Menstruation
Although menstruation is a normal part of the female reproductive cycle, it is the subject of considerable misunderstanding as a taboo.

Menstruation is the sloughing off of the uterine lining that builds up during the previous month. It occurs about once a month in most women between the ages of approximately 12 and 48.

In ancient times, a menstruating woman was regarded as unclean and liable to pollute foods she handled, or cause crops to wither. The primary reason for this taboo seems to be the fear of blood.

It is thought that menstrual taboos were enforced by men who connected a woman's monthly cycle with the turning of the tides, the changing of the seasons and other events that were mysterious to them.

Superstition and taboos around a woman's monthly cycle continue to persist in our contemporary society.

A common superstition in western culture is the belief that walking under a ladder will bring you bad luck. This myth supposedly evolved from earlier times when people would not walk under a bridge in case a menstruating woman was nearby because they feared her blood would fall on their head.

The belief that the normal process of menstruation is somehow dirty or evil is still evident in the slang expressions of a woman having the "curse" or being "on the rag". It is often seen by men and women as a physical or emotional handicap that makes women "inferior" to men, and many couples view intercourse during menstruation as messy and sloppy and avoid intimate activities for hygienic reasons, although this is not medically necessary.

Bestiality and Necrophilia
Both are strong sexual taboos and forbidden by all major religions. They are considered illegal in the United States and almost everywhere else in the world.

Historically, the primary reason for opposition to these behaviors was related to the fact that they were not procreative acts.

Furthermore, sexual relations between humans and animals or corpses violated the notion that proper sex was to take place between a married couple.

In more modern times society has found both of these practices abhorrent because of the fear of spreading diseases, and because in neither case does someone wishing to practice these illegal social taboos have the willing permission of their sexual partner.

Copyright 2002 Sinclair Intimacy Institute