50/100 Words
Sacred and Forbidden
Thrifty Words 100 #16 and 50 #37: Taboo
Taboo. The word itself has come to mean many things. It is a perfume. It is a television show. It means forbidden, unacceptable, sacred.
I grew up knowing taboo first in the sacred sense. In Polynesian society, sacred items, food, and people could be considered tabu. These items were to be left alone. It was forbidden to touch them, approach them, and in some instances even to talk about them.
As I got older and well, wilder, I came to know the concept of taboo as unacceptable. Mom said smoking was taboo, kissing boys or girls before a certain age was taboo. It seemed most of my behavior was, in her mind taboo. I wasn’t the easiest child to raise.
This week, I got to thinking about the word taboo when I issued our second essay contest challenge: racism in feminism. 4 days into the contest, which is for a prize of $10.00, and not a single essay has been entered.
I think it is because I chose 2 topics that may be too deep or too sacred for people to talk about. White people feel uncomfortable talking about racism (get over it, folks, this is a discussion we must have). Male people feel uncomfortable talking about feminism (get over it, dudes, this is a discussion we must have). Combine the two and all you hear is crickets.
Or, maybe, everybody is working super hard on their essay entries and will wait until the last minute to submit them.
This got me thinking about all the people who are afraid of giving their actual opinions because they might get canceled or yelled at or something. Any topic of real substance is taboo for them. On the other hand, many taboo topics are being shouted from the mountain tops (chatrooms). Incels love to shout about their entitlement. NAMBLA members are shouting for “equal rights” under the law. White supremacists are out and proud and hold congressional seats.
What was once taboo seems to have become a point of pride in many communities. Why then, is it so hard to talk about racism, feminism, and intersectionality?
For this week’s Thrifty Words Challenge: Taboo you must write exactly 50 or exactly 100 words on whatever springs to your mind when you think of taboo.
Is there a particular subject you find taboo? Are certain items so sacred to you they must not be approached? Do you really like the perfume? Have you seen the TV show? What is the difference between being taboo and being shunned?
Taboo: 50 or 100 words. GO!
Please choose either the 50-word or 100-word challenge, not both. See the guidelines for your chosen challenge below.
Remember, in order to be considered for the challenge, you need to write exactly 100 or 50 words (contractions such as ‘you’ll’ and ‘y’all’ count as one, as do articles ‘a’ and ‘the’ and all 23 auxiliary verbs ‘am’ ‘is’ ‘are’ etc. Hyphenated words count as one word.) The editors reserve the right to add or remove words to ensure the exact word count. Please keep an eye on your tags as laid out in the submission guidelines above.
Please use the kicker 100 WORDS or 50 WORDS and ‘Thrifty Words 100 Challenge #16: Taboo or ‘Fifty Word Challenge #37: Taboo’ as your subtitle and submit by 6:00 pm.EST on Friday, 14th May. All stories submitted by the deadline will be released the following morning in the weekly roundup.
Need some more inspiration? Check out Marla Bishop’s roundup of last week’s challenge.
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