There are things we accept as obvious truths that aren't necessarily backed up by data. For example, the idea that cousin marriage is, to use a scientific term, icky.
我们接受有些事情 就像是本应该的事实, 背后却没有数据进行支撑。 比方说, 近亲结婚这个概念 就会让人感到不舒服。
[Am I Normal? with Mona Chalabi]
[与Mona Chalabi 探讨:我正常吗?]
First off, cousin marriage is way more common than you may think. Approximately 10 percent of the world's families are headed by couples who are second cousins or closer. That's more than 750 million people. And it maybe wildly out of fashion in Europe and North America now, but like hoop skirts and top hats, cousin marriage used to be a much more common sight.
首先,近亲结婚 其实远比你想象的普遍。 世界上大约10%的家庭 是由第二等亲 甚至更近的关系组成的。 那就是大约7.5亿人。 但是这应该在欧洲和北美早就过时了。 但就像裙撑和高帽一样, 近亲结婚曾经是一个无比正常的事情。
People like Charles Darwin, Edgar Allan Poe and Albert Einstein, all married their first cousins. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt married his fifth cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt. She didn't even have to change her last name. One study looking at millions of genealogy profiles concluded that between 1650 and 1850, the average person was fourth cousins with their spouse.
查尔斯·达尔文、埃德加·艾伦·颇 和阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦 都是与直系亲属结婚的。 富兰克林·罗斯福总统 就和他的第五个等亲戚 埃莉诺·罗斯福结婚了。 她甚至都不用改姓。 一个调查了上百万谱系学的研究 总结了在1650年到1850年中, 平均每一个人都是他或她 配偶的第四等亲戚。
I know, I know, what the hell is a fourth cousin? Well, it basically means that the average person had the same great great great grandparent as their romantic partner. So why was that? Well, marrying a cousin meant keeping money and power within the family and maintaining your social relationships. It was also about proximity. If you weren't traveling far in your young life, you're more likely to end up with someone you already know, like a second cousin.
我懂,我懂,第四等亲戚是什么鬼? 其实这是表明双方 有同样的曾曾曾曾祖父母。 那这代表着什么? 因为,和一个亲戚结婚意味着 保存了家庭的财力和权利, 同时也保留了你的社交圈。 这也与近距离有关。 如果在你年轻时你不远行的话, 你很可能最后就和你认识的人结婚, 就比如你的表亲(堂亲)
But even with the onset of the railroad and the industrial revolution, it still took another 50 years for cousin marriage to go out of style in Western society. Mobility may have played a factor, but researchers also think that greater autonomy for women and smaller family sizes, meaning that there were just fewer cousins to marry, also influenced the change.
不过即使是在铁轨发展的初期 和工业革命时期 仍然用了50年 才让近亲结婚在西方社会 变成了过去式。 在这之中流动性也是一个重要因素, 但是研究者们认为女性的自主权越大 家庭越小, 意味着他们只有很小一部分 可以结婚的亲戚, 这也同样造成了变化。
Though it became much less popular on both sides of the Atlantic, it was only in the US that it became illegal. Following the Civil War, the American government took a greater interest in overseeing more elements of daily life, including marriage. American states began to outlaw not only interracial marriage but cousin marriage as well. Today, 32 states either outright ban the practice or restrict it to those who seek genetic counseling, are beyond reproductive age or are sterile.
即使近亲结婚 已经在大西洋两岸变的越来越小众, 只有在美国这个举动是违法的。 美国南北战争之后, 美国政府花了更多心思 观察市民们的日常生活, 这其中就包括婚姻。 美国众州不仅宣布了 不同种族间的婚姻是违法的, 也宣布了近亲结婚是违法的。 今天仍然有32个州 要么完全禁止近亲结婚, 要么禁止那些人做遗传咨询, 即使他们都超过了生育年龄 或者已经无法生育。
It's estimated that less than one percent of American couples are cousins. But the widespread illegality, not to mention the social stigma, makes quantifying it quite difficult. If you ask people why cousin marriage seems wrong, health might come up. The fear of birth defects and genetic disorders has influenced the change in social norms. But in 2002, researchers from the National Society of Genetic Counselors found that the increased risk was a minor one. In the general population, the risk that a child will be born with serious complications is three to four percent. With a first-cousin couple, the risk increased by 1.7 to 2.8 percentage points. And with those figures, the researchers concluded that there was no biological reason to discourage cousins from marrying.
据估计只有少于1%的美国情侣是亲戚。 但是广传的违法性, 以及社会歧视和羞辱感, 使得量化近亲结婚的人数变的困难。 如果你询问人们 为什么近亲结婚是不对的, 他们往往会提起健康的问题。 对后代先天缺陷和基因疾病的恐惧 使得社会准则发生变化。 但是在2002年时 国家遗传顾问协会研究者发现 近亲结婚只会 很小程度地影响发病的风险。 在广大人口中, 一个孩子患有严重的并发症的风险 是3到4%。 在一对直系亲属组成的伴侣中, 这个风险增加了1.7%到2.8%。 通过这些数据, 研究者们发现并没有生物学上的原因 不鼓励近亲结婚。
Look, I totally get it. Whether you fancy your cousin or not, depending on where you're from, this can still be a bit of a taboo subject. But the truth is, our feelings around it are shaped by the culture we live in and not necessarily by whether it's objectively dangerous or not. After all, if it wasn't for cousin marriage, you probably wouldn't be here.
看,我彻底懂了。 不管你是否喜欢自己的亲戚, 取决于你来自于哪里, 这始终是一个相对社会禁忌的话题。 但是真相其实是,我们 对于近亲结婚的避之不及 是被我们生活地区的习俗所决定的, 却并不完全是因为近亲结婚的危险性。 总的来说, 如果这无关近亲结婚, 那你也大概率不再看着条视频。