Is Necrophilia Wrong?
posted by veedubya on Jan 24, 2012 - 248 comments

Tony Washington, an NFL prospect, has a black mark on his record. At the age of 16, he was convicted of incest for sleeping with his then 15 year old sister, and forced to register as a sex offender. Washington feels this is the reason he is being ostracized by the NFL.
posted by reenum on Aug 27, 2010 - 122 comments

"By 'grawlixes', I mean icons representing unprintable words, occurring within speech balloons belonging to characters who are agitated." – Gwillim Law. Via Ben Zimmer's post at Language Log on Obscenicons a century ago.
posted by Stan Carey on Jul 17, 2010 - 18 comments

The Psychology of the Taboo Trade-Off. A set of studies about issues that are considered "sacred" that can have an effect on the trade-offs involved in foreign policy. (via) [more inside]
posted by charred husk on Mar 19, 2010 - 12 comments

After decades of selling tampons and "sanitary products" with ads containing nebulous, euphemistic images and language, Kotex launched a new product line, 'U by Kotex' and a 'Declaration of Real Talk Campaign' to encourage girls and women to speak about menstruation without embarrassment. Ironically, their ad was rejected by the major US television networks for mentioning the word 'vagina'. Here's the 'safe for the viewing public' version. / YT channel. [more inside]
posted by zarq on Mar 18, 2010 - 193 comments

The SF Signal Mind Meld feature poses science fiction related questions to a number of SF luminaries and the scientist, science writer or blogger. Subjects have included the best women writers in SF, taboo topics in SF, underated authors and the most controversial SF novels of the past and present. The also cover lighter topics, such the role of media tie-ins, how Battlestar Galactica could have ended better (bonus Geoff Ryman) and the realistic (or otherwise) use of science on TV SF shows.
posted by Artw on May 6, 2009 - 17 comments

If the 8-bit Tarot isn't low-tech enough for you, the Aecletic Mini Tarot Deck makes it look downright HD in comparison! May induce flashbacks of Taboo: The Sixth Sense, the NES' infamous Tarot simulator.
posted by hermitosis on Apr 15, 2009 - 19 comments

I had sex with my brother but I don't feel guilty. An interesting article in The Times written by a woman who'd had a sexual relationship with her brother that started during their teenage years and continued through to their twenties. Many societies have an incest taboo, but anthropologists have differing views as to how the taboo arose. Claude Lévi-Strauss believed it to have arisen as a method to encourage the practice of marriage outside of one's immediate social group, so that unrelated households or lineages would form relationships through marriage, thus strengthening social solidarity.
posted by electricinca on Jul 15, 2008 - 131 comments

Chef Kazuki Yamamoto will cook just about anything. Casting aside all concern for the law, he prepares exotic dishes for celebrities and the ultra-rich. No species is off limits; his dishes have included penguin, walrus, whale, seal, dolphin, hippo, rhino, sea lion, chimpanzee, gorilla, monkey, brown bear, gazelle, giraffe, zebra, mountain lion, sea turtle, gila monster, ferruginous pygmy owl, bighorn sheep, Bichon Frise, and (it is claimed) human.
posted by Rhomboid on May 13, 2006 - 44 comments

Born To Rot. Living people are often deeply disturbed by dead people. Particularly when those dead people have only recently died and are rotting. But what’s the big deal? Are rotting things intrinsically gross? Why does it disturb us so? Is decomposition helpful in attaining greater spirituality, or is it proof of a Godless universe? [many images linked NSFW]
posted by stinkycheese on Apr 21, 2006 - 30 comments

The Inequality Taboo - Charles Murray defends his ideas, published in the controversial book The Bell Curve.
posted by Gyan on Sep 5, 2005 - 71 comments

Mexican Man Kills, Cooks and Eats His Lover
Cannibalism (Wiki) is chic. With the consensual cannibalism of Armin Meiwes and a psychosexual facet as well as arguments about the religious aspects as well as how religion stopped cannibalism along with some tips, "The natives told Father Zumbohm that the fingers and toes were the choicest morsels." And now even a Donner Party Cookbook (no, no recipes on how to serve man). Can cannibalism be considered as taboo as it once was?

Of course, there are bound to be humorous sites, movies and even a musical. And heck, why not even a Letterman Top Ten?
posted by fenriq on Dec 16, 2004 - 54 comments

What You Can't Say.
posted by weston on Jan 4, 2004 - 51 comments

"What is most disturbing about these people is their banality, their normalness... It's the fact that these people are chatting and they are horribly normal, everyday people, yet they are capable of these acts of unimaginable savagery."

Tired of politics and Survivor 2? Let's talk about real cannibalism!
posted by lia on Feb 17, 2001 - 6 comments