hear this, 50 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,679 Speaker 1: you're like, I don't want to marry my cousin, but 51 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,480 Speaker 1: there are people out there that do want to marry 52 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 1: their cousin there. Yeah, and uh. There was this article 53 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: that we ran across from two thousand nine November two 54 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: thousand one, very recent, uh, talking about some first cousins 55 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: who had gotten married. And my favorite part of the 56 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: article was when she said that she refers to her 57 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: partner as her or her spouse as her husband. It's adorable. 58 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: I don't know if adorable is the right word, but 59 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: it's it's unique. Yes, And evidently they have this family, 60 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: this couple picture of themselves and the frame says cousins 61 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: at the top and then the bottom is like the 62 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: best thing in life is family or something like that. 63 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: It really freaks them all out. It freaks them all out. 64 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: I will say that that's where, um, that couple kind 65 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: of crossed the line between me being sympathetic for them 66 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: and may being a little freaked out, because I mean, 67 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: if you're gonna put a picture of yourself as a 68 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: couple in a frame, I don't know if I would 69 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: have picture the frame. Um. But again that may just 70 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: be our preconceived notions coming into this. So let's take 71 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: a backwards step look at it with our clear eyed, 72 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: open minded view. We try to bring to mom stuff. 73 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: And I think that most people when they think about 74 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: cousins getting married is like, what will happen to the children? Yes, 75 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: and I have a child who is eight armed and 76 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: cross side Probably not Molly, No, of course not. And 77 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: we know this from a very often sided article in 78 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: the Journal Genetic Counseling in two thousand. To lay it 79 00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: on us, Kristen, Yes, this groundbreaking study said that the 80 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: risk of serious genetic defects like spina bifida and cystic fibrosis, 81 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: and the children of first cousins does exist, but it 82 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: is very small, one point seven to two point eight 83 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: percentage points higher than for children of unrelated risk, who 84 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: face a three to four percent risk. And that's basically 85 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: a direct quote from the New York Times um and 86 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: this is roughly equivalent to that of children of women 87 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: giving birth in their early forties. Right, we've all heard 88 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: that there's a higher risk of something going wrong with 89 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: the child if the if the mother's over forty. Apparently 90 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: that's the same risk you have if you have a 91 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: child with your cousin. Now, the mortality rate in that 92 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 1: two thousand two articles of a child of first cousins 93 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: was given as being four point four percentage points higher 94 00:04:56,839 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: than the child of unrelated parents, which us seem pretty high, 95 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: But more recent studies are suggesting that that's coming down, 96 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,560 Speaker 1: that it might just be like three point five percent 97 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: points higher. Yeah, not only for this podcast, I think 98 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: we're going to need to put on our science lab coats, okay, 99 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: because we're gonna have to talk about talk about genetics, 100 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: talk about some science stuff. Because when we're talking about 101 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: the risks of inbreeding, which you know, cousin cousin love. 102 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: It's in breeding, folks. Uh. The thing that is going 103 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: to determine whether or not we're gonna have some sort 104 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,120 Speaker 1: of crazy defects has to go. It has to do 105 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,240 Speaker 1: with Sounder effect and Founder effect is basically when the 106 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: you take the two genes from the two parents and 107 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: what happens when you combine them together in a genetic stewpot. 108 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: So in that genetic stewpot, what you want to minimize 109 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: our things called elital recessives. These are the things that 110 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: will eventually lead to neurodegenerative diseases. The you know, the 111 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: the variant genes that can pop up and rereak havoc 112 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: on a child. Now, if you start with a really 113 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,719 Speaker 1: great bloodline, then the fact is that you're, you know, 114 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: you're minimizing your chance of their obsessives passing their way down. 115 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,720 Speaker 1: The reason that inbreeding can make people nervous is that 116 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: if you know one parent has their recessive and one 117 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,800 Speaker 1: parent doesn't because they're unrelated, then the chance that the 118 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 1: child will get their obsessive is minimized. Right. However, if 119 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: your cousin has their obsessive and you have their assessive, 120 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,040 Speaker 1: then the child will likely have a recessive gene and 121 00:06:32,080 --> 00:06:35,359 Speaker 1: have higher risk for something down the line that can 122 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: compromise their health. And obviously the chances of that you 123 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: very closely related parents having the same recessive genes are 124 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: much higher because they're more genetically similar. And uh, it's 125 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: interesting that there's an article that we found in Discover 126 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: magazine talking about genetics and inbreeding and all of that, 127 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: and it points out that, um, the roths child kind 128 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: of dynasty that practiced in breeding didn't have a lot 129 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: of genetic defects that were passed on the line because 130 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: they had a healthy founder effect, like the two parents 131 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: who started had you know, healthy genes and it kind 132 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: of went down the line. There weren't all these weird 133 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: diseases that popped up later in life. But that's not 134 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: always the case. But the thing about um this now 135 00:07:18,360 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: is that with the rise of genetic testing, will all 136 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: be able to know what recessive genes we have. And 137 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: you know, you think back to the podcast we did 138 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: about how we'll have children in the future. I mean, 139 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: it's very possible that two cousins could get tested see that, 140 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,080 Speaker 1: you know, neither the carrier for the recessive gene or 141 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: that one is and one isn't, and they'll know that's 142 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: a good match and that they could go ahead and 143 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: have a baby. Yeah, and maybe we should point out 144 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: on the pro side of cousin marriage. Uh Discovered points 145 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: out that there are three major reasons why why it's 146 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: it could be a good thing. First of all, you 147 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: have um a shared set of cultural values. All right, 148 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: there's a higher chance that your spouses are going to 149 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: be compatible because your family already family in family reunions 150 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: will just be like just coming over on a Saturday 151 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: games so easy. And then you have minimized the need 152 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: to break up family wealth as in the case of 153 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: the Rothschilds. And I think the DuPont family also practiced 154 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: in breeding at some point for for those purposes, to 155 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: keep the wealth and the family the money in the family. Yeah, 156 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: actually it was pre interesting. Discovered points out that what 157 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: the Rothschilds did was that um female descendants were cut 158 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: off from any sort of inheritance, so to get their 159 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:32,240 Speaker 1: doe they had to marry their cousin. And you know, 160 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:37,959 Speaker 1: Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married first cousins so 161 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's looking good for cousins, so fluxka. 162 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: But you know it's not all it's not all love 163 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: and roses. Let's turn our attention to a community Bradford, 164 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: England where uh, it's very common for the Pakistani's who 165 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: lived there to marry their cousins. Yes, the majority of 166 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: this community can trace their origins all the way back 167 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:01,600 Speaker 1: to a village in Kashmir and a lot of it's 168 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: a pretty common cultural practice for these people to you know, 169 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: to marry close cousins. But that's had negative health effects 170 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: over the years. Specifically, the BBC reports um that at 171 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: least of British Pakistani's are married to first cousins um. 172 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: And it's you know, it's pretty common among other South 173 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: Asian communities, in some Middle Eastern communities as well. Um. 174 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: But it says on the whole British Pakistani's are thirteen 175 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: times more likely to have children with genetic disorders and 176 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,960 Speaker 1: the general population, and they account for just over three 177 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: percent of all births but have just under one third 178 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: of all British children with such illnesses. And they think 179 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: this is largely attributed to inbreeding. Right, So it basically 180 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: it's unpredictable. You can draw a good hand like the rothschild, 181 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: you can draw shoddy hand like the people on Bradford. 182 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,680 Speaker 1: So that's sort of the genetic side of it. That's 183 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,360 Speaker 1: a large part of why people oppose marriage between cousins. 184 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: So let's take a step back and say, if there's 185 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: you know, the genetic crap shoot as to how the 186 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: children will turn out, what are the other reasons for 187 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: objecting two cousins getting married? Um? The Bible says, it's okay, 188 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: there's no restriction in the Bible of marriage between cousins. Um. 189 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: But this is an argument that's come up before slippery slope. Yes, 190 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: if you let your you know, if you let two 191 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: cousins get married or all of a sudden, is a 192 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: daughter gonna want to marry a father? Is a brother 193 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: gonna want to marry a sister? That's when you start 194 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: to feel a little, a little ikey. But I think 195 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: this is a good time to point out the difference 196 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:43,800 Speaker 1: between inbreeding and incests. A lot of times we kind 197 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: of lumps the two together because you know, obviously insists 198 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: is a form of inbreeding, but in nature, inbreeding can 199 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: have very positive results. This Discover article points out um 200 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:00,680 Speaker 1: a study that was done by a biologist, William Shields 201 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: at the State University of New York UM looking at 202 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: the way that young birds will inbreed, but they will 203 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:13,600 Speaker 1: avoid incests. They leave the nest and they move about 204 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,760 Speaker 1: four or five home ranges away, not super far away, 205 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: so they're still going to be pretty closely related to 206 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: the birds that they end up mating with. However, they're 207 00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: staying away from the other birds in their home ness. 208 00:11:27,679 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: So the thing is that if you're too familiar with 209 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: the people in your nest, be it birds or humans, 210 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: then um, then you won't want to marry them, but 211 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: you'll want someone who's kind of similar. And if you 212 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:41,720 Speaker 1: think about it, our ancestors couldn't really move that far away. 213 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: They're like the birds, they can only go a few 214 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: nests over. And so Discover estimates that what like of 215 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: all marriages and history are between people who are as 216 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: closely related as second cousins. Yeah, and Patrick Bateson, who's 217 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: a professor of ethology at Cambridge UM, kind of argues 218 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:01,800 Speaker 1: that you know, if you go too far outside of 219 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: your you know, genetic line, it can have unintended negative 220 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: results and He points to the example of the difference 221 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: of teeth and jaw size, like, if I, you know 222 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: I have I don't know how to describe my teeth. 223 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,719 Speaker 1: But let's say I marry some lovely I have perfect 224 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,559 Speaker 1: deep and if I marry someone with weird, scraggly d 225 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 1: and our kids might have kind of crazy jaws. That's 226 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: basically is a his argument. And and these days it 227 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: would be fine because our kid would just go get 228 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: braces and take care of it and whatever. But back 229 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:36,559 Speaker 1: in the day when dentistry was very rudimentary, that would 230 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 1: not have been an option, and they would have had 231 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: all sorts of health problems because of that. And he 232 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,319 Speaker 1: refers to this um in Nate drive. We have to 233 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: find mates that are kind of similar to ourselves as 234 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: something called assortive mating, which basically kind of down the 235 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: line is in breeding, very distant in breeding, but in 236 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: breeding nonetheless, So people who want to marry a cousin 237 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:04,679 Speaker 1: claim that for them not to be allowed to do 238 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: so is some form of genetic discrimination that basically nature 239 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: and history has kind of led us to this sort 240 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: of mating. You find someone you're really compatible with, um 241 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: and that the odds of genetics are no more against 242 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,559 Speaker 1: them than someone else. You know, we don't ban women 243 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: from over forty of having children. We don't ban people 244 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: with diseases that we know that can be passed on, 245 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: like Huntington's disease. We don't ban them from having children. 246 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: So why then should these couples be banned? Is there 247 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: is there a question? So I think that it's just 248 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: something to think about. I don't want to come down 249 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: pro cousin love or anti cousin love, um, but something 250 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: to think about. I also found a found it pretty interesting. 251 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,040 Speaker 1: One of these articles pointed out that a lot of 252 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:49,079 Speaker 1: these states prohibit cousins from getting married because of how 253 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,080 Speaker 1: the children will turn out. Right, And then there are 254 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: a lot of people who make the argument that gay 255 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: people shouldn't get married because they can't have children, and 256 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: that is um, violating some of marriage. Why. I mean, 257 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: everyone's just so worried about children when people just want 258 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:08,280 Speaker 1: to get married. Now, maybe Molly and this is a 259 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: revolutionary idea, is so spare with me? Okay, maybe the 260 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: problem is just marriage itself. Maybe to solve all of 261 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: these problems in one fell swoop, get rid of marriage. WHOA, yeah, 262 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: how about that? Some to ponder. Something to ponder so 263 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: let us know, is it's the is cousin love enough 264 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: to get rid of marriage altogether? I mean it would. 265 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: It would eliminate this issue of cousin love, gay marriage, 266 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,920 Speaker 1: the high divorce rate, all of it just gone gone. 267 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: The more marriage. What we have to talk about, Uh, babies, 268 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 1: we still have babies, would have babies. Girls love to 269 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,280 Speaker 1: talk about babies. Just kidding, um, So what do you 270 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,240 Speaker 1: guys think? Should we get rid of marriage? Should we 271 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: marry our cousins? And if you are someone who is 272 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: married to a cousin, tell us your story. I am 273 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: very interested to hear this. Molly and I are very 274 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: open minded and non gunge mill, so don't be don't 275 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: be scared to share. And speaking of sharing, why don't 276 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: we share some listener mail. Let's so, Molly, I will 277 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: start off with a dad's point of view on Disney princesses. 278 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: And this comes from Mark and he has a five 279 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: year old daughter and he says, my daughter does love 280 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: to play dress up. We happen to have a sizeable 281 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: amount of princess paraphernalia around the house. I don't know 282 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: how that will evolve, but she seems, but she's been 283 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: into the fairy stuff for more than a year, and 284 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure she's on the young side of Disney's 285 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 1: target audience. I heard a report on NPR just after 286 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: the tinker Bell movie came out that Disney was trying 287 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: to provide an intermediate step for young girl's interest because 288 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: many five to eight year olds were getting interested in 289 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: high school musical that was driving the older kids away 290 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,840 Speaker 1: from that and merchandise because it was uncool to like 291 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: the same things little kids liked. And he said that 292 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: it worked in his household, that he's watched the tinker 293 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 1: Bell movies many times, and he said, I have to 294 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: admit that disnease. Approach with the first tinker Bell movie 295 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:10,760 Speaker 1: is a completely different from the classic princess movies. There's 296 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: no love and trist in the movie at all. She 297 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: has to navigate personal decisions and accept the consequences of 298 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: those decisions and find a new solution. This is a 299 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: very good and modern message. Personally, I hope to keep 300 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: her more interested in Pixar films like Wally Cars, Monsters, inc. 301 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:26,280 Speaker 1: He seem to have a much more modern approach to 302 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: a child's development and much better morals than anything I've 303 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: seen from Disney in recent history. So thank you Mark. 304 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: All right, and I'll read one from trist To before 305 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,480 Speaker 1: we close up the mailbag. She writes, growing up, I 306 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: was Cinderella, so I find discussion and controversy surrounding the 307 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: princesses to be very interesting. While I can understand where 308 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: people are coming from when they worry about the aesthetics 309 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: of the princesses, I get very frustrated when they try 310 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: to pin many of the body issues young girls face 311 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:52,680 Speaker 1: on them. Now, don't get me wrong, I too get 312 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: frustrated with how teeny tiny these cartoon girls can be. However, 313 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: as a young woman who struggled with an e distorter, 314 00:16:58,200 --> 00:16:59,840 Speaker 1: I can tell you that it's those who are closest 315 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,320 Speaker 1: to you who do the most damaged, not some animated 316 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:05,159 Speaker 1: ideal in fairytale land. These women who fussed and clamorate 317 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: Disney for portraying damaging images need to look at their 318 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:09,639 Speaker 1: own lives and see how they treat their bodies and 319 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 1: their daughters. I can tell you the exact moment my 320 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,400 Speaker 1: body image issues started, and it was an off hand 321 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: comment for my mother. It was a wonderful parent and 322 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:20,120 Speaker 1: never imagined she was saying anything so damaging. We read 323 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:21,959 Speaker 1: a clothing store and I asked for a size eight 324 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: Geane instead of six, and she commented that I gained weight. 325 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: That was all it took. And the ensuing years of 326 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,199 Speaker 1: being in the performing arts only exacerbated issues, as I 327 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: was repeately told my look wasn't right or that I 328 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,520 Speaker 1: needed to drop a few pounds. I was a size 329 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: six at the time. But if a mother has a 330 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,080 Speaker 1: balance accepting view of herself encourages a healthy self image 331 00:17:40,119 --> 00:17:42,120 Speaker 1: and a healthy life style and her family, that confidence 332 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:44,879 Speaker 1: rubs off and allows her to take criticism and shrug 333 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: it off a lot easier. Your niece Kristen isn't going 334 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: to grow up thinking I wish I was as thin 335 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 1: as that snow white I'm going to go starve myself. 336 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: If all she remembers is you telling her how gorgus 337 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: she looked in that costume, Well it so wonderful. You 338 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: know you guys did more emails, please for us to read. 339 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: Our email is mom stuff at how stuff works dot com. 340 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: During the week, you should head on over to our blog. 341 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:12,360 Speaker 1: It's called how to Stuff and you can find that 342 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: and lots of articles written by Molly and myself at 343 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and 344 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com. 345 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on 346 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:36,159 Speaker 1: the house. Stuff works dot com home page. Brought to 347 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, 348 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: are you