DEVIATIONS THAT INFRINGE THE LAW: INCEST
The Oxford English Dictionary defines incest as “the crime of sexual intercourse or cohabitation between persons related within the degrees within which marriage is prohibited by law”.
In fact the law is inconsistent on the question and differs from country to country. It does not always forbid marriage between cousins, though many religions do. On the other hand, in France for example, marriage between a man and his adoptive daughter is illegal. In France again, only vaginal intercourse is regarded as incestuous, since a child can be produced this way. Masturbation, anal intercourse, fellatio and cunnilingus are dealt with under other laws.
In common usage the term is really only used to refer to sexual relations between father and daughter, mother and son, or brother and sister. Existing laws were probably laid down for moral reasons rather than because of the risk of producing damaged children from incestuous unions (a risk that is in any case not proven).
However broadminded one may be it is hard to approve of incest. The most one can say is that there may be “mitigating circumstances”. After all, paternal, maternal and fraternal love are all very laudable realities. They may be felt with varying degrees of intensity by those concerned. There is often a deep sense of grief when grown children leave home. Without approving, one can surely at least understand that a parent may love a child to the point of feeling sexual desire for him or her.
The road to incest may start when the child is young; if there is an element of paedophilia in the family, be it a mild tendency or a powerful urge, it may naturally lead to incest in the long run. Where there has been a divorce or the death of one parent, the situation is ripe for relations between mother and son or father and daughter to take an incestuous turn.
The most common form of incest is between father and daughter. This is now more commonly referred to as child abuse. There is nearly always an element of force or coercion, or at the very least strong moral pressure or threats.
Incest between mother and son is rare. Incest between brother and sister, however, is fairly common, though often limited to sexual initiation play. Psychiatrists and sexologists generally agree that such sex play between brother and sister leaves no harmful trace in the adult sex life of either partner.
Homosexual incest is probably most common between mother and daughter.
It is impossible to assess the percentage of families in which incest occurs. Surveys rarely produce frank answers on the issue from those concerned, while police records represent only a tiny tip of the iceberg in this field.
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