Taboo Tantra Urologist Uterus Vagina Valsalva maneuver Virginity Vulva Taboo refers to practices that are generally prohibited because of religious or social pressures. This discussion is confined to sexual taboos, which are sexual practices that have been prohibited because of their perceived negative or harmful effects on society. Some sexual behaviors have been taboo throughout history and remain so today. Included in this category are masturbation, oral and anal sex, homosexuality, some forms of bondage, and sex with a menstruating woman. This change can in part be attributed to societies' gradual acceptance of what constitutes normal and harmless sexual experiences between consenting adults.
Incest is a behavior that is considered taboo and illegal in nearly all societies.
Definitions of what constitutes a family member vary, but ordinarily they include not only parents and siblings, but grandparents, uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews, step kin, and in most cases, first cousins. The incest taboo is thought to protect families and society from the negative effects of inbreeding, once common among European royalty and in some other societies. Masturbation has historically been a taboo, but is now viewed as normal by nearly all medical authorities and social scientists. Even the majority of people in our society now understand masturbation to be a common sexual behavior that is not harmful. A number of studies in the last several years indicate that attitudes toward masturbation have relaxed considerably compared to earlier times.