Roont!
I am the product of half-siblings and I am homozygous for Hereditary Coproporphyria with markers for Harderoporphyria. But the genetic disease is not what has made my life nothing but miserable. The situation destroyed my parents and my extended family and I was caught in the middle. The taboo and shame they carried colored my entire life. I would never wish such a thing on anyone, and is one reason why I decided to have no children of my own. It didn’t have to be this way, genetically offspring from half-siblings are the same as first cousins, but the social and emotional damage is crippling. I have been rejected and hated my entire life. Just for being born.
Could you explain this briefly?
I know the thread is a zombie but you’re not.
From Wikipedia:
So like most genetic diseases… if both your parents have a genetic deficiency, it is more likely that you inherit it. If your parents are related, it is more likely they have the same genetic deficiency and you will get a double dose.
IIRC the stats were that first cousins share only 3% of their genetic material, so that is why many jurisdictions allow first-cousin marriages.
Taking as an example - the Austrian fellow Josef Fritzl who cleverly kept his daughter in the basement bunker and gave her 7 children. From what we’ve read, it seems the 3 children he “found” abandoned on his doorstep turned out just fine. One child died at birth, cause undetermined but I think something I read suggested heart defect. the others may or may not be normal, but some of the problem may be developmental - the constricted environment. One daughter at age 19 started having serious seizures, cause again unknown, possibly environmental, possibly genetic disease.
So they weren’t the healthiest children all in all, considering the circumstances.
If one parent has one of the Porphyrias there is a 50% chance of each offspring to have it, if both parents have the gene it is 100%. That is just ONE of the Porphyrias, there are 6 (some say 8) types and there can be multiple genetic mutations. So in the case of passing on a Porphyria to offspring, consanguinity increases the odds exponentially.
There has been quite a bit of zombie threads coming back, no?
Any ways, out of chance, I was reading about Tristan da Cunha, a remote and mostly isolated island with a population of 264. Of, which, has a total of seven surnames from the original settlers from 1816.
As three of the original had asthma, it is a predominant medical ailment on the island. I also like how they use the term “homogenous gene pool”.
Like this one, the last few I saw had the newbie necromancers gasp actually make more than one post, or post new relevant information. I appreciate that compared to the drive-by guys who found us through Google and aren’t coming back except to stir the pot.
Products of incest have a higher-than average chance of being douchebags, however.
I know this is a zombie thread, but I have something to contribute.
According to secret family lore, my grandfather was a product of incest. He was born in 1915 to an unwed teenage mother, whose own mother had passed away a few years earlier (this is all documented). The family whispering, for three generations, is that the girl’s father was also the father of her baby. So my grandfather was fathered by his grandfather, allegedly. As far as I know, my grandfather never found out – he didn’t even find the woman he thought was his older sister was actually his mother until he was in his 60s. He died a few years ago at 92.
Anyway, he was not physically deformed or anything. In fact, he was apparently quite attractive in his youth, a strong man with red hair and bright blue eyes. He has a mischeivous sense of humor but could also be mean and emotionally abusive, especially to his family. He had a bad childhood so I think he was always trying to overcome a sense of inferiority by making other people feel bad. He cheated on my grandmother in their younger days, and did not treat my mother well nor my female cousin. He was always good to me and I never realized what a jerk he could be until I was well into adulthood and started hearing others’ stories.
Anyway, from a genetic perspective, he seemed perfectly normal and healthy and I can only hope to be in as good shape at 90 years old as he was, so if he was indeed the product of incest it doesn’t seem to have hurt him. Also I guess since I’m a direct descendent of his, that makes me a product of incest too, indirectly!
Hi.
My maternal grandmother (a murderous person so traumatized by her life that she had over 23 different personalities – none of them safe to be around) was also my great aunt.
Her mother was also her elder sister. Her dad and grandfather was an evil bastard who used his daughters and granddaughters as sex objects. They had no other purpose in his mind.
My grandmother was a twin. Her twin was also not a nice person and was abused, but not to the degree my grandmother was. Why? The twin was sent to live with other family members in a city.
There is reason to believe their father was also the product of this sort of evil behavior, and so on for unknown generations.
Now – you asked if we’re all deformed and such. NO. No we’re not. We do have a high likelihood of having any weaknesses in our genetic make up show up and get annoying as heck.
I might have fragile x, but I’m not low IQ, so that confuses the heck out of me – I have all the other issues. For example, I can’t handle more than one sensory input at a time. And on a scale from 1 - 100 for sound on the tv, 3 is too loud for me. If someone else starts talking while I’m watching tv, I can’t hear either of them in an intelligible way. Also, I have to force myself to make eye contact with people – it physically hurts because all the types of information given out by a human face are TOO MUCH INPUT AT ONCE. I am female. My scores on the SAT exam were bizarre. I corrected (accurately, mind you) almost everything in the language section. I received a note back with my scores – it read, “We cannot accurately score your language ability, as your corrections were all 100% correct. However, we would like to ask if anyone has introduced you to the concept of numbers?” Which is apparently normal for fragile x females.
My grandmother’s descendants also have a knack for being able to break bits of themselves into alternate personalities in order to protect their psyches. I had 3 due to extreme trauma, but in June they all rather suddenly integrated and I don’t have that issue anymore. I’m still stunned and grateful that I’ve worked hard to make it so (well over 20 years of constant work with a therapist and other doctors). Most of my cousins suffer from the nastier forms of bipolar disorder and we are ALL given to nearsightedness. Except for one who has been blind from birth.
There are no physical deformities in any of my grandmother’s progeny. LOTS OF MENTAL ILLNESS from trauma, and possibly fragile x. Another cousin had to have reduction surgery on her ears and she is similar to me in ability and sensory issues.
I hope that is helpful to you. Remember, incest is never funny. It is extremely rare that it is consensual. The reason for the taboo is that it normally happens only in cases of extreme abuse. Which is the case with my family.
Toad the Perpetually Annoyed
There is a documentary called Stevie. It is implied that the main character Stevie was a product of incest between his mom and grandfather.
He is a mentally retarded criminal with anger problems. However I don’t know how much of that was due to child abuse and how much was due to his genetic background (his family seemed messed up).
Suffice it to say, he wasn’t a total ewok considering. But he didn’t turn out well.