what is incest?
Unpublished post, originally written 12/28/08 for my now defunct state of sex education blog on gURL.
A few years back I was answering anonymous questions for the website teenwire.com. A 13-year-old girl wrote in. Her father had raped her. She was pregnant and writing to find out what to do because she didn’t want to tell her mother what had happened. It’s been years since I first read that letter, but it has stayed with me.
Partly, that’s because incest, sex between family members, is one of the most disturbing crimes. It is also something that is taboo in almost all cultures and religions.
Of course, incest is not only taboo. It is also a crime.
How does this break down? Here are a few examples: it is illegal for adults like parents, stepparents, grandparents, or aunts an uncles to have sex with a child or teen. It is also against the law for siblings to have sex. And while in some cultures it is common for first cousins to marry, that’s forbidden in 27 American states.
Incest is a really complicated crime. Victims are often ashamed and fearful. Many are afraid of what revealing the abuse could do to their families, and some feel the need to protect the perpetrator. Often, girls worry that they won’t be believed. As a result is hard to find precise numbers on incest, but it is estimated that anywhere between two and eleven percent of rape victims are assaulted by a family member.
Incest is one of the hardest things for a victim to talk about. But there is help. A good place to start is the Rape, Incest and Abuse National Network. They can be reached online or at 1.800.656.HOPE.
