I decided that old map wasn't good enough, so I've started making my own. The white spots are ones where there isn't enough information, either because I haven't gotten around to it, or because I couldn't find any information. Even so, the areas that are colored aren't necessarily complete. Finding criminal laws is much easier than finding marriage prohibitions. For example, I would expect all former Soviet republics to have similar laws to Russia, but I don't know where such marriage restrictions would be written, so I can't definitively say if they allow avuncular marriage. If anyone has some extra info, or wants to correct something I've put on the map, feel free to send me a message. I'd appreciate it.
As an aside, choosing how to designate some of these countries is a bit difficult. For example, no country which enshrines shariah explicitly forbids consanguinamory. However, strict strict shariah dictates that you can't marry a close relative, and sex outside of marriage is punishable, possibly by death. That means in practice it's very illegal. I chose to mark those countries gray, for that reason, even though there's technically no law. Some places are also very complicated, such as Indonesia. Indonesia is a very large and diverse federal nation, so laws can change from place to place. However, national law does not criminalize consanguinamory, as far as I could find, and the only place to implement sweeping shariah law is Aceh province, so I chose to mark all of Indonesia light blue, except for Aceh. This is the reason why it's still important to contact a lawyer who knows your local laws. This map is only a general guide, based on my personal research.
I recently read that France has reinstated laws prohibiting incest.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7085759/France-makes-incest-a-crime.html
Thank you for the article.
DeleteI didn't modify the map when the law changed because the law doesn't really alter anything. If you look carefully at that article, they say that the new law only applies when the victim is below the age of majority and the perpetrator is above. It's specifically a crime with a victim. It's really just an extra thing for those child rape cases where they want to add extra time because they think that raping one's own child is additionally heinous. It has no effect on what consenting adults can or cannot do in France.
If you have any other suggestions for how the map can be improved, please feel free. Not all the information I need is that easy to find.
DeleteTo be fair, I absolutely do believe it's additionally heinous. Child sexual abuse of the intrafamilial variety has been known to be additionally traumatic. Family is supposed to be a safe, loving environment, and your family members are supposed to be the people you can trust most in this world. When that trust is breached like that, then, well, it's just easily one of the most messed up crimes imaginable.
DeleteI've been reminded, marriage between aunts/uncles and nieces/nephews has been ruled legal in New York State last year.
That ruling was actually specifically about half-uncles and half-aunts. The court dedicded that since half-uncles and half-nieces are as genetically related as first-cousins, and first-cousin marriage is legal in New York, then half-uncle-half-niece marriage should also be legal. The reporting (as reporting usually does) leaves out this seemingly minor but very important detail. (I've learned recently that you have to be very careful about over-interpreting stuff you find in the media, since important little facts like that can be left out.)
DeleteAlso, I wasn't implying that you were okay with child abuse. I was just clarifying why I wasn't changing the map.
DeleteI believe the issue in the NY court ruling was that the prohibition on marrying siblings specified that it included those of either full or half blood,and the prohibition on aunts/uncles did not,and this was on principle required to be given the more permissive interpretation,that it only barred full blood aunts/uncles.
ReplyDeleteYou're very correct. The problem is that if I added that level of nuance to the map, it would quickly become unusable.
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