AN ADDITIONAL FACET OF THE INCEST TABOO - A PROTECTION OF THE MATING-STRATEGY TEMPLATE

It is suggested that sexual intercourse between adult males and girls tends to distort an inherent mating-strategy template: female choice o f mating partner. The distortion seems to have long-range consequences in the form of myriad psychopathologies, which, in turn, reduce the a fflicted individuals' chances for normative marriage and parenting pro files. In addition, a similar dynamic would hypothetically result from adult-male to boy incest. It is suggested that to minimize the chance s of adult-child sexual intercourse, incest taboos have historically b een reinforced and extended to nonparental adults, especially men, bey ond the immediate nuclear family.