Levirate Marriage: Widowhood, Kinship, and Family Continuity
Levirate marriage is a custom in which a widow marries her deceased husband’s brother or another male relative, often for family continuity, support, or inheritance reasons.
Sororate Marriage: Widowhood, Kinship, and Family Continuity
Sororate marriage is a custom in which a widower marries his deceased wife’s sister or another female relative, often to preserve family ties, childcare, or kinship obligations.
Ghost Marriage: Posthumous Marriage, Ritual, and Family Tradition
Ghost marriage is a cultural or ritual marriage involving one or more deceased people, often connected to family lineage, ancestor beliefs, inheritance, or social tradition.
Sexual Honor Code: Reputation, Gender, Morality, and Sexual Control
A sexual honor code links sexual behavior, modesty, virginity, fidelity, or partner choice with personal or family reputation and social standing.
Sexual Double Standard: Unequal Gender Rules About Sex
A sexual double standard occurs when similar sexual behavior is judged differently according to gender, often creating unequal expectations about desire, virginity, dating, and sexual reputation.
Compulsory Heterosexuality: Social Pressure, Comphet, and Sexual Identity
Compulsory heterosexuality is the social pressure to treat heterosexual attraction and relationships as universal, natural, or required, even when a person’s actual orientation differs.
Ritual Purity: Religion, Sexuality, Gender, and Ceremonial Cleanliness
Ritual purity is a religious or cultural state of ceremonial cleanliness that may regulate worship, sexuality, menstruation, childbirth, bodily fluids, and sacred participation.
Sexual Mores: Social Customs, Morality, and Sexual Norms
Sexual mores are strongly held social and moral expectations that shape attitudes toward sex, relationships, marriage, modesty, gender roles, and sexual expression.
Courtship Ritual: Romantic Customs, Dating, and Relationship Formation
A courtship ritual is a customary pattern of behavior used to express romantic interest and develop a relationship, often shaped by culture, gender roles, family, and social expectations.
Sexual Taboo System: Culture, Sexual Norms, and Social Control
A sexual taboo system is a network of cultural, moral, religious, and social rules that define certain sexual behaviors, identities, or topics as forbidden or shameful.