:''For the Taboo party game, see Taboo (game).'' A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. The term was borrowed from the Tongan language and appears in many Polynesian cultures. In those cultures, a ''tabu'' (or ''tapu'' or ''kapu'') often has specific religious associations. Its first use in English language was recorded by James Cook in 1777. When an activity or custom is classified as taboo it is forbidden and interdictions are implemented concerning the topic, such as the ground set apart as a sanctuary for criminals. Some taboo activities or customs are prohibited under law and transgressions may lead to severe Penalty. Taboos can include dietary restrictions (halal and kosher diets, religious vegetarianism, and the prohibition of cannibalism), restrictions on sexual activities and relationships (miscegenation, homosexuality, incest, zoophilia, pedophilia, necrophilia), restrictions of bodily functions (flatulence), restrictions on the use of psychoactive drugs, restrictions on presence of genitalia (circumcision, sex reassignment), exposure of body parts (ankles in the Victorian era British Empire, women's faces in Saudi Arabia#Human Rights and burqa, nudity in the United States of America), and restrictions on the use of profanity. No taboo is known to be universal (metaphysics), but some (such as the incest taboo) occur in the majority of societies. Taboos may serve many functions, and often remain in effect after the original reason behind them has expired. Some have argued that taboos therefore reveal the history of societies when other records are lacking. Taboos often extend to cover discussion of taboo topics. This can result in taboo deformation (euphemism) or replacement of taboo words. Marvin Harris, a leading figure in cultural materialism, endeavoured to explain taboos as a consequence of the ecology and Economics conditions of their societies. Also, Sigmund Freud provided an analysis of taboo behaviours, highlighting strong unconscious motivations driving such prohibitions. In this system, described in his collections of essays ''Totem and Taboo'', Freud postulates a link between forbidden behaviours and the sanctification of objects to certain kinship groups. == Taboo and art == Many contemporary artists deal with taboo images and ideas including: * Matthew Barney * Maurizio Cattalan * Damien Hirst * Joel-Peter Witkin * Bill Viola and film makers: * Pedro Almodvar * Luis Bunuel * Derek Jarman == Taboos by country or ethnic or professional group == {| border="1" cellpadding="2" ||Country or peoples ||Taboo ||Comment |- ||Australia ||mentioning the names of the dead ||Aboriginal custom |- ||United States of America ||Passing Flatulence || |- ||Nearly universal ||Incest taboo, cannibalism || |- ||Jews and Muslims ||Eating pork || |- ||Arabs ||Displaying the soles of the foot, touching shoes, eating with the left hand || |- ||United States men ||Public display of affection, crying || |- ||India ||Public display of affection, kissing in public, addressing elders by first names, smoking/drinking in front of one's elders || |- ||Chinese men and women ||Kissing in public, addressing elders by first names ||As recently as 1 or 2 generations ago || |- ||Chinese women ||Appearing in public in late pregnancy ||As recently as 1 or 2 generations ago (only in the PRC, less/not at all taboo for Chinese living in other areas.) |- ||Mountaineers ||Stepping on climbing ropes, even when not in use || |- ||Scientists ||fabricating or modifying data, drawing premature conclusions from the same || |- ||Jews ||pronouncing the tetragrammaton of God || |- ||Evangelical Christians, Devout Muslims and Jews ||Having anal sex || |- ||United StatesWhite Americans, Asian-Americans ||Saying the word "nigger" || |} ==See also== * abomination * bias * censorship * faux pas * natural law * prejudice * prohibition * sacred * social stigma * taboo meats * mother-in-law languages * taboo breaking ==External links== * [http://samvak.tripod.com/taboo.html Review of taboos around the world and their history] SociologyFreudian psychology
I made a few preliminary changes. The claim that taboos can be uese to reconstruct history is pretty contentions; most people reject it today. The article needs to qualify the claim. Also, a law against smoking or drinking is not a taboo. It is a law. Law and taboo are not the same -- there are different ways to distinguish them. One difference is that laws are written down by some ruling authority. Another is that taboos express some spiritual/emotional belief or experience. There are taboos in American (and no doubt European and other) societies, but laws and statutes passed by legislatures are not them. Slrubenstein :All taboos are written into Law in modern societies. And what's the difference between taboos and Natural law? --User:Ann O'nyme 20:08, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC) Is it true that the taboo against Incest is not universal? How about Cannibalism? Not sure where to look this up... --GG :For the first it is true, Roman Egypt and among Pre-levitical Hebrews are two commonly cited examples where the taboo hasn't applied. ---- Are dietary restrictions and offensive language really ''taboo''? Didn't taboo only rever to behavior? --User:Ann O'nyme 07:00, 23 Aug 2003 (UTC) ---- Re the last two comments: Use of language and eating are behaviors, in my book. I pretty sure that cannibalism is not taboo in all societies; a recent and well documented example is certain tribes of New Guinea. I'm not sure if they still practice cannibalism, but they certainly did in the early part of the 20th century. - ike9898. :1) cannibalism in New Guinea: AFAIK, they give up few decade ago and don't get [http://www.m-ww.de/krankheiten/prionenkrankheiten/kuru.html Kuru] anymore. :2) "behavior" Well... It wasn't the right word, but I still don't have a better one right now... :* "offensive language": As ''fuck'' is still an English word, it mean it has been in constant use for centuries. Unwritten but always there, used by everybody, not really ''taboo''. :* "dietary restrictions": Exemple of Islam, that has quite strict ones: There is a "good faith" approach of dietary restrictions: If you actually ''belive'' that it's Halal and eat/drink it, that's OK. Not big deal. (It happen to a friend of mine that drink 'alcohol-free beer' and then realised there were 1.5%...) On the opposite, "good faith" approach don't apply to Oedipus. :* After the crash in the Andes, it took years before the survivors explained how they made it... In Leningrad, the cannibalism cases were classified "state secret"... Documents were declassified few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. (See cannibalism for stories) :You see what I mean? --User:Ann O'nyme 23:48, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC) Can the mountaineer example (stepping on climbing ropes) really be considered "taboo"? In my experience, there is a specific and well-known reason for not stepping on climbing ropes: so that they don't wear out as quickly. Does it really carry the social stigma of the other examples? That's like saying that holding a DVD by the data surface is taboo in the techie community. — User:BryanD 17:22, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Taboo:
Taboo
Taboo
Taboo:_The_Sixth_Sense
Taboos
Taboo_(game)
Taboo_(movie)
Taboo_(pornographic_movie)
Taboo_2
Taboo_2
Taboo_activities
Taboo_articles
Taboo_deformation
Taboo_deformation
Taboo_meat
Taboo_meat
Taboo_meats
Taboo_search
Taboo_Tongue
Taboo_Tuesday
Taboo_Tuesday
Taboo_word
Taboo
:''For the Taboo party game, see Taboo (game).'' A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) relating to any area of human activity or social custom declared as sacred and forbidden; breaking of the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. The term was borrowed from the Tongan language and appears in many Polynesian cultures. In those cultures, a ''tabu'' (or ''tapu'' or ''kapu'') often has specific religious associations. Its first use in English language was recorded by James Cook in 1777. When an activity or custom is classified as taboo it is forbidden and interdictions are implemented concerning the topic, such as the ground set apart as a sanctuary for criminals. Some taboo activities or customs are prohibited under law and transgressions may lead to severe Penalty. Taboos can include dietary restrictions (halal and kosher diets, religious vegetarianism, and the prohibition of cannibalism), restrictions on sexual activities and relationships (miscegenation, homosexuality, incest, zoophilia, pedophilia, necrophilia), restrictions of bodily functions (flatulence), restrictions on the use of psychoactive drugs, restrictions on presence of genitalia (circumcision, sex reassignment), exposure of body parts (ankles in the Victorian era British Empire, women's faces in Saudi Arabia#Human Rights and burqa, nudity in the United States of America), and restrictions on the use of profanity. No taboo is known to be universal (metaphysics), but some (such as the incest taboo) occur in the majority of societies. Taboos may serve many functions, and often remain in effect after the original reason behind them has expired. Some have argued that taboos therefore reveal the history of societies when other records are lacking. Taboos often extend to cover discussion of taboo topics. This can result in taboo deformation (euphemism) or replacement of taboo words. Marvin Harris, a leading figure in cultural materialism, endeavoured to explain taboos as a consequence of the ecology and Economics conditions of their societies. Also, Sigmund Freud provided an analysis of taboo behaviours, highlighting strong unconscious motivations driving such prohibitions. In this system, described in his collections of essays ''Totem and Taboo'', Freud postulates a link between forbidden behaviours and the sanctification of objects to certain kinship groups. == Taboo and art == Many contemporary artists deal with taboo images and ideas including: * Matthew Barney * Maurizio Cattalan * Damien Hirst * Joel-Peter Witkin * Bill Viola and film makers: * Pedro Almodvar * Luis Bunuel * Derek Jarman == Taboos by country or ethnic or professional group == {| border="1" cellpadding="2" ||Country or peoples ||Taboo ||Comment |- ||Australia ||mentioning the names of the dead ||Aboriginal custom |- ||United States of America ||Passing Flatulence || |- ||Nearly universal ||Incest taboo, cannibalism || |- ||Jews and Muslims ||Eating pork || |- ||Arabs ||Displaying the soles of the foot, touching shoes, eating with the left hand || |- ||United States men ||Public display of affection, crying || |- ||India ||Public display of affection, kissing in public, addressing elders by first names, smoking/drinking in front of one's elders || |- ||Chinese men and women ||Kissing in public, addressing elders by first names ||As recently as 1 or 2 generations ago || |- ||Chinese women ||Appearing in public in late pregnancy ||As recently as 1 or 2 generations ago (only in the PRC, less/not at all taboo for Chinese living in other areas.) |- ||Mountaineers ||Stepping on climbing ropes, even when not in use || |- ||Scientists ||fabricating or modifying data, drawing premature conclusions from the same || |- ||Jews ||pronouncing the tetragrammaton of God || |- ||Evangelical Christians, Devout Muslims and Jews ||Having anal sex || |- ||United StatesWhite Americans, Asian-Americans ||Saying the word "nigger" || |} ==See also== * abomination * bias * censorship * faux pas * natural law * prejudice * prohibition * sacred * social stigma * taboo meats * mother-in-law languages * taboo breaking ==External links== * [http://samvak.tripod.com/taboo.html Review of taboos around the world and their history] SociologyFreudian psychology
Taboo
I made a few preliminary changes. The claim that taboos can be uese to reconstruct history is pretty contentions; most people reject it today. The article needs to qualify the claim. Also, a law against smoking or drinking is not a taboo. It is a law. Law and taboo are not the same -- there are different ways to distinguish them. One difference is that laws are written down by some ruling authority. Another is that taboos express some spiritual/emotional belief or experience. There are taboos in American (and no doubt European and other) societies, but laws and statutes passed by legislatures are not them. Slrubenstein :All taboos are written into Law in modern societies. And what's the difference between taboos and Natural law? --User:Ann O'nyme 20:08, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC) Is it true that the taboo against Incest is not universal? How about Cannibalism? Not sure where to look this up... --GG :For the first it is true, Roman Egypt and among Pre-levitical Hebrews are two commonly cited examples where the taboo hasn't applied. ---- Are dietary restrictions and offensive language really ''taboo''? Didn't taboo only rever to behavior? --User:Ann O'nyme 07:00, 23 Aug 2003 (UTC) ---- Re the last two comments: Use of language and eating are behaviors, in my book. I pretty sure that cannibalism is not taboo in all societies; a recent and well documented example is certain tribes of New Guinea. I'm not sure if they still practice cannibalism, but they certainly did in the early part of the 20th century. - ike9898. :1) cannibalism in New Guinea: AFAIK, they give up few decade ago and don't get [http://www.m-ww.de/krankheiten/prionenkrankheiten/kuru.html Kuru] anymore. :2) "behavior" Well... It wasn't the right word, but I still don't have a better one right now... :* "offensive language": As ''fuck'' is still an English word, it mean it has been in constant use for centuries. Unwritten but always there, used by everybody, not really ''taboo''. :* "dietary restrictions": Exemple of Islam, that has quite strict ones: There is a "good faith" approach of dietary restrictions: If you actually ''belive'' that it's Halal and eat/drink it, that's OK. Not big deal. (It happen to a friend of mine that drink 'alcohol-free beer' and then realised there were 1.5%...) On the opposite, "good faith" approach don't apply to Oedipus. :* After the crash in the Andes, it took years before the survivors explained how they made it... In Leningrad, the cannibalism cases were classified "state secret"... Documents were declassified few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. (See cannibalism for stories) :You see what I mean? --User:Ann O'nyme 23:48, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC) Can the mountaineer example (stepping on climbing ropes) really be considered "taboo"? In my experience, there is a specific and well-known reason for not stepping on climbing ropes: so that they don't wear out as quickly. Does it really carry the social stigma of the other examples? That's like saying that holding a DVD by the data surface is taboo in the techie community. — User:BryanD 17:22, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
T
TA | TB | TC | TD | TE | TF | TG | TH | TI | TJ | TK | TL | TŁ | TM | TN | TO | TP | TR | TS | TU | TW | TX | TY | TZ |Words begining with Taboo:
Taboo
Taboo
Taboo:_The_Sixth_Sense
Taboos
Taboo_(game)
Taboo_(movie)
Taboo_(pornographic_movie)
Taboo_2
Taboo_2
Taboo_activities
Taboo_articles
Taboo_deformation
Taboo_deformation
Taboo_meat
Taboo_meat
Taboo_meats
Taboo_search
Taboo_Tongue
Taboo_Tuesday
Taboo_Tuesday
Taboo_word
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