Taboos and their relevance in society

Taboos have existed in all the cultures in the world for thousands of years and they can be considered to be as old as man has practiced culture. There exist taboos for a very wide range of things and all of these depend on the culture within which it is put in practice. Examples of these are food taboos, taboos on topics to discuss and which not to, sexual relations among many others. Different cultures have different taboos which are strictly observed and it is indeed a very rare thing for a person to break the taboos of the culture within which one was raised. The taboos of various cultures are mostly linked to the environment within which they live, the influences from other cultures, and most of all, from their history. These taboos are learned by the people who practice these cultures from a very young age and in fact, they are learned at almost the same time as they learn their language. Taboos therefore become a part of a person’s state of mind and it is an integral part of their growing up process and due to this, it remains with them for the rest of their lives. In some cultures, if a person breaks a taboo, punishment can be very severe and these tend to be shunned by the rest of their society and at times even banished or killed. Taboos are an important part of our culture and even if they are discarded by people who practice them, it is inevitable that other taboos will come up to replace the discarded ones.

It has been said that incest and patricide are the most universal taboos and that these are the basis upon which human societies are founded. Although these and many other taboos are universal in a majority of cultures and societies, it has been found that no taboo is completely universal and that there are exceptions in certain societies. The most common taboos in many societies are restrictions against killing fellow human beings, sexual relationships such s incest and bestiality, the killing of unborn children, cannibalism and the most common of all, dietary laws. Taboos have also come to affect language because every society has certain words which are deemed inappropriate to talk about and those who use such words are often looked upon with disapproval. This has resulted in people using euphemisms and other words to replace taboo words in their speech. Taboos serve many functions and they have a tendency of remaining in effect in their respective cultures long after the original reason for their enforcement has been forgotten by those who practice them. It has been argued that taboos can be used to reveal the history of those societies which have no existing written records and many have tried to relate taboos to the ecologic and economic conditions which prevail in those societies which practice them. These attempts have rarely achieved any meaningful results because it is very difficult to determine the origin of a taboo when even those who practice it do not know anything about it. The result of this is that all conclusions end up to be just mere speculation because there are no facts to them up.

The rise of rationalism and the sciences have reduced the power of many taboos in modern cultures and today, it is a very common thing for people to discuss subjects such as sexuality which were previously considered to be taboo. The increased understanding brought about by rationalism has made certain medical disorders which had been previously considered to be taboo to be treated more analytically and this has ensured that such conditions are well managed and that those affected live a normal life. However, this change in the perception of old taboos is also very ripe ground for the breeding of new taboos. The end of such things as slavery, the prohibition of alcohol, and the acceptance of homosexual relationships have forced many to employ euphemisms which are politically correct. This has been done to ensure that all forms of open discrimination through language are avoided although this has at times proven to be unsuccessful. Modern culture has also raised a great debate on the previously taboo subject of incest with some seeking for the normalization of all consensual adult relationships despite the degree of blood relationship while others have made it harder for such things to happen by setting up laws restricting such relationships. New taboos have come up today due to the fact that many societies feel the need to remedy the effect that injustice has had on modern society such as neocolonialism. Taboos have been established when discussing such matters as race, ethnicity, and even nationalism because these are perceived to be very sensitive issues which should be carefully handled to avoid conflict between the concerned parties.

The history of taboos in the West is quite a long one and as a conclusion, we shall look at some examples of these. In Ancient Greece, adultery was a very serious taboo whose punishment if caught, was death either through starvation or by being dragged to death by horses. In medieval Europe, sex was not considered to be for pleasure and instead, it was only reserved for procreation; this meant that premarital sex was a criminal offense which was often punishable by death. Homosexual activity of any kind in medieval Europe was looked down upon and those caught were either heavily fined or imprisoned. It was taboo, especially in the North American colonies until recently, for there to be marriages between people from different races and laws were put in place to enforce this taboo. In the modern world, the mainstream society has tended to discriminate against those who undergo sex change operations and this is still a very controversial topic to this day. These people have become a new taboo in the society and it will likely be a very long time before they come to be accepted by the mainstream.