The incest taboo exists so women can circulate as instruments of exchange between clans

Evidence

In Lévi-Strauss’s thesis already cited, there is, in a slightly different form, a confirmation of this idea. What comes out of this study is that the prohibition of incest is in no way the primal factor underlying exogamy; but it reflects the positive desire for exogamy in a negative form. There is no intrinsic reason that it be improper for a woman to have intercourse with men in her clan; but it is socially useful that she be part of the goods by which each clan, instead of closing in on itself, establishes a reciprocal relationship with another clan: “Exogamy has a value less negative than positive … it prohibits endogamous marriage … certainly not because a biological danger is attached to consanguineous marriage, but because exogamous marriage results in a social benefit.” The group should not for its own private purposes consume women who constitute one of its possessions, but should use them as an instrument of communication; if marriage with a woman of the same clan is forbidden, “the sole reason is that she is same whereas she must (and therefore can) become other … the same women that were originally offered can be exchanged in return. All that is necessary on either side is the sign of otherness, which is the outcome of a certain position in a structure and not of any innate characteristic.” — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 176

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes ‘otherness’ as positional — a structural outcome, not an innate trait — which is central to Beauvoir’s whole analytical apparatus.
• XREF: Connects to Lévi-Strauss’s kinship theory as read in anthropology courses; also echoes Gayle Rubin’s ‘traffic in women’ reading of this exact passage. — connects to: Biblical-era women were property bound to male kin and taboo-burdened; Incest taboos and menstruation prohibitions both express man’s fear of feminine fertility — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 339
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that ‘otherness’ is a position in a structure rather than an innate characteristic is a paradigm-defining move that grounds the entire existentialist-feminist analysis.

Broader Connections

• Biblical-era women were property bound to male kin and taboo-burdened #corroborates (0.78)
• Incest taboos and menstruation prohibitions both express man’s fear of feminine fertility #contradicts (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 339