174 A STUDY IN HER ED/TV 



were hedged about by it on every side. It reaches 

 a higher development in India, where the caste 

 system prevails, than ever it did in the Pacific. 

 Innumerable things are tapu to the Brahmin. We 

 also have our tapus, most of them beneficial, some 

 of them the reverse. Mammalian and avian flesh 

 is tapu to the Catholic on Friday. Sunday is a 

 tapu day, a church is a tapu place, a priest is a 

 tapu person. Above all, everything relating to 

 procreation is tapu — tapu in speech and tapu in 

 act. As a whole the tapu is beneficial. But it 

 is attended with a vast amount of unnecessary, 

 and therefore abominable, cruelty and misery. So 

 strong is this tapu that he who ventures on plain 

 speech about it risks his reputation and his 

 happiness. 



Some of our tapus are breaking down. We are 

 permitted to apply the dictates of common-sense 

 and clear reason even to the most fundamental 

 conceptions of religion ; but the public insists that 

 procreation shall be dealt with as a thing apart. 

 Concerning it we must think only on irrational 

 lines. It is easy to furnish illustrations. 



The sexual tapu bears with especial weight 

 on women. A man may break the tapu many 

 times ; if he maintains a discreet silence society will 

 ignore or condone his offence. But when a woman 

 breaks it society pursues her with implacable hate, 



