Families of Incest: a Collation of Clinical Impressions

Abstract

The present paper provides a collation of the impressions of clinical workers regarding families in which father-daughter incest has incurred. Responses of the workers indicate that the incestuous relationship is typically not limited to one or two sexual encounters, but the relationship can become a stable part of family life. The sexual interactions appear to parallel sexual practices in non-incestuous relationships. Daughters involved in incest are viewed as submissive, passive, fearful, whereas the fathers are viewed as dominating, impulsive, and using violence or threats to obtain the daughters sexual co-operation. Mothers are viewed as weak and as failing to provide help for their daughters. The picture of the family in which father-daughter incest occurs is one in which unhappy people are unable to establish satisfying human relationships.

Sex, Love and Incest

“…Sequelae enumerated include: delinquincy, substance abuse, pros titution, school failure, damaged ability to form satisfactory het erosexual relationships, compulsive seeking of father substitutes, disordered hysterical character, homosexuality and poor self-con cept, and this list is by no means complete. In constructing this mosaic we have drawn on the publications of Alexander (1985), Baird et al (1982), Browning and Boatman (1977), Carper (1979), de Chesnay (1984, Cooper and Cormier (1982), Frances and Frances (1976), Giarretto (1976), Kaufman et al (1954), Herman and Hirschman (1981), James (1981), LaBarbera (1981LaBarbera ( , 1983, Lukianowitz (1967), Machotka (1967), Selby et al (1980), Shapshay and Vines (1982), Tsai and Feldman-Summers (1979), Weeks (1976), and Wells (1981).…”