ABSTRACT
The incest taboo is universal in human culture. It is generally considered by anthropologists to be the foundation of all kinship structures and the basis of human social order. Though no single definition of the taboo applies among all peoples, virtually every known culture restricts sexual contact within the nuclear family, that is, between parents and children, brothers and sisters. All cultures, including our own, regard violations of the taboo with horror and dread. Breaches of the taboo are viewed not merely as crimes, but as desecrations of the primordial law establishing the place of human beings in the natural and supernatural world. The mythology of many cultures associates violations of the incest taboo with bestiality, cannibalism, and witchcraft (Levi-Strauss, 1949).
