Sex, Incest, and Death: Initiation Rites Reconsidered [and Comments and Reply]

Abstract

In this paper an attempt is made to show why initiation and/or puberty rites occur in so many societies and why they take the shape they do. To do this I have used concepts derived from social and physical anthropology and from psychoanalysis. The rites are seen as part of a general human concern with categorization and the attribution of power/danger to what is not classifiable. The particular problem lies in the metamorphosis from the sexual world of adulthood and the threatening nature of sex to all peoples. Sex is seen to be threatening because of the mental connection between it and death, knowledge of mortality being a unique human quality. The connection seems to be made as a result of (a) the cessation of oestrus in humans and (b) the adoption of an upright posture, necessitating anal cleansing. The nature of feces is associated with decomposition; it is also associated with the genitals. Fears about incest also encourage the idea that sex is dirty, and thus there is an association made between sex-feces-death-incest; thus the transition to adulthood is seen as extremely dangerous. The theories of Bettelyheim and Whiting are examined in the light of these insights and examples taken from several areas. There is a suggestion that the cessation of oestrus might have made a long postpartum taboo on sex adaptively important in the absence of the adequate weaning foods. The causes and effects of the rites among boys and girls are examined and the suggestion made that one of the major effects is to establish a pattern of sex roles thought correct by particular cultures.