The term taboo is one that is used in common language to refer to all attitudes, actions, behaviors or set of values that can be opposed to what is socially acceptable and therefore understood as dangerous, unpleasant, questioned or not accepted by the society. most of the population.
That which is prohibited in a community for social, social, or psychological reasons, because it is something unnatural or because it contravenes values
Taboos are everything that is prohibited from doing or saying in a society, whether due to a matter of religious, social or psychological conventions.
Taboos are usually based on what is considered unnatural, for example a brother falling in love with his sister, to name one of the most common taboos.
When a practice, a behavior, a habit, or a preference collides with the prevailing traditional values, with the precepts of a religion, or with some dogma of the political class, they will be plausible to be censored and considered as taboos.
One of the most popular taboos are those associated with the language, those words or expressions that are valued as in bad taste or that are linked to sensitive topics such as sex, death, evil, are usually considered taboos in many cultures .
One of the most widespread ways to supplant or replace these words is through the famous euphemisms, which consist of statements that are used to attenuate those taboo expressions.
For example, when it is said that this or that left, not to say that he died.
When a person breaks the taboo that prevails in a society, they will be considered to be committing a serious offense and for that matter they will be punished by their peers with a penalty provided for such contravention.
However, taboos can be punished from the legal point of view, if the offense incurred is considered a crime, or failing that, a social penalty, for example public condemnation, discrimination, among the most recurrent. .
We must say that most of the taboos come from the cultural tradition, although this does not imply that they can also originate as a consequence of some particular interest of a sector of society.
At present, many taboo practices are carried out privately precisely because of the discomfort or social discontent that they can generate, but this discomfort does not mean that they do not exist.
Like everything that has to do with society and the ethical value systems that govern a group or community, the practices considered taboo are normally artificially established as such due to various sets of norms, values or behaviors that mark them as dangerous, improper or morally inappropriate.
This means that what is taboo for one society may not be so for another because the practices considered as such vary not only in terms of space but also in terms of time.
It is common to refer, when talking about taboo, to practices that have to do with the sexuality of individuals, as well as the relationships that are maintained with other individuals, eating practices, the use of language or gestures, etc. .
In this sense, there are sexual practices that are usually considered taboo for most societies, as happens for example with what is considered incest (or sexual relations between relatives) or with cannibalism (that is, the consumption of human flesh ).
However, what a deeply conservative or religious society considers taboo (perhaps the use of the body for tattoos, gestures or ways of dressing) may be completely normal and common in other more liberal societies.
Today there are societies and communities considered "primitive" by modern Western society that maintain many rites and practices that, according to Western morality, are not appropriate.
The same is true of oriental marital, religious or sexual practices that are often frowned upon in the West.
However, the criticism that the Western world makes of other cultures does not take into account that many of its own practices (such as the excessive consumption of beef) can be offensive or unpleasant for other societies.
In today's societies we live with an innumerable amount of taboos, many of them that are based on social harm only, while others are based on the preservation of certain moral values or superstitions.
