The Infinite Mind: TABOOS

Week of August 16, 2000

Why does every culture consider some behavior beyond the pale? Taboos often seem to have some evolutionary purpose. But there's more to the rules that govern how we eat, sleep, and have sex - or, rather, how we don't. We'll explore emerging prohibitions in contemporary society as well as persistent rules that have their roots in times past.

Host Dr. Fred Goodwin begins the show with a discussion of the history of taboo. He ponders how these seemingly superstitious rules could exist in secular culture.

Next, Irvin James talks about some Navajo taboos regarding the forces of nature. Mr. James, who works in the department of cultural affairs in the Navajo Nation, tells of prohibitions on talking and playing during eclipses, when the Navajo believe the sun and the moon to be mating. During this time, they're not supposed to eat, drink or look at the eclipse. For more information about the Navajo Nation, log on to the Navajo website at www.navajo.org.

Then Ben Jacobson, director of user research at Razorfish, an on-line consulting company, explores some of our newest taboos. Jacobson talks about how rules are changing from generation to generation. What may be acceptable to those steeped in our fast-paced culture may seem beyond rude to others. As he points out, when you put your mother on hold, "you hear about it." Jacobson also mentions eating genetically engineered food and talking on cell phones in inappropriate places as taboos that are still taking shape.

Dr. Goodwin's next guest is Dr. Daniel Fessler, a professor of anthropology at UCLA who specializes in the interaction of culture and biology. Dr. Fessler discusses how taboos are different from ordinary rules and superstitions. As Dr. Fessler explains, a taboo is often defined by the sense that breaking it will bring an unwelcome supernatural consequence. Taboos can - and often do - also have an evolutionary purpose. The incest taboo, he explains, serves in both these roles. Dr. Fessler also describes the century-old debate about taboos begun by Sigmund Freud and scholar Edmund Westermark about whether taboos are rooted in biology or cultural symbolism. And he notes that taboos often inspire both attraction and repulsion. You can write to Professor Daniel Fessler at the UCLA Department of Anthropology, Los Angeles, California, 90095 or call him at 310-825-2055.

Dr. Paul Rozin then joins Dr. Goodwin to discuss disgust, which often overlaps with taboo. Disgust seems to have emerged as a protection from spoiled food. But, according to Dr. Rozin, it's expanded it many other areas of life, including sex, blood, death and even morality. Disgust, Dr. Rozin explains, is a learned phenomenon. So, in each culture, parents teach their children to find certain things disgusting. The Chinese are disgusted by cheese (which is actually "rotting milk," as Dr. Rozin points out ), while Westerners might be revolted by rotting meat thought of as a delicacy in other cultures. Dr. Rozin also describes his research, which involves testing subjects' disgust limits, finding out why they won't drink apple juice from a perfectly clean bed pan or wear a sweater they think was originally owned by Adolf Hitler. You can write to Dr. Paul Rozin at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology, 3815 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6196.

Next, The Infinite Mind's Sharon Lerner files a report from the Crown Heights mikvah, a bath house where married women within that Chasidic Jewish community take monthly cleansing baths. The mikvah is used at the end of period of spiritual impurity that begins with menstruation. Sex and even casual contact between husband and wife are forbidden from the beginning of the period until at least 12 days after, when women visit the mikvah. As Lerner reports, the women there go through an elaborate ritual to remove the taint associated with menstruation. "Mikva lady" Brucha Levertov explains the challenges of her job. Lerner also speaks with Chana Selegson and Miriam Lowenstein who use the Crown Heights mikvah. For more information about the mikvah, you can reach Taharas Hamishpacha at 718-756-5700 or online at www.mikvah.org.

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