People and Taboos

For a very long time, language has been considered to have special powers over
reality; in fact, there have been many linguistics throughout the history of humanity who have
tried to explain the impact that language has in the way people experience the world. As
words can create or destroy, most people of all cultures pay careful attention to the use of
them; especially those which can cause harm or discomfort to others. The same seems to have
happened to ancient people who chose carefully the words in their speeches or avoided them,
often recurring to special words instead (Gao, 2013). These special words are called
euphemisms, and are used to “soften or conceal” an uncomfortable topic (Chi & Hao, 2013).
On the contrary, the refusal to use words referring to those topics is considered as taboo
language. Nonetheless, although the censoring of language is common in every culture, in
the present-day not all individuals behave in the same way towards taboo words. That
difference of behaviour towards the avoidance or use of taboo language is determined by
some aspects of the speaker such as gender, age, and socio-economic status.

In our society, one of the factors that influences to a large extent the avoidance of
taboo words is the gender of the speaker. When comparing male and female speech, most
people agree that women are more prone to make use of euphemism regarding obscene
words. According to Jay (1992) in Allan and Burridge (2006), men swear and use stronger
obscenities around three times more often, while women try to avoid those words by using
euphemism such as “darn it” and “shucks”. In addition to the agreement mentioned before,
women are more likely to avoid sexual topics or to address them in a more formal
perspective. Sutton-Smith and Abrams (1978) mentioned in Simkins and Rinck (1982) stated
that this happens because of the influence that parents’ attitudes have over children, being
boys encouraged to use sex colloquial expressions, and girls taught to avoid them since they
are not proper for ladies. In brief, the men’s vocabulary is filled with words that the society
tolerates, but when coming from a woman generate a reaction of disapproval and rejection.

There is a great assertion which states that teenagers are more susceptible to taboos
than adults, being age an incidental factor. For a long time, menstruation has been a topic
secretly kept, and for both boys and girls of early ages, it is a taboo. In a study conducted in
Australia by Peranovic and Bentley (2016), the majority of respondents, who were men,
argued that menstruation was a topic poorly addressed, and it was common for them to be
excluded in their houses and at school from conversations related with this “issue”; one
respondent said that: “We as children were told that it was a ‘dirty time’ for women” (p. 7).
Therefore, they had to figure out by themselves what menstruation was. As teenagers grow
up and get more information, menstruation becomes less a taboo. However, there are still
some euphemisms to refer to menstruation as in the case of Colombian teenagers, who use
colloquial words such as “la visita”, “la regla” and “Andrés”. Finally, the study also showed
that male adults are more open to talk about this topic since it is an important subject within
an intimate relationship. To conclude, there are some topics that are taboo because of the lack
of knowledge, but while the person grow up and gets more awareness, the taboo starts to
disappear.

Last but not least, the selection of taboo words may vary depending on the socio-
economic status of the speaker. People with a low income and living in poor conditions are
more open-minded, and as a result they do not consider certain topics as taboos (Qanbar,
2011). According to Mesthrie (2011), the houses of the people living in such conditions
usually are of small size; for this reason, children raised in those circumstances have to
witness their parents’ sexual activities. Additionally, the author stated that people who come
from rural areas have often witnessed the intercourse of animals. The constant exposure to
such activities leads the individuals to lose the feeling of shame to talk about this taboos in
public. To sum up, the experiences that people have may interfere in taboo language, and
such experiences are sometimes determined by the socio-economic status.

In conclusion, taboos and euphemisms are part of people’s daily life and the use of
these determine not only the way in which they conceive the world, but their acceptance in
the society. People usually feel uncomfortable and judge others when they talk about a taboo
topic without any censure; however, they do not take into account the others’ background and
the reasons why they act like that. Gender, age, and socio-economic status are some of the
affecting factors in the speakers’ selection or avoidance of taboo words. As a final thought,
people must be aware that words that can be offensive and unpleasant for them, may not have
the same impact in others. Learning about other cultures and being open-minded can lead to
the acceptance and respect of others’ perception of the world and the use, or not, of taboos in
their speeches.

References

Allan, K., & Burridge, K. (2006). Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language.
New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chi, R., & Hao, Y. (2013). Euphemism From Sociolinguistics Perspective. Studies in
Sociology of Science, 4(4), 45-48. doi:10.3968/j.sss.1923018420130404.C613

Gao, C. (2013). A Sociolinguistic Study of English Taboo Language. Theory and Practice in
Language Studies, 3(12), 2310-2314. doi:10.4304/tpls.3.12.2310-2314

Mesthrie, R. (2001). Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd.

Peranovic, T., & Bentley, B. (2016). Men and Menstruation: A Qualitative Exploration of
 Beliefs, Attitudes and Experiences. Sex Roles, 1-12. doi:10.1007/s11199-016-0701-3

Qanbar, N. (2011). A Sociolinguistic Study of The linguistic Taboos in the Yemeni Society.
The Modern Journal of applied Linguistics, 3(2), 86-104.

Simkins, L., & Rinck, C. (1982). Male and Female Sexual Vocabulary in Different
Interpersonal Contexts. The Journal of Sex Research, 18(2), 160-172.