Jak wyleczyć tabu?

Yes, taboos are a disease of the 20th century. Time for truth, not falsehood. The operation of taboos from the era of magical thinking caused a number of linguistic changes, especially in terms of the meaning of words and phraseological relationships. The taboo is still manifested in our linguistic etiquette and in the awareness of uncomfortable, indecent phrases calling socially unrecognized or unacceptable phenomena, such as transvestism, or those that are formidable, such as AIDS. You don't see some people and say about the other gay, "you know, I got this thing, well, what we're dying for," said Freddy Mercury to his teammates.
In order to avoid the use of a taboo word, the speaker uses replacement words or expressions, i.e. euphemisms. We do not like them, and yet, when we are to talk about unusual things or enchanted by, for example, the institution of the church, we lower our voices or avoid the presence of children. We constantly produce taboos ourselves.

It's good that you take up this problem.

More and more often in the media I see educational campaigns that try to tame certain concepts such as domestic violence, depression or exclusion and menstrual poverty. These are much needed actions. People are used to not talking, or even thinking, about embarrassing or difficult matters, and that does not make them cease to exist. I did not think that I would live to see the topic of women's period on national television. She herself was not aware of some of the problems faced by girls from poor families, but one campaign was enough for me to look at them differently.

On the other hand, I can see that not every campaign has a positive response. I remember the saddest example from France. When the images of smiling children with Down syndrome were shown in the media, protests from pro-abortion groups appeared immediately. According to them, the campaign was harmful because it could cause sadness among those women who had had abortions in the past precisely because of suspected trisomy of chromosome 21 in a child. The effect of the protests was such that the campaign ended immediately. Thus, the attempt to change the attitude of society towards these children turned out to be less important than the well-being of some women. Do we have the right to compare these two matters at all? And which taboo was stronger: about eugenic abortion or the existence of happy children with disabilities? Does it make any sense to fight one taboo with another?

I do not know the answer to these questions today, but one thing is certain, there is still a lot of work ahead of us.

Unfortunately, it all stemmed from the fact that, long ago, certain words were forbidden, shrouded in secrecy, or formidable terror. This is how the taboo phenomenon was born, i.e. the belief in the mystical relationship of the name with its designate. It was more or less irrational that, for example, the word death spoken three times a day could bring death to a person. The word "schizophrenic" was spoken in a lower voice, with the word "love" the woman blushed and the word "satan" was not spoken at all, just in case. It was different in different cultures. Because other items, rituals, and meanings were more tactile or less tactile. Sex in Victorian England had virtually no evangelical law of existence, doctors in the early 20th century avoided the topic as much as they could, and women with higher libido were treated with electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatric hospitals.

I have the impression that taboo topics have always existed, only that they differed in subject matter and scope depending on the culture and the level of development of a given society. Partly they made sense, e.g. the prohibition of incest or the murder of a member of the community, but more often they were the result of past events incomprehensible to us and the lack of basic knowledge, e.g. avoiding touching a menstruating woman. Taboos were usually associated with religion, because thanks to this, a seemingly ordinary ban gained the power of the sacred, and the mystical higher power was not an equal partner in discussing its meaning.

In my opinion, we are currently dealing with topics that should not be discussed, rather than with a religious prohibition. Most often it concerns sex, money, mental illness, and in some groups also politics and religion. A person who decides to break the generally accepted rules may encounter misunderstanding, social ostracism or, in extreme cases, be accused of using hate speech or hurting other people's feelings. We can say that taboo has been turned into political correctness, and I am not convinced that such a change will be good for us. To me, it's just the new face of taboo.

So what if we avoid the word homosexual less and less, if in some circles and media it is even forbidden to speak about people of a certain orientation otherwise than well, even when they are suspected of committing a crime? And every remark directed at them is perceived as an attack? On the other hand, anything can be said and written about a heterosexual, white and well-to-do man.

We also have a problem with certain nationalities or (especially in the US) with skin color. Others try not to offend them, even when they behave in a completely unacceptable way, because they are afraid of legal consequences. Compared to this, the problem of avoiding the words vagina or schizophrenia in public is minor, though I do not claim to be insignificant.

There will always be words and topics that some people prefer not to talk about. We have different sensitivities and upbringing. So I don't think it will ever change.

Hello, the ability to communicate, if not nurtured and developed, disappears. This is happening in the present world. The Polish language has been greatly simplified. People do not see value in naming things, phenomena, situations by their proper names. Language masking makes it easier to mask the situation. A simple message is conducive to solutions, and people do not strive for solutions, but only to generate more problems.

Talk about these things directly. Show them to the world. For example, I once ran a motivational and image project for women with Down Syndrome. I found sponsors, training, volunteers. I wanted to show that ladies with Down Syndrome are the same women as fully healthy people, not little girls. They also want to hear about motivation, self-confidence, about their worth, putting on make-up, taking care of themselves... Przemek Kossakowski's program was such a breakthrough on the big screen. When it comes to death, e.g. in Kashubia, the tradition of Empty Nights has been preserved, i.e. a night vigil by the coffin with the deceased. Unfortunately, this custom is dying out.

Aby wyleczyć tabu, musimy zacząć od otwartej i uczciwej rozmowy na temat wszystkich zakazanych lub trudnych tematów. Musimy zacząć od zmiany naszych postaw i przekonać się, dlaczego te tematy są dla nas tak trudne. Musimy również być otwarci na różnorodność i akceptować innych takimi, jakimi są. Należy również promować edukację i świadomość na temat tabu, aby zmienić społeczne normy i zachęcić ludzi do otwartej komunikacji. W ten sposób uwolnimy świat od niezdrowych zachowań i przekonań.