Abstract
THIS survey of the institutions connected with sexual life and the family falls into three sections. In the biological section Dr. M. M. Knight gives a lucid summary of recent work on sex, drawing the conclusion that the difference between the sexes is quantitative rather than qualitative. In the second section Dr. Iva Peters surveys the ethnological evidence for the taboo of women, and concludes that the modern form of monogamous marriage is essentially a survival of a compromise between man's erotic desires and his fears of woman's mana, which has produced an “ideal woman,” a type out of harmony with modern developments. This is perhaps the least satisfactory of the three sections. By dwelling too exclusively on taboo and its results it ignores. equally important factors in the various social complexes which influence the institution of the family. Dr. Phyllis Blanchard, in dealing with the psychological side of the question, has provided the most stimulating section Of the book. By a skilful analysis she places before her readers the chief elements which are responsible for disharmony in modern marriage and the causes which, partly through the increased social activities and individualism of women, are bringing about the exclusion of a large body of the female population from participation in carrying on the race.
Taboo and Genetics: A Study of the Biological, Sociological, and Psychological Foundation of the Family.
By Dr. M. M. Knight Dr. Iva L. Peters Dr. Phyllis Blanchard. Pp. xv + 255. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd.; New York: Moffat, Yard, and Co., 1921.) 10s. 6d. net.
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Taboo and Genetics: A Study of the Biological, Sociological, and Psychological Foundation of the Family . Nature 109, 235 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109235a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109235a0