Taboos In American Culture

Have you ever heard or been told the phrase ‘be unique’? Being unique means being different from everyone else. Human beings are unique because they differ from one another by their values, beliefs, ideology, norms, language, etc., however, we are not born with these. As individuals, we acquire them through our culture. Our culture is defined by the place and surroundings we grow up in. For example, I currently live in The U.S and I was born here but, I was raised in Mexico, therefore, I have a mix of both cultures. The American culture is notoriously distinct from the Mexican culture. American society has respective folkways, mores, and taboos that are viewed differently in other countries, and have been changing over the generations.

Folkways

These activities are known as taboos. Breaking them is extremely criticised by the whole society. However, taboos vary from country to country. One of the most popular examples of taboos is polygamy.

In our society, polygamy is rigorously forbidden, it is illegal in all the fifty states of our country. It is extremely important to keep it this way. People should not have more than one partner, let alone legal children from different people. Even back in the day, this was illegal and I highly doubt that someday it is going to change. There is no way that The U.S culture accepts polygamy as a normal thing. As a matter of fact, I would expect it to be the other way around, cultures acquiring our taboos and ending polygamy.

Throughout the years taboos have changed. However, even if nudity is very common nowadays, it is still somehow a taboo. You would not expect to see a shirtless woman walking down the main street. This might fall as a crime under ‘disturbing the peace’. This is a very controversial topic, some people argue that walking shirtless is a form of ‘free speech’. I agree with them, yet, for my grandmother and my mother, as Catholics, this is