What Caused Incest Historically?

So, what causes incest? The incest discussion has had a problematic history in the United States asking questions like: What is considered real incest? Or, is incest even harmful for children? Although the harm of incest has been known for over a century, questions like these continue to cause stigma, misinformation, and misrepresentation of this all too common issue that can have lifelong impacts on survivors and families.  If you have any questions, please, reach out to an organization in the Incest AWARE Alliance.

The real incest discussion throughout history.

Myth & Memory

When trying to answer the question, what causes incest?, we have to place the issue within its historical context. The incest discussion began through myth passed down from generation to generation. Creation stories — or tales of how the world began — within many cultures include the relations and rapes between family members as an explanation for how humans procreated prosperously. Incest abuse is included in other stories within sacred or canonized texts like the Bible. Unfortunately, this form of abuse has lived not just in mythological stories, but also within the bodies and memories of too many people. Sexual violence has been justified and normalized in family systems throughout history. 

The Freudian Cover-Up

In the eighteenth century, London's central criminal court, the Old Bailey, documented 25% of their capital rape prosecutions involving children under age 10. In the late 19th century, Sigmund Freud working with others found that the primary reason for Hysteria in women was childhood sexual abuse, often occurring within family systems. He published his findings in a book called, The Aetiology of Hysteria, which he hoped would be received with great social support. Instead, the book had a controversial reception as it challenged incest, a common issue in the homes of many in power. To save his social status and career, Freud chose to publicly deny the stories of survivors to protect those who were harming their children. 

The Second Wave of Feminism

The real incest discussion didn't return to public discourse until the second wave of feminism in the 1970's. The cause of incest was shaped as an abuse of power usually by fathers against their daughters, and justified by patriarchal social norms and structures that give men dominance over women and children. This focus, however, neglected incest against boys and gender nonconforming children, as well as the possibly more common child-on-child sexual abuse within the family. Incest was discussed in anti-sexual violence consciousness raising groups, as well as represented in fiction and non-fiction books like, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Just Above My Head by James Baldwin, The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis in the 1980's, and the Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison in the 1990's. 

The Medicalization of Incest

The real incest discussion erupted a pro-incest versus anti-incest social struggle. Some continuing to side with those who harm and justify the abuse, while others understood the lifelong harm and sought to prevent incest and protect survivors.  In the 1980's, the anti-incest movement moved from the mouths of feminists to the desks of psychologists, focusing the narrative now on the medicalization of the issue. This inspired research into the harms of incest on a survivors' health represented in books like Father/Daughter Incest by Judith Herman, as well as created focus groups for survivors. However, it also redirected the cause of incest from a social issue that communities and institutions needed to solve together, to a family issue. The burden of education and disclosure was placed on the child being harmed instead of parents, professionals and other adults in the community. Also, only those with resources were able to receive effective treatment for childhood sexual abuse, so it came to be known as a "white women's issue," neglecting male and gender nonconforming survivors, as well as those of racially, ethnically, and economically diverse backgrounds.

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation

"The Incest Family," a culture within a family system that allowed incest to occur, became the primary cause of incest, while the responsibility to resolve the problem and heal fell on the shoulders of survivors. The medicalization of incest also spurned the creation of The False Memory Syndrome Foundation, which taught parents and professionals that forgotten then reclaimed memories of childhood sexual abuse by adults were falsified. The founders of this foundation have been accused of incest by their child. The real incest discussion was nearly erased after this, leaving children vulnerable to sexual violence in their homes and survivors isolated in their healing. Social sensationalization of incest, as well as reactive fear responses, have caused any movements to prevent incest and support survivors to end without an effective implementation of solutions.

Post #MeToo​

Even after #MeToo went viral in 2017 inviting a global acknowledgement of sexual violence by survivors, incest remains an unspoken and taboo topic in public discourse. Today, there are still proponents of the pro-incest movement arguing that incest should be decriminalized or that pedophilia is just a sexual preference and should be added to the acronym "LGBTQIA+." Within the anti-rape movement and rape crisis networks, few offer specific services, resources, or programming for the unique consequences of incest abuse for survivors. Teaching prevention methods are neglected from childrearing classes and education curriculum due to purity culture and taboo. Social paralysis  and shock caused by the complexity of the problem, as well as individuals' own untreated experiences of incest, continue to keep children vulnerable to incest abuse.

Incest effects everyone. It denies children access to safe childhoods, a foundation that makes fulfillment in adulthood much more achievable. It costs the medical, economic, and legal systems greatly as survivors lean into medical care and the procurement of justice, and out of work in order to heal. The consequences of incest harm family and other interpersonal relationships as trust, the foundation of safe relationships, is never established. It robs incest survivors of self-love, as the brain, body, and being attack itself to survive. Yet the causes of incest continue to go unchallenged, keeping the statistics of children harmed by this horrible crime high.

It's time to become Incest AWARE. Learn about it. Talk about it. End it.

You can read more about the history of childhood sexual abuse, as well as solutions at BEYOND SURVIVING:TOWARD A MOVEMENT TO PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE by the Ms. Foundation for Women.