The kibbutz and the sim-pua: fooling mother nature

The kibbutz and the sim-pua: fooling mother nature

Titre de l'ensemble: Incest

This chapter discusses two cases of the kibbutz and the sim-pua. The cases of the kibbutz and the sim-pua represent two social situations in which people behave as though they were members of a family, but are not. In each case, sexual relations between members are avoided, in spite of the fact that nobody forbids such relations. On the contrary, such relations are normatively favored in both societies. Each of the two cultures is totally independent. The kibbutz is a modern, planned, and collectivistic community in Israel. The sim-pua is cultivated in a traditional peasant society in Taiwan. The probability of cultural diffusion is practically nil. A social arrangement completely different from that of the kibbutz provides another “natural experiment” yielding evidence for the Westermarckian hypothesis explaining the avoidance of sibling incest. As parental coercion usually overcomes the couple's reluctance and the couple eventually assumes marital life, the lack of sexual attraction—Wolf hypothesized—will result in frequent extramarital relations.