how distant must a cousin be before one can date them

[MineralMan]

109. I have no information on how many first cousin marriages

take place anywhere. In states where it is permitted, there wouldn't be any records of it, so it would be difficult to know. I personally know two couples who are first cousins. One couple is in my own very extended family. Nobody gives a crap that they are married, as far as I am aware.

I may know other couples who are first cousins. It's not really something that comes up in casual conversation. As for myself, I have half a dozen first cousins I have never even met. They lived a long way from my family, and I've just never met them. I have another first cousin I met only once, when we were both teenagers. We were somewhat attracted to each other, I remember, and kissed each other more than a few times when we met at a family reunion. But, it went no farther than that, and was the subject of some pointed jokes aimed at us at the reunion. Nobody really seemed to give a damn about it, though.

So, how many first cousins get married, I do not know. It does happen, though, and is perfectly OK in half the states in this county, and is commonplace in some other parts of the world. It's a matter of indifference to me, except as I described in my previous post. The fact of first cousin marriages figured in the Windsor case in the SCOTUS, though, and in the way I described above.