CHAPTER III 



THE DUALISM IN MODERN LIFE : THE 

 INSTITUTIONAL TABOO 



The taboo and modem institutions ; Survival of ideas of 

 the uncleanness of woman ; Taboo and the family; 

 The " good " woman ; The " bad " woman ; Increase 

 in the number of women who do not fit into the ancient 

 classifications. 



With the gradual accumulation of scientific 

 knowledge and increasing tendency of mankind 

 toward a rationalistic view of most things, it 

 might be expected that the ancient attitude 

 toward sex and womanhood would have been 

 replaced by a saner feeling. To some extent 

 this has indeed been the case. It is surprising, 

 however, to note the traces which the old taboos 

 and superstitions have left upon our twentieth 

 century social life. Men and women are becom- 

 ing conscious that they live in a world formed 

 out of the worlds that have passed away. The 

 underlying principle of this social phenomenon 

 has been called the principle of " the persistence 

 of institutions." (i). Institutionalized habits, 

 mosaics of reactions to forgotten situations, fall 

 like shadows on the life of to-day. Memories 



176 



