I n stressirrg the soc-ial advantages of the familial incest taboo, most explanatiorrs of the taboo ignore the faci that it makes marriage !lie enetny of the family. The slranger intruded by marriage ofien poses a threat io exisring domestic relationships. l h e ChineAe solution 10 this problem is to circumvent the taboo by adopting female children ivho are raised as wives for their foster parenis' SONS. The family choosing this form of marriage sacrifices prestige and dependable affinal ties, but by socializing their 0,i-n Jaiigli fen-inlaw they preserve doniestic harmoriy. The faci that many Chinese arrange marriages within ihe family as a means of preserving the family suggests that widely nccepied explanations of ihe incesi iaboo exaggerate the dangers of incest and ignore the dangers o f the taboo.

A preliminary study of household registration records from Taiwan supports Edward Westermarck's contention that intimate childhood association promotes sexual aversion. Women who are forced to marry a childhood associate bear fewer children than those who marry a stranger. They are also more likely to leave their husband by divorce or avoid him in favor o f other men. This evidence suggests that the incest taboo does not prohibit what men's feelings incline them to do, as Westermarck's critics argue, but that it is instead an expression of these feelings, socially unnecessary but psychologically inevitable. [incest taboo, law, China, Taiwan]

No abstract

In recent publications James Lee, Wang Feng, Cameron Campbell, and Zhongwei Zhao argue-contrary to what has long been the view of most sinologists-that people in late imperial China deliberately controlled their fertility through a combination of late starting, early stopping, and long spacing. The present article challenges this argument and the data offered in its support. It attempts to show that though they did not want as many children as possible, most Chinese couples did want to raise as many sons as possible. What is interpreted by the revisionists as evidence of birth control is better understood as evidence of poverty. Copyright 2001 by The Population Council, Inc..

Wherens most socwlogud and biological explanalions o j the incest taboo assume that inlimate childhood associatwn enhances sexual attraction, most psychlogual explanations assume thal such association depresses it. In northern Taiwan one of several forms of marriage involves the introductwn of the bride into her future husband's home as an infant; bride and groom are then raised as members of the same family, experiencing a prolonged period of intimate association. The responses o j these couples to marriage and s e d relatwns support the psychological view of the effects of intimate association on sexual atlraction and thereby challenge the basis of most sociological and biological explanations of the incest taboo.