cient history. We not only define ourselves and our own culture by
             what we categorize as food and not-food (for example) but we also define
             those who do not belong to our culture as those who do not share the same
             A taboo is simply something that should not be done in a particular
             culture and that carries punishment for those who do it. There is a range
             of seriousness in taboos: It is (for example) legal to eat horse flesh in
             Britain. Doing so may mean that your neighbors start avoiding you, but it
             does not mean that you will be arrested. However, eating human flesh will
             both mean that your neighbors will turn away from you in disgust and that
             you will be arrested; some taboos are more fundamental to a culture. Those
             people who break taboos - who eat horse or human, who have sex with their
             siblings, who show up at their job on heroin - are not only sanctioned in
             more or less strict ways by their cultures, but they are also considered to
             be dangerous by other members of their cultural group. They have become
             ...