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T-File_14____November_18_2005
Mankind's Silent Consent of Incest
By Emoticon
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Incest, which we will define as sexual activity between a parent and a child, has \
plagued and fascinated mankind since before we began to write, yet remains a quagmire |
of intellectual uncertainty, at the expense of its victims. Conservative estimates by |
the American Humane Society place the number of sexually molested children in the |
United States to be at least 80,000 to 100,000 each year, with at least 25 percent of |
the perpetrators directly related to the victims (Herman; Hirschman 1). In fact, the |
occurrence of incest is likely even more common than statistics based on reported abuse |
would have you believe, as societal taboo (which exists in every known human society), |
among other forces, provides a heavy incentive to keep such incidents secret. This is |
not to say that incest is commonplace, but for it to occur on the scale that it does, |
which we may never accurately gauge, is still quite significant. Despite the |
perceived, virtually universal, taboo on incest, our societal failure to adequately |
address the issue is a form of silent, and largely subconscious, consent. <
The stigma regarding incest is understood quite differently by males and females in |
our entirely patriarchal world. This interpretational difference is often said to |
account for the overwhelming majority of known incest cases occurring between the |
father and daughter. <
One popular anthropological explanation of incest's place in the human condition is |
that it arises to keep competition between men over women at bay. This explanation is |
central to the work of Sigmund Freud. <
A boy is taught (perhaps not explicitly) that his mother is property of his father, |
and instead of violating his father's property through the realization of his sexual |
desires with his mother, he should instead find woman of his own to be his property. |
Conversely, a girl learns that her mother is the property of her father, and the girl |
has only the option to find a man similar her father to whom she can give herself. The |
incentive of a boy to understand the taboo of incest is much greater, for it is |
enforced by the fear of his father. On the female side, however, the incentive is not |
as clearly defined as the psychological reinforcement (fear of her father) is not |
there. Furthermore, when a man has children of his own, there is no father figure to |
impress upon him the taboo of incest between himself and his children. In essence, |
anthropologically speaking, this understanding of acceptable sexual behavior would |
imply that the least discouraged deviant interfamily relationship is between a father |
and his daughter (Herman; Hirschman 4). <
It is important to keep in mind that this predisposition, buried deep in the human |
condition, is not a claim of commonly practiced or accepted father-daughter relations |
in any society, but rather an explanation of why this particular relationship dominates |
known incest cases. The known cases upon which all current statistics are based are |
likely a very poor sample of the actual situation, but, among them, such a staggering |
number of victims are the daughters of abusive fathers (Herman; Hirschman 8) that is |
highly unlikely that this general trend does not hold true. <
The silent consent of incest as an intellectual topic is not as overt as total |
disregard for the issue in the scientific community, in fact, quite a lot of research |
has been done on the issue. However, respectable case studies have only been conducted |
since the latter half of the twentieth century, and then few and far between. Even |
Sigmund Freud, whose studies changed the field of psychology forever, did not approach |
his incest victim patients without prejudice. After hearing so many nearly identical |
claims of woman that their fathers had abused them, Freud came to the conclusion, based |
upon his unwillingness to accept such activities as being so prevalent in the |
respectable families of his patients, that the claims were a manifestation of an |
infantile neurosis in the women (Herman; Hirschman 4). <
Freud's denial of the issue is certainly not an isolated occurrence, but reflective |
of that of society et al. If a renowned psychologist, upon whose research modern |
psychology is greatly based, cannot properly approach the issue in practice, then what |
hope is there for anyone else? <
No one likes to discuss incest for the very reason that most people do not engage |
in it willfully. This is where the taboo of incest, which protects most people from |
such fate, works against those who were victimized. The issue is so deeply embedded in |
the human mind, that even when it is discussed, it is not done so without preconception,|
even, or perhaps especially, among respected researchers. <
This denial unrelentingly corrupts researchers' data in the field. Incest research |
has a history of finding results which are clearly skewed in some way by the |
researcher's perspective. For instance, a British study of incest in Ireland showed a |
four percent occurrence in their sample of the population. The report accompanying the |
data concluded that this was a cultural, and not a psychological phenomena (Herman; |
Hirschman 4). This was a clear case of denial on behalf o the British researchers, and |
an attempt to isolate themselves from those involved in such an unspeakable affair. <
Furthermore, the study of the effects of incest on its victims is also quite mired |
by some clearly ridiculous claims. One surprisingly common notion is the virtually |
unsubstantiated assertion that incest victims are not harmed by their experiences. |
Taken a step further, a notably blatant disregard for a quite certain demonstration of |
incest's psychological effects was a study which concluded that “70 percent of victims |
showed ... disturbed personality development,” yet no clear correlation between incest |
and such psychologically damaging effects was admitted to exist (Herman; Hirschman 4). |
Recently, however, it has become more generally accepted that incest can be |
attributed as a cause for poor self esteem and depression (Morrow; Sorell 1). A link |
to sexual promiscuity and prostitution among victims later in life is also currently |
accepted in the field (Morrow; Sorell 1). <
In a recent survey of over 1,000 people, it was concluded conservatively that 2 to |
3 percent were incest victims (Herman; Hirschman 10). A subsequent case study of |
fifteen victimized women obliterated previously accepted assertions that such activity |
was more common among the lower economic and social class, when in fact seven of the |
victims were white collar workers or professionals who led otherwise quite ordinary |
lives (Herman; Hirschman 9). This brings up again the issue of how inaccurate current |
statistics may be if the victims, often at one point in their lives' committed to |
secrecy, do not demographically fit into an easily identifiable mold. This lack of |
knowledge about the victims emboldens the idea of mankind's silent consent of incest. |
Of that case study's same sample of fifteen women abused by their fathers, only two |
successfully sought court or child-protection intervention (Herman; Hirschman 10), and |
the most common duration of the sexual relationships was five to six years. |
While apparent progress in addressing the issue of incest is being made, human |
nature makes incest quite a difficult area to research with any degree of |
conclusiveness. Victims are reluctant or unwilling to seek help, which aids the |
perpetrators of such acts, for whatever reason, be it fear, the societal stigma of |
being involved in incest in any way, a learned feeling of helplessness and isolation, |
or anything else. |
Perhaps what is so ironic about the tragedy of incest is that the very taboo which |
effectively discourages so many from being involved thoroughly complicates the plight |
of the few unfortunate victims. Sadly, with such a polarized populus (everyone either |
has nothing to do with incest or their entire psyche thoroughly jilted by its damaging |
effects) the empathy and understanding necessary to properly address the issue may |
never manifest itself, which is to say that mankind, through its flawed human condition,|
silently, and subconsciously, consents of incest. |
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__________/ Works Cited \______________________________________________________________
Herman, Judith; Hirschman, Lisa. “Father-Daughter Incest.” Signs, Vol. 2, No. 4. \
(1977): 735-756. |
Morrow, Brent K.; Sorell, Gwendolyn T. “Factors Affecting Self-Esteem, Depression, and |
Negative Behaviors in Sexually Abused Female Adolescents.” Journal of Marriage and |
the Family, Vol. 51, No. 3. (1989): 677-686. |
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