THE RESURRECTION OF TABOO

THE RESURRECTION OF TABOO

Taboo, as a noun, according to my Webster’s Third International Dictionary, is defined as a sacred interdiction laid upon the use of certain things or words or the performance of certain actions, commonly imposed by chiefs or priests, and found among most races of primitive culture; the system of interdiction based upon the principle of the taboo, most highly developed among the Polynesians; similar restriction imposed by social convention.

This last corresponds to the moral system that a few generations ago kept teen-age and extra-marital sexual activity in check. Society was doing its job (not failing our young people) without recourse to the law, and so long as the older generation had the say, their wisdom and experience prevailed. But when, in their bid for greater freedom, young people had the say, folly and inexperience, under the guise of adventure and personal freedom, took over.

There was a time when children born out of wedlock were referred to as illegitimate. This was society’s taboo at work, trying to minimize such cases out of concern for the public good. Then came the reformers who saw the injustice at the individual level, and decided that there were no illegitimate children, only illegitimate parents. So the stigma was partially removed. Now there is no stigma whatsoever. In fact, in some quarters, the unwed mother status is highly regarded.

All of a sudden, AIDS hits the scene and all hell breaks loose. Frantically, the proponents of liberal sexual mores begin advocating safe sex, etc. No thought is given to society’s mores of the past and their successfully keeping in check sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Even the pro-abortion, anti-abortion controversy wasn’t worth becoming a national issue in the old days.

It may be only a question of time before society perceives the value of taboo and resurrects it for the public good.