20 Mysterious & Mind Blowing Facts About Human Inbreeding (Incest)

Horrific, heated arguments, outbreeding depression and genetic disorders are some of the words that promptly comes into our mind when it comes to “HUMAN INBREEDING (Incest)”.

Basically, Human Inbreeding is defined as mating between related individuals. It is also called consanguinity, meaning "mixing of the blood”. The topic of Human inbreeding is pretty known to bring up heated quarrels about ethical, psychological, social, and family implications. We all have heard that Human incest is erroneous, either through family bonding or cultural conditioning.

While there are some people who believe that love or sexual relationship between two related people should be ban.

Human Inbreeding (Incest) is a big think which is not not approved by the society both as culturally as well as medically. But still there are few people cannot resist the urge to get involved with their siblings or close relatives. Still, we have to emphasis that incest is not a good thing. There are some shocking consequences, historical facts & interesting details about this term Human Inbreeding (incest), let’s explore it here.

Explore 20 Unrevealed Facts About Human Inbreeding (Incest)

1) Charles Darwin is the prominent name of the history allied with Incest

He was the first to reckon if incest could cause defects in the next generation or not. He married within kinship group, with his first cousin and had 10 children, 3 of them died as tots and another 3 of them were unable to reproduce themselves. After this incident his other cousin Francis Galton pointed out the dangers of marrying within the clan. That is the moment when Darwin started analyzing on plants to find out more about inbreeding. (14.1)

2) Physical Relationship With A Close Relative Leads To Certain Disorders In Them

Even if people believe that two adults should be able to marry within clan with whomever they please, we cannot deny the fact that physical involvement with a close relative has some serious consequences. According to some medical research it is found that if we connect with someone having absolutely different gene pool then, chances of passing on recessive genes having normal physical characteristics is quite less.

Many times, those genes remain dormant, while on the other hand if we connect with someone who share a large number of genes breed then,  chance of passing recessive disorders increases significantly.

3) Human Inbreeding Causes Birth Defects & Infertility

Another less known fact about human inbreeding is that it increased risk of infertility, which ultimately involves birth defects like cleft palates, heart conditions, facial asymmetry, low birth weight, slow growth rate, and lot more.

According to the scientific study it is conclude that approx 40% of children whose parents belongs to same clan were born with some disorders and mental disability, some of the child suffered from an early death.

4) Human Inbreeding Pointed Out Some Reflection Of “Genetic Sexual Attraction” (GSA)

In Human Inbreeding, apart from genetics, psychological factors like mental, emotional, intellectual properties also play a imperative role in attraction and it is common for people to be attracted to someone with similar interests and attitudes.

Sometimes, those two people having blood relation or close relatives, reuniting after being separated at birth. This phenomenon known as “genetic sexual attraction” is so common that adoption agencies warn their clients about it. We often heard that brothers and sisters, cousins are developing physical relation which is an example of GSA.

5) Human Inbreeding Is An Integral Part Of Life In Ancient Times

It is quite shocking but, in ancient times this Human Inbreeding was a prominent part of culture. Even this was pretty famous throughout the Graeco-Roman period. At that time sibling or cousin marriages (like Akhenaten and Nefertiti) were common among all classes in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians believed in this concept in order to keep the Ptolemaic blood “pure” and “to strengthen the line of succession.

One of the well known relationships of Egyptians was the marriage of Cleopatra and her younger brother, Ptolemy also, their parents, Cleopatra  and Ptolemy were also brother and sister.

6) Louis Is Another Big Example Of Excessive Inbreeding

He is the Great or the Sun King, in his 12th generation of ancestors Louis XIV had a total of 1,159 ancestors and was descended 368 times from Louis IX. Louis XIV was not the only one belongs to inbred thing, the whole generation faced it.

7) Role Of Major Histocompatibility Complex Genes To Avoid Incest

A medical research conclude that in order to avoid incest we are usually attracted to the scent of people genetically different from us. There is a group of genes known as Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which is necessary for our immune system. The more diverse the MHCs the stronger will be the immune system. In order to avoid incest, females tend to find the males with different MHCs properties while on the other hand women who are facing hormonal disorder are attracted to those with similar MHCs.

8) Children Who Were Nourished Together Are Less Likely To Mutual Sexual Attraction

Another interesting fact allied with this human inbreeding is that, children who are brought up together, no matter whether they belongs to same clan, related or not, by the same set of parents are less likely to enrich sexual attraction as well.

9) Incestry May Not Be Bad But Illegal In Some Country

Majority of us considered Incest as a wrong thing but still there are Some people believe that incest is not that bad. According to them two adult who both have consent can involve in this incest activity. But of course, the law has completely different statement about the same. There was a case at Columbia where a 46-year-old Columbia University professor David Epstein was charged after being accused of having consensual sex with his 24-year-old daughter in 2010.

In this case, the daughter was not found guilty even if she was adult because according to the law in such matters children treated as protected class no matter what age group they belong. In short, the older one get punished in such situations.

10) Many Cultures Accept Incestry As Their General Religious Practice

When it comes to Human Inbreeding (Incest), religion and culture also play an important role. In many Muslim and Hindu societies in Africa, Asia, and India, marriages within same clan is acceptable as these religions tend to inbreed because of religious acceptance, preference, and tradition.  Moreover, the culture of these societies also plays a large role into increased levels of inbreeding.

11) With Time, Inbreeding Has Been Decreased In Western Cultures

It has been noticed that the levels of inbreeding dropped as low as 0.5% in 1990s. It's quite notable that the level of inbreeding has decreased in North America and Western Europe, and even in Japan. Even though inbreeding levels have decreased in western civilizations, many studies uncovered that there are still many societies support consanguineous marriages.

12) Human Inbreeding Is A Sign Of Large Population

In many large populations of Asia and Africa around 25% of all unions are affected by consanguineous marriages. There are several circumstances that would give a population a boost including royalty, religion and culture, socioeconomic class, and geographic isolation and small populations.

13) Consanguineous Marriages May Produce Lethal Insomnia

The bad effect of consanguineous marriages and this human inbreeding can promote progressive insomnia that kills the person within months or earlier due to sleep deprivation. This is another mysterious yet important fact allied with human inbreeding(Incest)

14) Royal Families Majorly Believe In Human Inbreeding

Another reason responsible for Human Inbreeding is socioeconomic status. Its simply means that a rich and high-society person wanting to marry only a rich person in order to uphold the status of their families. That is the reason royal families have hemophiliac members due to inbreeding.

15) Spanish Royal Family & Japanese People After Hiroshima Attack Indulge In Consanguineous Marriages

According to a report Human Inbreeding (Incest) was quite common in Spanish Royal family as well. Also there are several Historical events which promote human inbreeding. We all have heard about the shocking and horrific Hiroshima and Nagasaki attack in Japan, after that incident it was noticed that “there was an increase in the number of consanguineous marriages and human inbreeding to raise the population level.

16) Geographic Isolation Is An Extremely Predominant Reason Behind Human Inbreeding

It has been found that in a small population area, mating between the close relatives and siblings are pretty common. That is the reason countries having small populations are highly affected by consanguineous marriages and incest.

17) Inbreeding Depression Is Another Important Factor Allied With This Term Human Inbreeding

The major hurdle that cause the inbreeding depression is small population and Geographic isolation and also the load of deleterious recessive alleles that are present in the genes. (14.2)

18) Mother Nature! One Hope To Diminish The Possibility of Incest

Fortunately, in the highly pessimistic world of inbreeding there is one hope i.e. Mother Nature as it has developed her own strategies to deter us from mating with close relatives. According to some expert psychologists, just observing your mother care for another baby is a sign that that other child is a sibling and totally deny sexual attraction.

19) King Tut Was Also Inbred

Certainly, King Tut is one of the most famous of all ancient Egyptians. His solid gold tomb was found in 1922. Scientists have finally revealed some shocking facts about this famous king and how much he was suffering from Incest. In general high rate of health problems is caused by recessive genes.

The king was suffering from multiple malarial infections and congenital defectssuch as a clubfoot and cleft palate as well as a degenerative bone condition known as Kohler’s disease due to this incest. He also married to his sibling.

20) Similar Genetic Properties Leads To Stronger Incest

A more recent survey also found that couples who possesses similar genetic properties has the lowest sexual satisfaction. That is the reason women who married with someone having similar genetic properties more likely to cheat on their husbands. Basically, these studies show that genes can not only influence mate choice but determine your overall satisfaction with your partner.

So what we can conclude from human incestry...

For most of us, the idea of Human Inbreeding (Incest) or falling in love with a close sibling or close relative is probably the most inconceivable thing. These are basically some strange emotions including so many captivating and mysterious facts in it. By reading the above-mentioned points you can easily conclude that how unfortunate this Human Inbreeding is.