Ok to date 2nd cousins?

As far as I know in most countries it is legal to date cousins. A reason for concern would be that when you decide to have children together , the closer related you are, the higher the chances of your baby having a genetic defect. However, chances of this happening are slim and decrease the more ' removed' your cousin is. Am I not correct in thinking that Royal families used to marry' within' the family, just for financial reasons so their not -so - hard - earned money would remain in the family and the ' clan'? I live in a rural community where everybody seems to be someone's first, second or third cousin....there are bound to be couples who get together without even realizing they are related. Personally I come from a background where you stop considering anything but your first cousins/ aunts / uncles a close relation so a second cousin would be no more than an acquaintance to me, thus I would not waste sleepless nights worrying over whether any romantic feelings for him were appropriate or 'legal'. No law can make you fall in or out of love with a person. Try and ignore or not act upon strong feelings , and all you achieve is that you think more about the person... (a bit like dieting when you try and not think about food ) If your cousin says it's legal, he is probably right ( unless he knowingly lies in which case you know what he is after) and the only thing you have to worry about are those around you who feel they should judge you.

I'm not sure whether or not it's legal, that is probably different from state to state, but I think it's just plain wrong either way. You should not have a romantic relationship with anyone you are related to by blood, period. It is socially unacceptable and if you did decide to have children then there could be serious complications. My best advice is just don't. Just stay away from them if you can't help the attraction.

I am not sure whether it is legal or not. I would assume that different countries will have slightly different laws on this issue. If you are related by blood (even though you are second cousins) i.e if you share the same grandparents I would advise against it. It is a bad idea in terms of genetics to be in a relationship with a blood relative - if the relationship progresses and you have kids together, there is a greater risk of your children being affected by a genetic disorder.

I don't know if it is legal or not but I still don't think it would be right to have a relationship with him. Firstly, I just think it's still too closely related, and secondly if you have a relationship with him a lot of your family may disagree because he is your second cousin, problems and arguments may happen. And what if you only have a short relationship with him, all those disagreements and potentially everlasting problems would all be because of a couple of months spent with a guy.