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I'm looking for a word that would be roughly equivalent to "the process of becoming a taboo," specifically in the context of film/literary criticism, where the "taboomanization" of sexuality serves as a common literary theme in the type of fiction I'm writing about.

Callithumpian
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crasic
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4 Answers4

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tabooization is used:

tabooization

Here is a random example from The International Politics of Sport in the Twentieth Century By James Riordan, Arnd Krüger:

Along with it arose a strong 'tabooization' of sexual themes generally known as Victorianism.

gbutters
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Probably "demonization" is the closest we've got. When Captain Cook brought the word "tabu" back from Polynesia, it caught on quickly in English because it's a darned useful term. Another term is "Bowdlerization," which refers to the act of deleting obscene or forbidden material in text, and often has literary applications.

The Raven
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  • although demonization is not quite the same, Bowdlerization is definitely placed in the "future use" and "pull out at parties" pile – crasic Apr 20 '11 at 15:22
  • Whoever's dishing out the downvotes is cordially invited to explain why. – The Raven Apr 21 '11 at 00:56
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I would go with demonization, as suggested by The Raven. Otherwise, a less marked word referring to the process could be proscription (from the meaning of proscribe that is synonymous to condemn).

F'x
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I found a German word, but it translates back to "to make taboo". I see phrases of "becoming taboo", but no particular word.

foggyone
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