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In his book Totem and Taboo, Sigmund Freud presents a dramatic explanation for
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the origin of the incest taboo. According to Freud, in the earliest stage of human
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society, a powerful male, the father, dominated small groups and monopolized all
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females, including daughters and mothers. As the young males matured, the father drove them away
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to prevent them from sharing his females. Eventually, the expelled brothers joined
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forces, killed and ate the father, but did not divide his women among themselves as planned
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Instead, they pledged to seek mates elsewhere and passed on this pledge to future generations
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This gave rise to the incest taboo and the institution of exogamy
