TABOO AND GENETICS iii 



illustrate the continuity of culture and the 

 identity of the elementary human ideas in all 

 ages, it is sufficient to point to the ease with 

 which the Polynesian word tahu has passed into 

 modern language." (i : p. i6.) 



We shall attempt to show that at least one 

 form of taboo, the Institutionahzed Sex Taboo, 

 is co-extensive with human social experience, 

 and exists to-day at the base of family life, the 

 socialized form of sex relationship. The family 

 as a social institution has been scarcely touched 

 until a very recent historical period by the 

 rationalizing process that has affected religious 

 and pohtical institutions. Economic changes 

 resultant upon the introduction of an industrial 

 era which showed the importance of women in 

 diverse social relations were causes of this new 

 effort at adaptation to changing conditions. It 

 became apparent that taboos in the form of cus- 

 toms, ceremonials, beliefs, and conventions, all 

 electrically charged with emotional content, 

 have guarded the hfe of woman from change, 

 and with her the functions pecuhar to family 

 life. There has doubtless been present in some 

 of these taboos " a good hard common-sense 

 element." But there are also irrational ele- 

 ments whose persistence has resulted in hardship, 

 blind cruelty, and over-standardization. 



In order to comprehend the attitude of early 

 man toward sex and womanhood, and to 



