2i6 TABOO AND GENETICS 



the boy or girl forms at this time should ap- 

 proximate the mother or father, since they 

 are the persons best loved and most frequently 

 seen. The ideals thus estabhshed in early 

 childhood are very often the unconscious 

 influences which determine the choice of a mate 

 in adult life. Or the devotion to the parent 

 may be so intense as to prevent the transference 

 of the love-life to another person and thus 

 entirely prohibit the entrance upon the marital 

 relation. Elida Evans has given some very 

 convincing cases in illustration of these points 

 in her recent book, " The Problem of the Nervous 

 Child." (2). 



On the other hand, in those unfortunate cases 

 where the father or mother is the object of 

 disHke, associations may be formed which will 

 be so persistent as to prevent the normal 

 emotional reaction to the opposite sex in later 

 years. This, too, results in the avoidance of 

 marriage and the establishment of vicarious 

 outlets for the sexual emotions, or less often in 

 homosexual attachments or perversions of the 

 sex life. Conditioned emotional reactions such 

 as these play a dominant role in the social 

 problem of sex, as will become apparent in 

 succeeding chapters. 



In addition to the influences which naturally 

 act to condition the original sexual endowment 

 of the individual, there are artificial forces 



