The Incest Taboo: A Collection Of Disaster Theories

The Incest Taboo: a collection ofdisaster theoriesy Sexual competition in familyy Marry out or die outy Terminological confusiony Freud’s Oedipus and Electra Complexesy Inbreeding depressiony The Westermarck’s Effect

Incest and the Marital UniverseExogamy boundary:one must marry outsidethis groupNuclearFamilyEndogamy boundary:one must marry insidethis groupTerms coined by McLennan in 1865 inreference to descent groups

A distinction Incest deals with the prohibition ofsexual relationsRules of exogamy and endogamy definethe universe of legitimate matesIn some societies one can have sex withan individual but cannot marry them

Standard range of theincest taboo in theUS. Red is almostuniversally*prohibited whileyellow is sometimesprohibited.*Uncle‐niece sometimes possibleCousinsSchwimmer at y/tutor/image list/index.html

Leviticus 18In the Old Testament cousin marriages ofany type were allowed, and in fact therewas a preference for patrilateral parallelcousin marriage, i.e., a union between thechildren of two brothers, in somecircumstances. (This arrangementinvolved marriage within a patrilinealgroup and indicates that descent groups inthis instance were not exogamous.)Moreover, there was no explicit ruleagainst sexual relations or marriagesbetween uncles and nieces, althoughaunt/nephew prohibitions are specified.This asymmetry seems to be related to apreference for men to marry women ofyounger generations.Rules in LeviticusSchwimmer at y/tutor/image list/index.html

Marriage Lawsy Biblical: extensive bans on affinal marriages but noban on cousin marriage. Derives from Church ofEngland canon law.y Western: few bans on affinal marriages butprohibition on cousin marriage. Derived from RomanCatholic canon law.

Affinal Marriage Bans and CousinMarriagey In more than a dozen states it is unlawful for aman to marry hisy Sister‐in‐lawy Mother‐in‐lawy Step‐daughtery Step‐mothery 30 states in the US regulate cousin marriage but noWestern nation has any regulation on cousinmarriage

States that allow cousin marriage(Western)(Biblical)

Historical PerspectiveSource: Paul & Hamish, PLoS Biology, 12-2008“It’s OK, We’re not cousins by blood”

Causation in incesty Proximate causey Westermarck* effectwhich suggests thatindividuals who arereared together find eachother unattractive asmates. Such individualsare usually siblings. Ultimate cause Inbreeding leads tothe production of lessfit offspring for tworeasons Deleterious pairingsof recessive genesReduction of geneticdiversity*History of Human Marriage 1922 (1891) by Edvard Westermarck

Evidence for the Westermarck Effecty Kibbutz marriage patternsy Yonina Talmony Sim pua marriages in Taiwany Arthur Wolfey Parallel cousin marriage in Jordany Janet McCabey Moral sentimentsy Liebermany Bevc and Silvermany Early and prolonged separation between biological siblingsincreases the probability of attempted to completed genitalintercourse (Canadian sample).

Sim pua marriages in Taiwany Term means “little daughter‐in‐law”y A female infant or young girl is given to a family and uponmaturity she will marry a son in the familyy These marriages have:y Low fertilityy High divorcey More adulteryy Lack of sexual attractiony All of the above despite family & social pressure to have afertile and successful marriage

Freudian argument against Westermarck: why would wehave a taboo against something we don’t want to doanyway?y There are many things we don’t want to do, like incest,that are tabooed:y Suicidey Bestialityy Eating rotten thingsy Self‐mutilation

Consequences of inbreeding by degree ofrelatedness

To understand incest we may have to understand theevolution of sexual reproductiony Incest defeats the purpose of sexual reproductionby reducing genetic variance in offspring.y According to the “Red Queen” theory sex may be aresponse to an evolutionary arms race withpathogens: pathogens can mutate faster than wecan to defeat our immunological defenses.y And “Muller’s Ratchet”, a more fundamentalreason for sexual reproduction: sex “cleanses” thegenome of harmful mutations.

Inbreeding and 750.600.50.400.200.000123Generation45

If inbreeding depression is important, how dowe explain cousin marriage?y Robin L. Bennett in the Journal of Genetic Counseling that children of first cousins face ayyyy50% higher risk of birth defects than the rest of the population, making them about as riskygenetically as babies born to women 41 years old.For example, children of outbred individuals have about a 5% chance of inheriting a geneticdisorder while children of first cousins have a 7.5% of inheriting a genetic disorder.This is because we carry 6 to 7 lethal recessive genes. In modern populations we have ahistory of outbreeding and a large number of potential mates leading to increases in lethalrecessives. Therefore, in large populations with some degree of outbreeding lethal recessivecan accumulate.In small populations it is likely that these recessive genes exist at much lower levels becausethe pool of potential mates is smaller. In small populations lethal recessives tend to beremoved from the population. This is because offspring with a double dose of the lethalrecessive does not live to pass these genes on thus reducing the transmission of harmfulalleles.As a consequence of a small population size cousin marriage and even successive cousinmarriage as in Yanomamö double cross‐cousin marriage has a lower probability of producingdefective children.

Some recent research on inbreedingy S. Joseph’s “Kissing Cousins” and Bedouin Marriage(Bekka Valley of Lebanon)y Offspring of first cousins had an infant mortality rate of5.6% compared to 2.2% for non‐first cousinsy Offspring of cousins had a childhood mortality rate 2.3%compared to 0.8% of non first cousins (ns)Current Anthropology, September 2007

Inbreeding and lethal recessives

Westermarck’s and Burton’s ModelsCompared

Support for Burton from Durhamy Durham found that the majority of societiesrecognize the relationship between inbreeding andbad reproductive results (55%).y Beliefs include:yyyyInsanityPremature deathLack of vigorSusceptibility to illnessesy Furthermore, 73% provide social sanctions and40% believe there will be supernatural sanctions.

Example of state restrictions: Ageand parental consent in Kansasy Individuals must be 18 to marry without parental consenty Males may marry at 14 and females at 12 with parental and districtjudge consenty The Nebraska Case Matthew Koso of Falls City, Neb, is being chargedwith statutory rape of 14‐year‐old girl, even though they were wed withparents' blessing months before girl, Crystal, gave birth to their child;couple crossed into Kansas because Nebraska prohibits marriages ofpeople under 17; Kosos, who had learning problems in school and wasdischarged from Marine Corps after four months, is 22 and has knownCrystal since they both were young children; couple and their newbornare living with his parents; outrage over case ripples through state; AttyGen Jon Bruning's office is deluged with letters, vast majority angrilyurging that he leave couple alone; experts say it is extremely rare forman to be prosecuted for statutory rape when he has married hisminor partner. August 2005

Problems Remain for Westermarcky Does natural aversion through co‐residence explain orgenerate cultural elaboration of the taboo (e.g., lineageexogamy)?y Are other mechanisms involved (physical similarity, MHCsensing through olfaction)?y What about siblings with large age differences such thatthey never co‐resided?y Lieberman argues that seeing your mother caring (e.g., breastfeeding) a new sibling is a signal to the older sibling of closerelatedness. But what about the younger sibling? What mechanismdoes he or she use?

Miscegenation Laws (mixing of kinds) asan example of endogamyy In the past, 41 states nullified marriage between whitesand blacks andy 20 of these states criminalized sex between blacks andwhite andy far more criminalized sex between white females andblack males compared to white males and blackfemales

Kibbutz Characteristicsy Members live on and make living from landy Property is collectively ownedy Goods and services distributed according to needy Equality of social relations regardless of job helpy Luxurious living eschewedy The group is more important than the individual

Moral Sentiments and Incesty Theoretical background:yWe have a kinship estimator (a psychological mechanism) based on patterns ofinteractionyyco‐residence andviewing your mother caring for a young childy This knowledge is fed into a sexual value estimator – high value for non‐kin.y Research Design & Findingsy Decided not to ask those surveyed whether they had committed incest butrather their views on the morality of incest.y Interview data indicated a positive correlation between duration of co‐residence (length of time living with siblings) and judgments of moralwrongness of incesty Furthermore, co‐residence duration is a stronger predictor than kinshipy Research undermines phenotype matching or MHC similarityLieberman, D., Tooby, J.& Cosmides, L. (2003). Does morality have a biological basis?An empirical test of the factors governing moral sentiments regarding incest.Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B, 270, 819-826.

Incest Rules in Leviticusy Leviticus 18:6 " 'No one is to approach any close relative to have sexualyyyyyrelations. I am the LORD.Leviticus 18:7 " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relationswith your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.Leviticus 18:8 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife;that would dishonor your father. [Note father’s wife does notnecessarily mean “mother”. Why?]Leviticus 18:9 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your sister, eitheryour father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was bornin the same home or elsewhere.Leviticus 18:10 " 'Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughteror your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.Leviticus 18:11 " 'Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of yourfather's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

Some Endogamous Rulesy Agey Generationy Religiony Racey Ethnicityy Castey Social class

Alliance Explanationy We will give you our daughters and take yours forourselves. Then we can live among you, and we shallall become one peopleGenesis 34:16

Family Harmonyy “Sex with its accompaniment of courtship, jealousies,and competition, is not compatible with the attitude ofreverence and submission characteristic of child‐to‐parent relations.”

Oedipus and Elektray In both cases incest taboos were culturally invented to deal with a child’snatural sexual desire for opposite sex parent.y Oedipus Complex: defined as a male child's unconscious desire for the exclusivelove of his mother. This desire includes jealousy towards the father and theunconscious wish for that parent's death. Realizing that the father is powerful andcan castrate the son, the infant internalizes the rules (incest taboo) pronounced byhis father. The father now becomes the figure of identification and the boy resignsfrom his attempts to take the mother, shifting his libidinal attention to new objectsof desire.y Elektra complex: the girl is originally attached to the mother as well; however,when she discovers that she lacks a penis during the phallic stage the daughterbecomes libidinally attached to her father and imagines that she will becomepregnant by him, while becoming more hostile towards her mother. This is duemostly to the idea of "penis envy": that the girl is envious of her father's penis andwants to possess it so strongly that she dreams of bearing his children. In later life,so the theory goes, the girl will grow into the character type that her mother hasdeveloped as a means to attracting a man similar to her father