Definitions HQ

The Incest taboo (n.) tells ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠you whom not to marry, but nothing follows from it about what form your kinship bonds must take.

The Incest taboo (n.) believed ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠to be efficacious clears a social space in which incest reproduces itself without proscription.

The Incest taboo (n.) produces ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the masculine subject as a fictive construction and forces an infinite displacement of desire.

The Incest taboo (n.) interests ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠less for what it forbids than for the forms of kinship it breeds and legitimates as the normal solutions to the oedipal crisis.

The Incest taboo (n.) does ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not simply prohibit incest; it sustains and cultivates incest as the necessary specter of social dissolution without which social bonds cannot emerge.

The Incest taboo (n.) creates ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠and sustains the desire for mother or father as well as its compulsory displacement — the law that prohibits the union is the selfsame law that invites it.

The Incest taboo (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠come after the taboo against homosexuality, which creates the heterosexual dispositions that make the Oedipal conflict possible at all.

The Incest taboo (n.) represses ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠no primary dispositions; it creates the distinction between primary and secondary dispositions to underwrite legitimate heterosexuality against illegitimate homosexuality.