Should we find out what is behind the headlines? "10 most unusual families in the world" or "Strange Families" or "Unbelievable Families" or "Unconventional Families" and "Weird Families" Once you've seen the headlines, it is intriguing, isn't it? How weird can they be?
One of the weirdest families is the largest family historically: "The Vassilyev family from Russia holds the record for the most children a couple has parented. Mrs. Vassilyev gave birth to a total of 69 children, including 16 pairs of twins and 7 sets of triplets. 67 of the 69 children survived infancy, and this record has lasted since 1782, and doesn’t look like it’s going to be beaten any time soon!"
In terms of current day assessments, I've put together a compilation of weird families. It is partial because some of them are about incest, multiple wives, strange family relationships, etc.
The Marshall Family (Fake Boob Family - all the women)
The Manson Family (Family of Psychpaths - we remember them)
Lia and Aro (Vempire Couple - drink each other's blood once a week)
The Podkopaev Family (Family of Serial Killers - parents and children)
And these - not so easily summarized:
There is a sperm donor who is gay, lives with his boyfriends, with the mother of the child living in a nearby apartment, so he visits his son.
There is Nick and Bianca Bowser - Kentucky, USA where Nick used to be Nicole and Bianca used to be Jason.
There is James and Maura who met and were planning to get married, but it turns out that James and Maura are siblings. Unknown to James his mother had a child before him who he never knew.
The Lincoln Star article explains what makes us so fascinated with weird families. It is simple: voyeurism, the car-wreck mentality (have to watch others under duress), and science (ethical questions that arise with new techniques, etc). That's what makes people watch the reality shows of vastly-sized families, according to the article.
Joseph Henrich's book The Weirdest People in the World presents the premise that WEIRD minds evolved by natural selection, but not by genetic selection; they evolved by the natural selection of cultural practices and other culturally transmitted items. He's an anthropologist at Harvard, so may be worth reading.
I have a weird tree trunk today. It looks like aboriginal art to me.
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