Sex Taboo Why?

I was having a conversation on the taboo nature of sex and why is it taboo with TOTJO member proteus.

We were close to the end of our discussion when I asked?
"Who told Adam and Eve they were naked?"
"relgions"
His response was, "a monotheistic god"

This post is a response to that statement. There were other things said before and after. My focus here is proteus' response, "that God told adam and eve they were naked."

Here is what the bible says:

Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

Gen 3:9 ¶ And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?

Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.

Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

But according to these verses it was GOD asking Adam and Eve who told them they were naked? For no where in these verses does it show GOD telling them that they were naked. Instead they knew that they were. What changed between the two of them?

The thing that changed was that they partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil which was one of two major trees mentioned. The other tree mentioned is the tree of life.

One thing for certain is that after eating of the tree is that Adam and Eve's awareness of self is shown in that they realized that they were naked.

So is something being taboo a mark of the beginning of awareness about it? And if so, why is it that the simple differences between man and woman are still taboo to this very day? Have we not grown at all?

Here is another question that arises due to the video series by campbell. Could this whole scenario about them understanding that they were naked be a myth that is trying to explain something much more complex in nature?

They eat and gain knowledge. Their eyes are opened. They are no longer blinded in the ways of good and evil. They gain a direct understanding of what good and evil is. They both become beings of duality. They are not longer the single face, one with the divine. They have become the two sides the male and female, to know good and evil, to hate and love, to desire and to refrain. They of their own selves became the taboo. To know the duality of something and see a separation creates within the mind of that person a taboo.

Even the word taboo itself shows what I am referring to. The term meant consecrated, forbidden, unclean, or cursed. Something that was prohibited, or disallowed. But in other meanings it meant something that was sacred or holy.

So when Adam and Eve ate, they partook of something that God deemed sacred and holy. Not that it was an act of evil that they did, but it was an act of disobedience that they committed. By partaking of that fruit they basically were saying we are aware of ourselves enough to judge morality on our own.

The hiding from God indicates a separation from God. A cutting away from God. They chose to hide themselves from God. They did not wish to be seen and so hid from God.

So we move from then to now. Sex is still taboo. To discuss religion is taboo. To discuss politics is taboo. To discuss differences in sexuality is very taboo, to the point that it makes so people so angry as to cause them to want to harm others.

So here is why I think sex is taboo. Sex is taboo because it is an intimate act that two people have with each other. This intimacy makes it an uncomfortable subject of discussion between what would be termed normal sex. Then add into the discussion bi-sexuality and homo-sexuality and trans-sexuality and now you have moved into the realm of SIN.

O how horrible of a subject as homo-sexuality. And then to even want to discuss it. Why discuss it, it is a SIN! (The Sarcasm is meant here.) And then those who can let gays be gay, tell them about people that want a sex-change and they are like oh my god, SIN! How could you want to do such a thing?

So in end, it is of my opinion that if something is taboo, it is mainly because it makes most people uncomfortable to discuss whatever the subject is.

Thank you for reading.
May the force be with you.

..."Can you see, then, what we are trying to do when we seek the positive and avoid the negative? We are trying to have yang without yin. We are trying to arrange a life game in which there is winning without losing. How can you arrange suc...h a state of affairs? If we are all equally happy, it is impossible to know that we are happy, because a certain flatness will come over everything. If we lifted up all valleys, and lowered all mountains, we should have the sort of destruction of the ecology that they are achieving with bulldozers in the Hollywood Hills, in ghastly fulfillment of the biblical prophecy that every valley should be exalted and every mountain laid low, and the rough places made even. But Isaiah also said something that Christians, at least, do not often quote, which is, 'I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create the darkness. I make peace and I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.' In spite of this, everybody is busy trying to be good, not realizing that we would not recognize saints unless there were sinners, or sages unless there were fools. There is no way out of that dilemma." ~Alan Watts...

taboo's are created out of the fear and misunderstanding.

The Bible is a written work by a religion that worships a monotheistic god, a religion which has rooted influences in disconnecting from the natural world and regarding it as bad (the snake and not eating from the tree of knowledge), one of the aspects of that includes applying certain shame on "being tempted by the flesh" in the notion that it is the devils work. One aspect of being devoted to something like Christianity for example is avoiding premarital sex, and even then, keeping it private to keep the talk of it from influencing improper arousal with those who are currently trying to abstain by command of the religion.

As they gained wisdom, they realized they could catch a cold?

Anyway. There are no taboos for me

@Proteus

But how would you then explain the fact that sexuality is a taboo in great many cultures, not only christianity?

And also, nudity no longer is a taboo in modern culture. Sexuality also is becoming more explicit.
But it used to be a strong taboo because of the way people react to it. let's be honest, it often makes people loose control and sexual context when aplied to many social related issues makes it go very, very bad. Imagine nude politics... as if they were not messed up enough

So it's basically human nature and functionality

Please do not get the wrong idea. I am not picking on Proteus. Actually Proteus tends to make me question why I say something the way I do. Why do I get so upset over certain things.

I once heard that there is 3 states of thought.
Opinion, Belief, Conviction.
Opinion is those that are easily changed.
Belief are those opinions not easily changed.
Conviction are those when they are questioned you get upset over.

So the very answer to my question of why I get upset is because I have a conviction about whatever subject it is that I am getting upset over.

I also heard once to question everything, and namely those things that you hold as convictions.

But again, please don't get me wrong. I am not picking on Proteus. He only created a lot of questions in my mind, and I wanted other opinions about what I was thinking about.

May the force be with you.

It's not just Christianity, its the elements that come with several beliefs/religions - Christianity being one example. As far as I'm concerned, its usually religious based. In my eyes, even the fact that most of the world is monogamous comes from religious influence over the evolution of man-kind.

As far as religion being taboo, there are several reasons from the classic "don't question the great kingdom of heaven" mindset to try to philosophically depower a very powerful religion, to the fact that religion can be so powerful at all that it drives entire wars. People would rather be careful and safe on such a dangerous subject.

As for politics, it seems probably the furthest from taboo to me, but in any case where it is, it seems to me like a case of lacking trust because of the corruptions that politics is so associated with, at least in america and many other countries across the world and its history. Another potentially dangerous topic depending on what you are talking about and who you are talking about it to.

I think taboos tend to be created out of ignorance, fear, or attachment to the status quo.

I'm of the opinion that taboos are predominantly unnecessary. People should be able to live as they like, so long as they aren't harming others (unless of course it is consensual harm a la BDSM.).

As for sexuality/nudity, I just want to put it out there that the societies with the biggest restrictions/taboos on sexuality, opposite gender interactions, and nudity, are also some of the societies with the biggest problems with sexual assault, misogyny, and harassment. Examples: Haredi society, Orthodox Muslim societies. Whereas if you look at the societies with few taboos on sexuality, an abundance of opposite gender interactions, and acceptance of nudity in a least a few public spheres (such as beaches), you'll see that they have a much better record of women's rights and safety. Example: most Scandinavian societies (Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, etc.). Granted correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, but it's interesting to note.


Oh, has anyone here watched the documentary series "Taboo"? Excellent series, highly recommend if you want to see how far your levels of tolerance extend xD.

Proteus wrote: It's not just Christianity, its the elements that come with several beliefs/religions - Christianity being one example. As far as I'm concerned, its usually religious based. In my eyes, even the fact that most of the world is monogamous comes from religious influence over the evolution of man-kind.

I'm not so sure about the monogamy thing. Men want to spread their seed. Women want men to be monagomous because we don't want to raise a child alone (usually). Anways, religion was (probably) created by man and if monogomy was spouted in any religious text then it's safe to assume monogamy was a trait certain groups of mankind found desirable before religion started to sway our viewpoints.

Then there are all those cases of other species being monogamous. Sometimes monogamy is a tool to help the species thrive. Whether or not mankind was meant to be...

I agree with Wendaline.
Monogamy has really nothing to do with religion. It's a desireable evolutionary trait. And there were/are many religions that propose the opposite.