The fact of the extreme form being taboo is irrelevant to the question of how common even the extreme form is, let alone how common lesser forms are. Adultery and premarital sex have been taboo - and common - in most human societies for approximately as long as the concept of marriage has existed.GaySailors wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2017 12:03 amI'm not so sure I agree, definitely not with the second statement.
On the second, that's a pretty flat no. Both preferences are highly taboo though not illegal (at least not in human land). Unless you're a wolf I suppose.
But I would add that I think you're seeing a two- or three-position switch where I'm seeing multi-dimensional gradients. (Why I see multi-dimensional gradients, and details of the dimensions, I think I've covered in this forum and aren't really needed in this particular thread.) Attraction to other people need not reach the "want to have sex with him/her" level, to exist. And there are strong evolutionary advantages, in social species, to having a certain amount of attraction to people of the sort you'll be working with in your normal daily activities.
(Although I'd grant that maybe I should have specified "social species with sex-based division of labor".)
(And dangit, my web browser has again decided that I'm secretly British, and wants a u in "labor". One moment... okay, browser scolded.)