Incest taboos and menstruation prohibitions both express man’s fear of feminine fertility

Evidence

Since the feminine principle is then considered as reaching its highest power, it is feared that it would triumph over the male principle in intimate contact. Less specifically, man shies away from finding the mother’s feared essence in the woman he possesses; he works at dissociating these two aspects of femininity: that explains why incest is prohibited by exogamy or more modern forms and is a universal law; that explains why man distances himself from woman sexually when she is particularly destined for her reproductive role: during her period, when she is pregnant, or when she is nursing. Not only does the Oedipus complex—whose description, incidentally, has to be revised—not contradict this attitude: on the contrary, it even implies it. Man guards himself against woman to the extent that she is the confused source of the world and disorder become organic. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 339

Categorization

• XREF: Beauvoir’s reworking of the Oedipus complex against Freud connects to her existentialist revision of psychoanalytic categories elsewhere in the book. — connects to: The incest taboo exists so women can circulate as instruments of exchange between clans — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 176; Virginity myths encode male ambivalence between fear and desire of the feminine — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 342; Women’s fertility makes them seem dangerously sacred while male sexuality is profane. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 353 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Menstrual taboos persist despite evidence too feeble to justify them #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 420
• Reproductive bodies are feared as engines of demographic change. #expands (0.72)