Inis Beag (Irish: "Little Island") is a remote island off the coast of Connemara, Ireland, near the Aran Islands. It contains a small, isolated Irish-speaking Catholic community which cultural anthropologist John Cowan Messenger observed in his study "Sex and Repression in an Irish Folk Community". During the period of his study between 1958 and 1966, Inis Beag supported a population of around 350, mostly living by subsistence farming and fishing. The name "Inis Beag" is a name made up by researchers to protect the privacy of the island's people. Its true identity is Inisheer.