Last weekend I visited my second cousin. We’ve been close since childhood. We would spend two weeks a year together every year, and those days constitute some of my happiest memories. During my visit to her home we admitted that we had childhood crushes on each other. By the end of the night we were making love, and it was both emotionally and physically fulfilling. Although things were fine between us the next day, she doesn’t think she can handle telling our family that we are in love, although I could live with whatever judgment was passed on us. I miss her every minute and I want to convince her that we should be together. Give me some advice.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Contrary to widely held beliefs and longstanding taboos in America,” Denise Grady wrote in the page-one story, “first cousins can have children together without a great risk of birth defects or genetic disease.” Grady cites a report in the the Journal of Genetic Counseling by Dr. Arno Motulsky of the University of Washington. After studying thousands of births to first cousins, Motulsky and his pals at the National Society of Genetic Counselors concluded there was little harm in first cousins getting married and having babies. Oh, and when I checked out a Web site that Grady mentioned–www.cousincouples.com–I learned that “first cousin marriages are legal in every country in the Western Civilization, including Canada, Australia, Europe and South America.”
Since you and your childhood crush/adult lover are second cousins, I don’t see what the angst and secrecy are all about. And I’m sorry, but you’re not going to get any sympathy from this cocksucker on the she-can’t-handle-telling-our-family-because-they-might-pass-judgment score. Boo fucking hoo! If it’s that kind of shit that worries her, then your second cousin/future wife should get down on her knees and thank God she didn’t fall in love with a female cousin.
While Ann never could wrap her perm around the fact that most cross-dressing men are straight, she was more progressive than some of my readers were willing to give her credit for. She didn’t pressure women to stay in bad marriages, her position on homosexuality changed with the times, and she was pro gun control. Two years ago Landers came out in favor of legalizing prostitution! Her column ran in 1,200 papers, and in some of those papers hers was the only progressive voice readers ever heard. Landers may not have entertained questions about shooting beer up your butt or fucking your sister, but she didn’t have to. She made it possible for a freak like me to answer them.
