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{{short description|Societal or cultural prohibition}}
{{other uses|Taboo (disambiguation)}}
{{Sociology}}
A '''taboo''' is a [[social group]]'s ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, [[sacred]] or allowed only for certain people.<ref name="EB">''Encyclopædia Britannica Online''. "[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/579821/taboo Taboo]". Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Retrieved 21 Mar. 2012</ref><ref>"[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/taboo taboo]". ''Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary'', 11th Edition.</ref> Such prohibitions are present in virtually all societies.<ref name="EB" /> Taboos may be prohibited explicitly, for example within a [[legal system]] or [[religion]], or implicitly, for example by [[social norms]] or [[Convention (norm)|conventions]] followed by a particular culture or organization.

Taboos are often meant to protect the individual, but there are other reasons for their development. An ecological or medical background is apparent in many, including some that are seen as religious or spiritual in origin. Taboos can help use a resource more efficiently, but when applied to only a subsection of the [[community]] they can also serve to suppress said subsection of the community. A taboo acknowledged by a particular group or [[tribe]] as part of their ways aids in the cohesion of the group, helps that particular group to stand out and maintain its identity in the face of others and therefore creates a feeling of "belonging".<ref name="Meyer-Rochow 2009" />

The meaning of the word ''taboo'' has been somewhat expanded in the [[social science]]s to strong prohibitions relating to any area of human activity or custom that is sacred or forbidden based on [[Morality|moral judgment]], religious beliefs, or cultural [[norm (sociology)|norms]].<ref name="Meyer-Rochow 2009">{{cite journal | last=Meyer-Rochow| first= Victor Benno | title= Food taboos: their origins and purposes|journal= [[Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine]] | date=2009| volume=5–18|
 pages=18| doi= 10.1186/1746-4269-5-18| pmid= 19563636 | pmc= 2711054 | doi-access= free }} This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC by 2.0)] license.</ref>

==Etymology==
The English term ''taboo'' comes from ''[[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]]'' in [[Oceanic languages]], particularly [[Polynesian languages]], with such meanings as "prohibited" or "forbidden". That root ''tapu'' is reflected, among others, by [[Tongan language|Tongan]] or [[Māori language|Māori]] ''tapu'', and by [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] ''[[Kapu (Hawaiian culture)|kapu]]''. Its English use dates to 1777 when the British explorer [[James Cook]] visited [[Tonga]], and referred to the [[Tongans]]' use of the term ''taboo'' for "any thing that is forbidden to be eaten, or made use of".<ref>{{Harvnb|Cook|King|1821|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA462 462]}}</ref> Having invited some of the Tongan aristocracy to dinner aboard his ship, Cook wrote:
{{Blockquote|Not one of them would sit down, or eat a bit of any thing. . . . On expressing my surprise at this, they were all taboo, as they said; which word has a very comprehensive meaning; but, in general, signifies that a thing is forbidden.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cook|King|1821|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA348 348]}}</ref>}}

The term was translated to him as "consecrated, inviolable, forbidden, unclean or cursed".{{sfn|Cook|King|1821}} ''Tapu'' is usually treated as a unitary, non-[[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] word inherited from [[Proto-Polynesian language|Proto-Polynesian]] *''tapu''.<ref>"[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=taboo&searchmode=none taboo]". [[Online Etymology Dictionary]].</ref><ref>
{{cite web
  |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/taboo
  |title=Online dictionary
  |publisher=Lexico Publishing Group, LLC
  |access-date=2007-06-05
}}</ref><ref name=POLLEX>{{cite web|last=Biggs|first=Bruce|title=Entries for TAPU <nowiki>[OC]</nowiki> Prohibited, under ritual restriction, taboo|url=https://pollex.eva.mpg.de/entry/tapu/|work=Polynesian Lexicon Project Online|publisher=University of Auckland|access-date=9 September 2012}}</ref> It also exists in other [[Oceanic languages]] outside Polynesian, such as [[Fijian language|Fijian]] ''tabu'',<ref>{{Cite book
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7v2Beyc5YgC&q=tabu+meaning+Fijian&pg=PA368
 | title=A Grammar of Boumaa Fijian
 | first=Robert M. W.| last=Dixon
 | page=368
 | isbn=978-0-226-15429-9
 | year=1988
| publisher=University of Chicago Press
 }}</ref> or [[Hiw language|Hiw]] (Vanuatu) ''toq''.<ref name="POc" />

Those words descend from an etymon *''tabu'' in the ancestral [[Proto-Oceanic language]], whose meaning was [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] as "forbidden, off limits; sacred, due to a sentiment of awe before spiritual forces".<ref name="POc">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1353/ol.2022.0017| issn = 1527-9421| volume = 61| issue = 1| pages = 212–255| last = François| first = Alexandre |authorlink=Alexandre François | title = Awesome forces and warning signs: Charting the semantic history of *tabu words in Vanuatu| journal = Oceanic Linguistics| accessdate = 2022-07-11| date = 2022| s2cid = 240387414| url = http://alex.francois.online.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2022_Awesome-Forces_Tabu_Vanuatu_OceanicLinguistics.pdf |ref=tabu}}</ref>

In its current use in Tongan, the word ''tapu'' means "sacred" or "holy", often in the sense of being restricted or protected by custom or law. On the main island, the word is often appended to the end of "Tonga" as ''Tongatapu'', here meaning "Sacred South" rather than "Forbidden South".

==Examples==
[[File:Os Filhos de Pindorama. Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Woodcut showing 12 people holding various human body parts carousing around an open bonfire where human body parts, suspended on a sling, are cooking.|[[Human cannibalism|Cannibalism]], Brazil. Engraving by [[Theodor de Bry]] for [[Hans Staden]]'s account of his 1557 captivity.]]

[[Sigmund Freud]] speculated that [[incest taboo|incest]] and [[patricide]] were the only two [[cultural universal|universal]] taboos that formed the basis of civilization.<ref>Freud, Sigmund. ''[[Totem and Taboo]]''.</ref> Through an analysis of the language surrounding [[Laws regarding incest|these laws]], it can be seen how the policy makers, and society as a whole, find these acts to be immoral.<ref>{{cite journal|title= The Synthetic Necessary Truth Behind New Labour's Criminalisation of Incest| doi=10.1177/0964663913502068 | volume=23|journal=Social & Legal Studies|pages=113–130|year = 2014|last1 = Roffee|first1 = James A.| s2cid=145292798 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=When Yes Actually Means Yes in Rape Justice |pages=72–91 |doi=10.1057/9781137476159_5 |chapter = When Yes Actually Means Yes|year = 2015|last1 = Roffee|first1 = James A.|isbn=9781137476159}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/hrlr/ngu023|title= No Consensus on Incest? Criminalisation and Compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights | volume=14 |issue= 3 | journal=Human Rights Law Review|pages=541–572|year= 2014 |last1= Roffee |first1= J. A. }}</ref>

Common taboos involve restrictions or ritual regulation of killing and hunting; sex and sexual relationships; reproduction; the [[taboo on the dead|dead]] and their graves; as well as food and dining (primarily [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]] and [[dietary laws]] such as [[vegetarianism]], ''[[kashrut]]'', and ''[[halal]]'') or religious ([[treif]] and [[haram]]). In [[Madagascar]], a strong code of taboos, known as ''[[fady (taboo)|fady]]'', constantly change and are formed from new experiences. Each region, village or tribe may have its own ''fady''.

The word ''taboo'' gained popularity at times, with some scholars looking for ways to apply it where other English words had previously been applied. For example, [[John Merlin Powis Smith|J. M. Powis Smith]], in his book ''The American Bible'' (editor's preface 1927), used ''taboo'' occasionally in relation to Israel's [[Tabernacle]] and ceremonial laws, including {{Bibleverse|Exodus|30:36}}, {{Bibleverse|Exodus|29:37}}; {{Bibleverse|Numbers|16:37–38}}; {{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|22:9}}, {{Bibleverse|Isaiah|65:5}}, {{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|44:19}} and {{Bibleverse|Ezekiel|46:20}}.

[[Albert Schweitzer]] wrote a chapter about taboos of the people of Gabon. As an example, it was considered a misfortune for twins to be born, and they would be subject to many rules not incumbent on other people.<ref>Schweitzer, Albert. ''African Notebook'' 1958. Indiana University Press</ref>

==In religion and mythology==

According to [[Joseph Campbell]], taboos are used in religion and mythology to [[Hero's journey#The Road of Trials|test]] a person's ability to withhold from violating a prohibition given to them.<ref name="Hyman">{{cite journal |last=Hyman |first=Stanley Edgar |date=1949 |title=Myth, Ritual, and Nonsense |journal=The Kenyon Review |publisher=Kenyon College |volume=11 |page=456 |jstor=4333071 |number=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Sandbank |first=Shimon |editor=Mark H. Gelber |chapter=The Look Back: Lot's Wife, Kafka, Blanchot |publisher=De Gruyter |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IFlbDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA297 |series=Conditio Judaica |title=Kafka, Zionism, and Beyond |volume=50 |number=16 |edition=reprint 2014 |isbn=3110934191 |date=2004-09-28 |page=299}}</ref> Should one fail the test and violate a taboo, they will be subsequently punished or face the consequences of their actions.<ref name="Hyman"/> Taboos are not societal prohibitions (such as incest); rather, the use of ''taboo'' in these stories relates to its original meaning of "prohibition": for example, a character could be prohibited from looking, eating, and speaking or [[word taboo|uttering a certain word]].

=== Greek ===

An example of an eating taboo in Greek mythology could be found in the tale of the [[Persephone#Abduction myth|rape of Persephone]]. [[Hades]], who had fallen in love with [[Persephone]] and wished to make her his queen, burst through a cleft in the earth and abducted Persephone as she was gathering flowers in a field.<ref>''Homeric Hymn to Demeter'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+2+4 4–20], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+2+414 414–434].</ref> When [[Demeter]], Persephone's mother, finds out of her daughter's abduction, she forbids the earth to produce (or she neglects the earth) and, in the depth of her despair, causes nothing to grow. [[Zeus]], pressed by the cries of the hungry people and by the other [[Twelve Olympians|deities]] who also heard their anguish, forced Hades to return Persephone.<ref name="Theoi Project - Persephone">{{cite web|url=http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html |title=Theoi Project – Persephone |publisher=Theoi.com |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> It was explained to Demeter that Persephone would be released, so long as she did not taste the food of the dead. Hades complies with the request to return Persephone to Demeter, but first, he tricks Persephone, forcing her to break the eating taboo by giving her some [[pomegranate]] seeds to eat.<ref>The ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Demeter]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0013.tlg002.perseus-eng1:398-448 411–412], has Persephone tell Demeter: "he secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will." Gantz, p. 65 describes this as a "trick".</ref> In other interpretations, Persephone is seen eating the pomegranate seeds as a result of temptation or hunger. In the end, Hermes is sent to retrieve her but, because she had tasted the food of the underworld, she was obliged to spend a third of each year (the winter months) there, and the remaining part of the year with the gods above.<ref>Gantz, p. 65.</ref> With the later writers Ovid and Hyginus, Persephone's time in the underworld becomes half the year.<ref>Gantz, p. 67.</ref>

The most notable [[looking taboo]] in Greek myth can be found in the story of [[Orpheus and Eurydice]]. [[Orpheus]], the son of [[Apollo]], was well-renowned as a legendary musician whose music could move anything and everything, living or not, in the world. While walking among her people in tall grass at her wedding, [[Eurydice]] was set upon by a [[satyr]]. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the humans, [[nymphs]], and [[List of Greek deities|gods]] learnt about his sorrow and grief and wept with him. On the gods' advice, Orpheus traveled to the [[greek underworld|Underworld]] wherein his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should guide her out and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. As he reached the upper world, Orpheus looked back toward Eurydice in his eagerness to reunite with her, tragically forgetting about the looking taboo given to him by Hades, and since Eurydice had not crossed into the upper world, she vanishes back into the Underworld, this time forever.

A speaking taboo in Greek myth can be found in the story of [[Anchises]], the father of the [[Troy|Trojan]] [[Trojan War|warrior]] [[Aeneas]]. [[Aphrodite]] had fallen in love with the mortal Anchises after Zeus persuaded [[Eros]] to shoot her with an arrow to cause these emergent feelings.<ref name=":5">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC|Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology.|page=59}}</ref> One interpretation recounts that Aphrodite pretended to be a [[Phrygians|Phrygian]] princess and seduced him, only to later reveal herself as a goddess and inform Anchises that she will bear him a son named Aeneas and warns him not to tell anyone that he lay with a goddess. Anchises does not heed this speaking taboo and later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result, he is struck in the foot with a [[thunderbolt#In religion and mythology|thunderbolt]] by Zeus. Thereafter, he is lame in that foot so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy.<ref>{{cite book |author=Virgil |title=''Aeneid'' |translator-first=Theodore C. |translator-last=Williams |chapter=Book II |at=Lines 714–715 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Verg.+A.+2.714-715&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054 |website=[[Perseus Project|Perseus Digital Library]] |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Co.]] |place=Boston |date=1910}}</ref>

Another, albeit lesser-known, speaking taboo in Greek myth can be found in the story of [[Actaeon]]. Actaeon, whilst on a hunting trip in the woods, mistakenly and haplessly happened upon the bathing [[Artemis]].<ref>Callimachus, ''Hymn v''.</ref><ref>Callimachus gives no site: a glen in the foothills of [[Cithaeron|Mount Cithaeron]] near Boeotian [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]], is the site according to [[Euripides]], ''[[Bacchae]]'' 1290–92, a spring sanctuary near [[Plataea]] is specified elsewhere.</ref> When Artemis realized that Actaeon had seen her undressed, thus desecrating her [[Artemis#Virginity|chastity]], she punished him for his luckless profanation of her virginity's mystery by forbidding him from speech.<ref name="Coulter-Harris">{{cite book |title=Chasing Immortality in World Religions |chapter=Ancient Greece: Defining Immortality in an Age of Gods and Mortals |first=Deborah M. |last=Coulter-Harris |date=2016-07-29 |isbn=978-0786497928 |page=60 |publisher=McFarland Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNPIDAAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref name="Conner">{{cite book |title=The Everything Classical Mythology Book: Greek and Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, and Monsters from Ares to Zeus |chapter=Artemis: The Thrill of the Hunt |first=Nancy |last=Conner |date=2010-02-10 |isbn=978-1440502408 |page=140 |publisher=Adams Media |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsSnDgAAQBAJ}}</ref> Whether it be due to forgetfulness or outright resistance, Actaeon defied his speaking taboo and called for [[Actaeon#Names of dogs|his hunting dogs]].<ref name="Coulter-Harris"/><ref name="Conner"/> Due to his failure in abiding by his speaking taboo, Artemis turned Actaeon into a stag and turned his dogs upon him. Actaeon was torn apart and ravaged by his loyal dogs who did not recognize their former master.

=== Abrahamic ===

Possibly the most famous eating taboo (if not taboo, in general) is in the story of [[Adam and Eve]] in the [[Abrahamic religions]]. In the [[Judeo-Christian]] telling, found in {{Bibleverse||Genesis|3|HE}}, [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] are placed in the [[Garden of Eden]] by God and are told not to eat from a tree lest they die,<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:3|9|3:3}}</ref> but Eve is promptly tempted by a [[Serpents in the Bible#Eden|serpent]] (often identified as [[Satan]] in disguise) to eat from the [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil]] because they will surely not die,<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:4|9|3:4}}</ref> rather, they might become "like [[God in Christianity|God]]".<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:5|9|3:5}}</ref> Eve violates the eating taboo and eats from the [[Forbidden fruit#Biblical Story|forbidden fruit]] of the tree, shortly giving some fruit to her companion, Adam.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:6|9|3:6}}</ref> After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve are aware of their nakedness and cover themselves with fig leaves and hide from God.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:7–8|9|3:7–8}}</ref> God realizes that they are hiding and interrogates them about having eaten from the tree whereupon Adam assigns the blame to Eve and Eve assigns it to the serpent.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:9–13|9|3:9–13}}</ref> As a result, God condemns Eve with pain in childbirth and subordination to her husband, he condemns Adam to have to labor on the earth for his food and be reduced into the earth at death, and in the Christian tradition, he condemns all of humanity for this [[original sin]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:16–19|9|3:16–19}}</ref>{{sfn|Collins|2014|p=unpaginated}} God then expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden lest they eat from the [[Tree of life (biblical)|Tree of Life]] and become immortal "like Him".<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:22|9|3:22}}</ref>

In [[Islam]], the story of [[Adam and Eve#Islam|Adam and Eve]] is quite different, though it contains an eating taboo: the [[Quran]] mentions that [[Adam in Islam|Adam]] ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: {{lang|ar|'''آدم'''}}), as the successive authority of earth by decree of Allah, is placed in a paradisal garden (not [[Jannah]] nor the [[Garden of Eden]])<ref>{{YouTube|id=Vn0eMv3VTIM|title=
‎ما هي الجنة التي أنزل الله منها سيدنا آدم عليه السلام – 
‎الشيخ الشعراوي}}</ref> therein along with [[Eve#Islam|his wife]] (unnamed in the Quran, though the [[Hadith]] gives her the name Ḥawwā’, Arabic: {{lang|ar|'''حواء'''}});<ref>{{qref|2|30|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|2|35|b=y}}</ref> such a paradise this garden was, that they would never go hungry nor unclothed,<ref>{{qref|20|118|b=y}}</ref> nor would they ever thirst or be exposed to the sun's heat.<ref>{{qref|20|119|b=y}}</ref> Allah took a promise from Adam:<ref>{{qref|20|115|b=y}}</ref>

{{blockquote|˹Allah said,˺ “O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise and eat from wherever you please, but do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers.”|{{qref|7|19|c=y}}}}

[[Iblis]], angered at his expulsion from Jannah for refusing to bow to Adam at his inception, decided to trick Adam and his wife into being shunned by Allah, just as he was. Allah had warned Adam and his wife about Iblis, telling them that he was a "clear enemy".<ref>{{qref|2|208|t=si|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|20|117|b=y}}</ref> Iblis [[Oath#Islamic tradition|swore]] in the name of Allah that he was their sincere advisor, revealed unto Adam and his wife each other's nakedness, and convinced them to eat from the forbidden tree so that they may never taste death.<ref>{{qref|7|20–21|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|20|120|b=y}}</ref> After eating from the tree (thus breaking the eating taboo), Allah removes Adam and his wife from their paradisal garden, telling them that mankind will be condemned with some being enemies with others on the earth wherein they will be provided habitation and provision, for a while,<ref>{{qref|7|22–24|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|20|123|b=y}}</ref> and “There you will live, there you will die, and from there you will be resurrected.”{{qref|7|25|b=y|s=y}}

In the [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] telling of this story, the taboo is a plot by the [[Archon (Gnosticism)|archons]] to keep Adam in a state of ignorance by preventing him from eating the fruit, which allows him to attain [[Gnosis#Gnosticism|gnosis]] after the serpent, who is viewed as representative of the [[Pleroma#Gnosticism|divine world]], convinces him and Eve to eat it.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stefan|last=Rossbach|title=Gnostic Wars|orig-date=1999|date=August 7, 2019|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|page=51|isbn=9781474472180}}</ref>

A [[looking taboo]] can be found in the Judeo-Christian telling of the story of [[Lot (biblical person)|Lot]] found within the [[Book of Genesis]]. In {{Bibleverse||Genesis|19|HE}}, two [[angels#christianity|angels]] in the form of men arrived in [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]] at eventide and were invited by Lot to spend the night at his home. The men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and demanded Lot that he bring his two guests out so that they might "know" them; instead, Lot offered up his two daughters, who had not "known" man, but they refused. As dawn was breaking, Lot's visiting angels urged him to get his family and flee, so as to avoid being caught in the impending disaster for the iniquity of the city. The command was given, "Flee for your life! Do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, lest you be swept away."<ref name=Schwartz>{{cite book|last=Schwartz|first=Howard|title=Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=60iVk1p8Y9IC&q=Lot%27s+wife&pg=PA466 |isbn=9780195358704}}</ref>{{rp|465}} Whilst fleeing, [[Lot's wife]] broke the looking taboo by turning to look back at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and was turned into a pillar of salt as punishment for disobeying the angels' warning.<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|19:26|9|19:26}}</ref><ref name=Schwartz/>{{rp|466}}

==Function==
[[Communist]] and [[materialist]] theorists have argued that taboos can be used to reveal the histories of societies when other records are lacking.<ref>{{Cite book|author1=Marta Dyczok|author2=Oxana Gaman-Golutvina|title=Media, Democracy and Freedom: The Post-Communist Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=meUcrEBRpgMC|year=2009|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-3-0343-0311-8|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=meUcrEBRpgMC&pg=PA209 209]}}</ref> [[Marvin Harris]] explains taboos as a consequence of ecologic and economic conditions.<ref>{{citation |url=http://sociology101.net/readings/Indias-sacred-cow.pdf |author=Marvin Harris |title=India's Sacred Cow |access-date=2015-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610221816/http://sociology101.net/readings/Indias-sacred-cow.pdf |archive-date=2015-06-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Modernity==
Some argue that contemporary Western [[multiculturalism|multicultural]] societies have taboos against [[tribalism]]s (for example, [[ethnocentrism]] and [[nationalism]]) and [[prejudice]]s ([[racism]], [[sexism]], [[homophobia]], [[extremism]] and [[religious fanaticism]]).<ref name="Putnam, Robert D. 2007">{{Cite journal | last= Putnam | first = Robert D. | author-link = Robert D. Putnam | title = ''E Pluribus Unum'': Diversity and community in the twenty-first century | id = [[Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science|The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture]] | journal = [[Scandinavian Political Studies]] | volume = 30 | issue = 2 | pages = 137–174 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9477.2007.00176.x | date = June 2007 | s2cid = 14234366 }}</ref> 

Changing social customs and standards also create new taboos, such as bans on [[history of slavery|slavery]]; extension of the [[pedophilia]] taboo to [[ephebophilia]];<ref name="www.usccb.org">{{cite web|first=Frederick |last=S. Berlin |title=Interview with Frederick S. Berlin, M.D., Ph.D. |publisher=Office of Media Relations |access-date=2008-06-27 |url=http://www.usccb.org/comm/kit6.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110623130406/http://www.usccb.org/comm/kit6.shtml |archive-date=June 23, 2011 }}</ref> prohibitions on [[Prohibition|alcohol]], [[smoking ban|tobacco]], or [[prohibition of drugs|psychopharmaceutical]] consumption (particularly among [[Prenatal exposure|pregnant women]]), unmoderated discussions of [[politics]] and [[religion]], [[sexual harassment]] and [[sexual objectification]] are increasingly becoming taboo in recent decades. 

[[Incest]] itself has been pulled both ways, with some seeking to normalize consensual adult relationships regardless of the degree of [[kinship]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4331603,00.html|title=Forbidden love|author=Johann Hari|date=2002-01-09|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2008-04-11}}</ref> (notably in Europe)<ref name="spiegel">{{cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,540831,00.html|title=German High Court Takes a Look at Incest|last=Hipp|first=Dietmar|date=2008-03-11|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|access-date=2008-04-12}}</ref><ref name="abcnightline">{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/switzerland-considers-legalizing-consensual-incest-columbia-professor-accused/story?id=12395499|title=Professor Accused of Incest With Daughter|last=Donaldson James|first=Susan|work=ABC Nightline|access-date=29 November 2011}}</ref> and others expanding the degrees of prohibited contact (notably in the [[Laws regarding incest in the United States|United States]]).<ref>Joanna Grossman, [http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20020408.html Should the law be kinder to kissin' cousins?]</ref> Although the term ''taboo'' usually implies negative connotations, it is sometimes associated with enticing propositions in proverbs such as ''forbidden fruit is the sweetest''.<ref>Ladygina-Kots, Nadezhda Nikolaevna. "Infant Ape and Human Child: (Instincts, Emotions, Play, Habits)." Journal of Russian & East European Psychology 38.1 (2000): 5–78.</ref>

In medicine, professionals who practice in ethical and moral [[Loophole|grey areas]], or fields subject to [[social stigma]] such as [[late termination of pregnancy]], may refrain from public discussion of their practice. Among other reasons, this taboo may come from concern that comments may be taken out of the appropriate context and used to make ill-informed policy decisions that would lead to (otherwise preventable) [[maternal death]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Harris|first1=Lisa|title=Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse|journal=Reproductive Health Matters|date=2008|volume=16|issue=31|pages=74–81|doi=10.1016/S0968-8080(08)31396-2|pmid=18772087|s2cid=24915723|url=http://lib.tcu.edu/staff/bellinger/abortion/Harris.pdf|access-date=29 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author1=O'Donnell, Jenny|author2=Weitz, Tracy|author3=Freedman, Lori|title=Resistance and vulnerability to stigmatization in abortion work|journal=[[Social Science and Medicine]]|date=November 2011|volume=73|issue=9|pages=1357–1364|doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.08.019|pmid=21940082}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=12em}}
* [[Anathema]]
* [[Blasphemy]]
* [[Bullying]]
* [[Conspiracy of silence (expression)|Conspiracy of silence]]
* [[Deformity]]
* [[Desecration]]
* [[Desecration of graves]]
* [[Deviance (sociology)|Deviance]]
* [[Domestic violence]]
* [[Etiquette]]
* [[Food and drink prohibitions]]
* [[Gambling]]
* [[Geas]]
* [[Human cannibalism]]
* [[Humiliation]]
* [[Identity performance]]
* [[Incest]]
* [[Infidelity]]
* [[List of mental disorders|Mental disorders]]
* [[Morality]]
* [[Naming taboo]]
* [[Obscenity]]
* [[Profanity]]
* [[Prostitution]]
* [[Public morality]]
* [[Sexual ethics]]
* [[Sexual fetishism|Sexual fetishes]]
* [[Social norms]]
* [[Social stigma]]
* [[Stalking]]
* [[Structural violence]]
* [[Suicide]]
* [[Taboo on rulers]]
* [[Taboo on the dead]]
* [[Treason]]
* [[Vulgarity]]
* [[Wealth]]
* [[Word taboo]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book
|last      = Collins
|first     = C. John
|chapter   = Adam and Eve in the Old Testament
|editor1-last     = Reeves 
|editor1-first    = Michael R. E. 
|editor2-last     = Madueme
|editor2-first    = Hans 
|title     = Adam, the Fall, and Original Sin: Theological, Biblical, and Scientific Perspectives
|year      = 2014
|publisher = Baker Academic
|isbn = 9781441246417
|chapter-url       = https://books.google.com/books?id=QzDaBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12
}}
* {{Cite book | last1=Cook | first1=James | author-link=James Cook | last2=King | first2=James | title=A voyage to the Pacific Ocean: undertaken by command of His Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere : performed under the direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore : in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780 : being a copious, comprehensive, and satisfactory abridgement of the voyage | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F0M-AAAAYAAJ | year=1821 }} Printed for Champante and Whitrow ... and M. Watson; 1793.
* {{Cite book | last=Cook | first=James | author-link=James Cook | title=The Three Voyages of Captain James Cook Round the World | publisher=A&E Spottiswoode | location=London | year=1728–1779 | volume=5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6UFAAAAMAAJ }}

==External links==
*{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Taboo |volume=26 |pages=337–341 |first=Northcote Whitridge |last=Thomas |authorlink=Northcote W. Thomas |short=1}}

{{wiktionary}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Taboo.ogg|date=2019-12-27}}
{{Superstition}}
{{Censorship}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Taboo| ]]
[[Category:Cultural anthropology]]
[[Category:Psychoanalytic terminology]]
[[Category:Freudian psychology]]
[[Category:Moral psychology]]