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Incest is defined as sexual intercourse or any form of sexual activity between closely related persons, especially within the nuclear family. When incest is non-consensual, whether because of the threat of or use of physical force or because of emotional pressure, it is a form of sexual abuse. If non-consensual incest involves sexual intercourse it is a form of rape. Sexual intercourse between an adult and a child ,under any circumstances, is also a form of rape.

When one of the family members involved is a child and the other is an adult, incestuous activity is known as intrafamilial child sexual abuse. When it involves intercourse it is also a form of rape, as is all sexual intercourse between an adult and a child. The legal term for this form of rape is statutory rape.

Incest between a parent and a child is almost universally considered to be psychologically devastating for the child. It qualifies as a trauma of the type that causes post-traumatic stress disorder, and is implicated as the cause of many personality disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV of the American Psychological Association, which is considered the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental illnesses.

Virtually all societies have some form of incest avoidance. The incest taboo is one of the most common of all taboos. Most modern societies have legal or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages. Although not universal, incest constitutes a cultural taboo in most current nations and many past societies, with legal penalties in some places. In some societies, like Ancient Egypt, brother–sister, father–daughter and mother–son relations were practiced.

Which family members constitute those covered by the incest prohibition is determined by the society in which the persons live. Some societies consider it to include only those related by birth or those who live in the same household; other societies further include those related by adoption, marriage, or clan.

The term incest can include sexual activity between family members of either gender, and can include family members of any age.

Etymology

The word 'incest' was introduced into Middle English around 1225 as a legal term to describe the crime of familial incest as we know it today. It was also used to describe sexual relations between married persons, one of whom had taken a vow of celibacy (often called spiritual incest). It derives from the Latin incestus or incestum, the substantive use of the adjective incestus meaning 'unchaste, impure', which itself is derived from the Latin castus meaning 'chaste'. The derived adjective incestuous does not appear until the 16th century.

Prior to the introduction of the Latin term, incest was known in Old English as sibbleger (from sibb 'kinship' + leger 'to lie') or mǣġhǣmed (from mǣġ 'kin, parent' + hǣmed 'sexual intercourse') but in time, both words fell out of use.

Hypothesis of biological basis

Some researchers hypothesize that humans have a kin recognition ability that functions in part to enable incest avoidance between close relatives, thereby protecting the gene pool of the family or tribe from excessive damage by inbreeding; and, that this kin recognition system may form a biological basis for social and psychological prohibitions against incest.

Inbreeding leads to an increase in homozygosity (the same allele at the same locus on both members of a chromosome pair). This occurs because close relatives are much more likely to share the same alleles than unrelated individuals. This is especially important for recessive alleles that happen to be deleterious, which are harmless and inactive in a heterozygous pairing but, when homozygous, can cause serious developmental defects. Such offspring have a much higher chance of death before reaching the age of reproduction, leading to what biologists call inbreeding depression, a measurable decrease in fitness due to inbreeding among populations with deleterious recessives. Recessive genes, which can contain various genetic problems, appear more often in the offspring of procreative couplings whose members both have the same gene. For example, the child of persons who are both hemophiliac has a nearly 100% chance of having hemophilia.

Leavitt has argued that inbreeding in small populations can have long-term positive effects: "small inbreeding populations, while initially increasing their chances for harmful homozygotic recessive pairings on a locus, will quickly eliminate such genes from their breeding pools, thus reducing their genetic loads" (Leavitt, 1990, p. 974). However, other specialists have argued that these positive long-term effects of inbreeding are almost always unrealized because the short-term fitness depression is enough for selection to discourage it. In order for such a "purification" to work, the offspring of close mate pairings must be either homozygous-dominant (completely free of bad genes) or -recessive (will die before reproducing). If there are heterozygous offspring, they will be able to transmit the defective genes without themselves feeling any effects. This model does not account for multiple deleterious recessives (most people have more than one) and multi-locus gene linkages. The introduction of mutations negates the weeding out of bad genes, and evidence exists that homozygous individuals are often more at risk to pathogenic predation. Because of these complications, it is extremely difficult to overcome the initial spike in fitness penalties incurred by inbreeding (Moore, 1992; Uhlmann, 1992).

Recent research shows that couples consisting of third cousins actually have the highest level of reproductive success: "The results of the exhaustive study are constant throughout the generations analyzed. Women born between 1800 and 1824 who mated with a third cousin had significantly more children and grandchildren (4.04 and 9.17, respectively) than women who mated with someone no closer than an eighth cousin (3.34 and 7.31). Those proportions held up among women born more than a century later when couples were, on average, having fewer children." It is hypothesized that third-cousin couples may represent a "point of balance between the competing advantages and disadvantages of inbreeding and outbreeding."

The genetic risks of inbreeding are often overstated. "irst cousins are third-degree relatives, uncle/niece are second-degree, and sibling/sibling or parent/child are first-degree. 'Uncle/niece risk is somewhat higher than first-cousin risk, which is between 1.7% to 2.8% above the background risk,' said Bennett . 'Risk in first-degree relations is 7% to 31% - based on limited studies,' she said. Following Bennett's reasoning, the genetic risk of morbidity (the relative incidence of disease) in uncle/niece relationships is somewhere between 2.8% and 7% above the risk of unrelated couples." This risk is lower than the risk associated with becoming a mother when at or over the age of 47, something that can be legally done everywhere.

Psychology

Presumably because of the genetic harm done, animals inbreed only in extremely unusual circumstances: major population bottlenecks and forced artificial selection by animal husbandry. Pusey & Worf (1996) and Penn & Potts (1999) both found evidence that some species possess evolved psychological aversions to inbreeding, via kin-recognition heuristics.

Evolutionary psychologists have argued that humans should possess similar psychological mechanisms. The Westermarck effect, that children who are raised together during the first five to ten years of life have inhibited sexual desire toward one another, is one strong piece of evidence in favor of this. In what is now a key study of the Westermarck hypothesis, anthropologist Melford E. Spiro demonstrated that inbreeding aversion between siblings is predictably linked to co-residency. In a cohort study of children raised communally (as if siblings) in the Kiryat Yedidim kibbutz in the 1950s, Spiro found practically no intermarriage between his subjects as adults, despite positive pressure from parents and community. The social experience of having grown up as brothers and sisters created an incest aversion, even though the children were genetically unrelated.

Further studies have supported the hypothesis that some psychological mechanisms cause children who grow up together to lack sexual attraction to one another. Spiro's study is corroborated by Fox (1962), who found similar results in Israeli kibbutzim. Wolf and Huang (1980) reported similar aversions in Taiwanese "child marriages", in which the future wife was brought into the family and raised with her fiancé. Such marriages were notoriously difficult to consummate and led to decreased fertility of the marriage. Lieberman et al. (2003) found that childhood co-residency with an opposite-sex sibling (biologically related or not) was significantly correlated with moral repugnance toward third-party sibling incest.

Endogamy and exogamy

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Relationships (Outline)
Types Genetic or adoptive Kinship Family Stepfamily Parent Father Mother Son Daughter Grandparent Sibling Brother Sister Cousin Aunt Uncle Niece and nephew By marriage Spouse Husband Wife Open marriage Polygamy Polyandry Polygyny Group marriage Mixed-orientation Partner(s) Significant other Boyfriend Girlfriend Cohabitation Long-distance Online Same-sex Queerplatonic Friendship (romantic / cross-sex / zone) Intimate and sexual Casual Monogamy Non-monogamy Mutual monogamy Polyamory Polyfidelity Affair Cicisbeo Concubinage Courtesan Mistress
Activities Bonding Courtship Dating Engagement Bachelor's Day Mating Meet market Romance Singles event Wedding
Endings Breakup Legal/marital separation Annulment Divorce Widowhood
Emotions and feelings Affinity Attachment Intimacy Jealousy Limerence Love Platonic Unconditional Passion Sexuality
Practices Bride price dower dowry service Hypergamy Infidelity Sexual activity Transgression Repression
Abuse Child Dating Domestic Elderly Narcissistic parent Controlling behavior Stalking
v t e

Anthropologists have found that marriage is governed, though often informally, by rules of exogamy (marriage between members of different groups) and endogamy (marriage between members of the same group). The definition of a group for purposes of exogamy or endogamy varies considerably between societies. In most stratified societies, one must marry outside of one's nuclear family — a form of exogamy — but is encouraged to marry a member of one's own class, race, or religion — a form of endogamy. In this example, the exogamous group is small and the endogamous group is large. But, in some societies, the exogamous group and endogamous group may be of equal size, as in societies divided into clans or lineages.

In most such societies, membership in a clan or lineage is inherited through only one parent. Sex with a member of one's own clan or lineage—whether a parent or a genetically very distant relative—is considered incestuous, whereas sex with a member of another clan or lineage—including the other parent—is not considered incest (although it may be considered wrong for other reasons).

For example, Trobriand Islanders prohibit both sexual relations between a man and his mother and those between a woman and her father, but they describe these prohibitions in very different ways: relations between a man and his mother fall within the category of forbidden relations among members of the same clan; relations between a woman and her father do not. This is because the Trobrianders are matrilineal; children belong to the clan of their mother and not of their father. Thus, sexual relations between a man and his mother's sister (and mother's sister's daughter) are also considered incestuous, but relations between a man and his father's sister are not. Hence, a man and his father's sister may have a flirtatious relationship, and a man and the daughter of his father's sister may prefer to have sexual relations or marry. Anthropologists have hypothesized that, in these societies, the incest taboo reinforces the rule of exogamy, and thus ensures that social ties between clans or lineages will be maintained through intermarriage.

Chinese and Indian societies have very broad notions of the endogamous group: relations between individuals with the same surname may be banned.

Many cultures consider relationship between parallel cousins incestuous, but not those between cross cousins, although the degree of genetic relationship does not differ. Relationships may be considered incestuous even when there is no genetic relationship at all: stepparent–stepchild relationships, and those between siblings-in-law, have been considered incestuous, even though they involve no risk of inbreeding above that of the marriage that relates them.

Some cultures include relatives by marriage in incest prohibitions; these relationships are called affinity rather than consanguinity. For example, the question of the legality and morality of a widower who wished to marry his deceased wife's sister was the subject of long and fierce debate in the United Kingdom in the 19th century, involving, among others, Matthew Boulton. In medieval Europe, standing as a godparent to a child also created a bond of affinity.

Forms of incest

Parental incest

Incest perpetrated by parents or step-parents of either gender against a child is defined as " intrafamilial child sexual abuse".

Emotional incest

If a parent relates to a child as a substitute for a partner, that child may become emotionally bonded to, and codependent with, the parent. This is more common between a mother and her oldest son and between a father and his youngest daughter. Emotional incest usually occurs before physical parent-child incest. Even without physical sexual contact, the consequences to such "bonded" children include a lifetime of partnership difficulties, according to Martyn Carruthers who wrote that this is a socially accepted form of child abuse in many countries.

Sibling incest between children

Consensual incest between similar-age brothers and sisters is not uncommon, according to a study by Floyd Martinson, who found that 10-15% of college students had childhood sexual experiences with a brother or sister. However, only 5-10% of those included intercourse, and therefore most probably represent a form of child sexuality based on experimentation, rather than incestuous desires.

Non-consensual incest between siblings, especially when there is a significant difference in age or other imbalance of power in the relationship, is a form of child-on-child sexual abuse.

Sexual relations between cousins and other distant relatives

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In most of the Western world, while incest generally describes forbidden sexual relations within the family, the applicable definitions of family vary. Within the United States, marriage between first cousins is illegal in some states, but not in others. In twenty-four states marriages between first cousins are prohibited, and another seven permit them only under special circumstances. Utah, for example, permits first cousins to marry only if both spouses are over age 65, or at least 55 with evidence of sterility; North Carolina permits first cousins to marry unless they are "double first cousins" (cousins through more than one line); Maine permits first cousins to marry only upon presentation of a certificate of genetic counselling. The other states with some, but not absolute, limits on first-cousin marriage are Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

First-cousin marriage without restriction is permitted in nineteen states — Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia—and the District of Columbia.

First-cousin marriage is illegal in Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas (such marriages may not be performed after 1 September 2005, although previous marriages are still recognized), Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming, although the United States Constitution has been interpreted as requiring these states to give "full faith and credit" to such marriages performed in other states. Yet, in the absence of a United States Supreme Court ruling, the scope of the Full Faith and Credit Clause is not clear in this context, especially as it would have implications on whether states were required to recognize marriages commenced in Massachusetts between same-sex couples. There are conflicts and courts have interpreted the clause differently. Some states, such as Wisconsin , have marriage abroad laws that make marriages by their residents in jurisdictions in order to circumvent their state's marriage restrictions null and void, and marriages contracted in that state to avoid restrictions in another jurisdiction likewise void.

Laws regarding incest

Adult incest

Laws against adult incest are sometimes questioned on the grounds that such relations do not harm other people and so should not be criminalized. Some legal systems no longer criminalize adult incest. The French Criminal Code removed its incest prohibition long ago, and other countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Japan, Israel, Argentina, Brazil as well as a few other Latin American countries and several U.S. states have followed suit. In most countries where the crime of adult incest has been abolished, acts of incest involving a minor are still punishable.

From time to time proposals have been made for the repeal of incest laws, for example, the proposal in Australia by the Model Criminal Code Officer's Committee in the November 1996 discussion paper "Sexual Offences against the Person". This particular proposal was later withdrawn by the Committee due to a large public outcry. Defenders of the proposal argue, however, that the outcry was mostly based on the mistaken belief that the committee was intending to legalize sexual relations between parents and their minor children.

In the wake of the Lawrence v. Texas (539 U.S. 558 2003) decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down laws criminalizing homosexual sodomy as unconstitutional, some have argued that by the same logic laws against consensual adult incest should be unconstitutional. Some civil libertarians argue that all private sexual activity between consenting adults should be legal, and its criminalization is a violation of human rights. In Muth v. Frank (412 F.3d 808), the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the case applying to homosexual activity, and refused to draw this conclusion from Lawrence, however — a decision that attracted mixed opinions. The Supreme Court refused to hear this case.

Australia

In Australia, marriage (which is defined to be a monogamous heterosexual union) is governed at the federal level, while criminal law is on the whole a matter for the states and territories. In Australia marriage between an ancestor and descendent or between a brother and sister (including siblings of half blood), is not permitted and these "prohibited relationships" include relationships traced through adoption. Moreover, incest is a crime in every Australian state and self-governing territory, but unsurprisingly definitions and penalties vary. In all states and territories the legal definition of incest covers sex, whether heterosexual or homosexual, between a parent and child, as well as between siblings (including half-brothers and half-sisters). Whether the definition of incest extends to sex between a stepparent and stepchild or adoptive relationships varies from state to state. In all jurisdictions except South Australia, the definition also includes sex between a grandparent and a grandchild and in all other jurisdictions except New South Wales it also covers sex between a "lineal ancestor" and a "lineal descendant" (which would include the relationship of great-grandparent/great-grandchild and beyond). Only in Queensland is incest defined to include sex between an uncle or aunt and a niece or nephew, although even here its application would appear to be curtailed by the effect of federal marriage law. The Queensland Criminal Code itself provides that the crime of incest does not apply to "persons who are lawfully married or entitled to be lawfully married" and Australian marriage law permits (heterosexual) marriage between an aunt or uncle and a nephew or niece, provided both parties are of marriageable age (currently 18). In New South Wales the crime of incest only applies where the victim is aged 16 or over (the age of consent in that state); in cases where the victim is under 16 the accused would be charged with the general offence of sexual intercourse with a child. In all other jurisdictions the crime of incest also exists where the victim is below the age of consent, but this does not exclude the possibility of bringing the more general charge of sexual intercourse with a child. This is particularly relevant where a certain form of sexual conduct between related persons falls outside of the legal definition of incest in a particular jurisdiction. In no Australian state or territory is consent a defence to the crime of incest. The penalty for incest varies from state to state. A conviction for incest attracts a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 5 years in Victoria (25 years in the case of sex with one's child, stepchild or lineal descendent, irrespective of the victim's age), 7 years in South Australia, 8 years in New South Wales, 10 years in Western Australia (20 years if the victim is under 16), 10 years in the Australian Capital Territory (20 years if the victim is under 10 and 15 years if the victim is aged 11-15), 14 years in the Northern Territory (25 years if the victim is under 10 and 20 years if the victim is aged 11-15), 21 years in Tasmania, and imprisonment for life in Queensland.

Belgium

In Belgium, incest is not a crime; incest laws were abolished by Napoleon some 200 years ago in the French government period. Incestuous relations between a parent and minor child are prohibited and punished by law in Belgium, but not between adults.

Canada

Under Canadian law persons who are related lineally, or as brother or sister or half-brother or half-sister, including by adoption may not marry. Incest, which covers sex with one's parent, child, brother or sister (including half-brothers and half-sisters), grandparent or grandchild, is also an indictable offence and liable to a maximum of 14 years' imprisonment.

Cyprus

The Orthodox Church of Cyprus does not permit marriages of its members between up to a relationship of "second": That is, up to between second cousins or between second uncle/aunt to second niece/nephew (first cousins once removed).

France

In France, incest is not a crime; incest laws were abolished by Napoleon some 200 years ago. Incestuous relations between a parent and minor child are prohibited and punished by law in France, but not between adults.

Germany

In February 2007, German brother and sister, Patrick Stübing and Susan Karolewski, called for the country's incest laws to be abolished so that they could continue their sexual relationship. Although they were born into the same family, Patrick was not living with them when Susan was born and they met for the first time in 2000. Between 2002 and 2006 they had four children although three have been taken into foster care. Two of the children have disabilities and while it is possible that these were caused by inbreeding, premature birth may also have contributed. The siblings' lawyer, Endrik Wilhelm, lodged an appeal with Germany's highest judicial body, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, to overturn the country's ban on incest. On March 13th 2008 however, the court ruled with a 7-1 vote for incest to remain illegal.

Japan

In Japan, the Civil Code of Japan restrict marriages of its members, but incest is not a crime. Incest law was abolished in 1881. They also can have children. Incest however is generally considered immoral. One of the most complex cases was Aizawa v. Japan.

Poland

In Poland, incest - defined in Article 201 of the Penal Code as sexual intercourse with an ancestor, a descendant, a guardian, a ward, a brother, or a sister - is punishable by 3 months up to 5 years imprisonment.

Sweden

Sweden is the only country in Europe which allows marriage between siblings who share one parent. However, permission for this must be aquired from the County Administrative Board.

United Kingdom

Incest in the United Kingdom is illegal and is governed by the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Israel

In Israel, incest between adults (of the age of 21 years and above) is not a crime; Incestuous relations with a person under the age of 21 years are prohibited and punished by law.

United States

As University of Minnesota Law School Assistant Professor Brett McDonnell explains in his research paper "Is Incest Next?" on page 20, "Incest was not prohibited at common law... and was not prohibited by statute in England until 1908." One of the references McDonnell provides with respect to this fact is AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE, MODEL PENAL CODE AND COMMENTARIES, PART II, 398 (1980). McDonnell's paper also notes on page 20 that "Several scholars have argued that prohibitions on certain incestuous marriages violate the constitutional right to marry. See Carolyn S. Bratt, Incest Statutes and the Fundamental Right of Marriage: Is Oedipus Free to Marry?, 18 FAM. L. Q. 257, 298-309 (1984); Christ McNiece Metteer, Some “Incest” is Harmless Incest: Determining the Fundamental Right to Marry of Adults Related by Affinity Without Resorting to State Incest Statutes, 10 KAN. J.L. & PUB. POL’Y 262 (Winter 2000); Margaret M. Mahoney, A Legal Definition of the Stepfamily: The Example of Incest Regulation, 8 B.Y.U. J. PUB. L. 21 (1993)." McDonnell notes on page 19 that "Rhode Island repealed its incest law in 1989. See GEN. LAWS R.I. ANN. §§ 11-6-3, 11-6-4. Michigan and New Jersey both criminalize some incestuous sex involving persons under 18, but not between adults. See MICH. COMP. LAWS. ANN. §§ 750.52b, 750.520c; N.J. STAT. ANN. § 2C:14-2." McDonnell's paper also provides (on pages 32-34) a table, "Incest Laws in the 50 States", detailing state incest laws with respect to each type of relationship (parent-child, uncle-niece, etc.).

Many incest laws do not expressly proscribe sexual conduct other than vaginal intercourse—such as oral sex—or any sexual activity between relatives of the same sex (though if either party is a minor, it may be punishable otherwise).

History

Ancient civilizations

It is relatively accepted that incestuous marriages were widespread at least during the Graeco-Roman period of Egyptian history. Numerous papyri and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister (Lewis, 1983; Bagnall and Frier, 1994; Shaw, 1993). In Hopkins (1980) this is conclusively demonstrated, and more recent scholars in the field have not questioned it. Some of these incestuous relationships were in the royal family, especially the Ptolemies (see the biography of Cleopatra, who married more than one of her brothers).

The fable of Oedipus, with a theme of inadvertent incest between a mother and son, ends in disaster and shows ancient taboos against incest as Oedipus is punished for incestuous actions by blinding himself.

Incestuous unions were frowned upon and considered as nefas (against the laws of gods and man) in Roman times, and were explicitly forbidden by an imperial edict in AD 295, which divided the concept of incestus into two categories of unequal gravity: the incestus iuris gentium, which was applied to both Romans and non-Romans in the Empire, and the incestus iuris civilis, which concerned only Roman citizens. Therefore, for example, an Egyptian could marry an aunt, but a Roman could not. Despite the act of incest being unacceptable within the Roman Empire, Roman Emperor Caligula is rumored to have had open sexual relationships with all three of his sisters, (Julia Livilla, Drusilla, and Agrippina the Younger). The taboo against incest in Ancient Rome is demonstrated by the fact that politicians would use charges of incest (often false charges) as insults and means of political disenfranchisement.

Modern societies

Incest is a taboo subject in many cultures and societies. In many Third World countries, because of the taboo and very sensitive nature of the subject, people do not talk openly about it.

The ISNA reported that a counselling hotline stated that a large percentage of the calls they handle deal with the issue of parental child abuse.

Religious views on incest

Judeo-Christian

In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, Lot's two daughters have sex with him to carry on their lineage.

Later, the Book of Leviticus lists prohibitions against sexual relations between various pairs of family members. Men are prohibited, on pain of death, to have sexual relations with their daughters, mothers, aunts, and various other relations. (Father–daughter incest is covered by a prohibition on sexual relationships between a man and any daughter born to any woman he has had sexual relationships with, thereby prohibiting his incest not only with his own daughters but also with women who could be his stepdaughters by marriage.)

Islam

The Quran mentions incest which prohibits a man from having sexual relationships with his mother, daughter, sister, paternal aunt, maternal aunt or niece. However, Islam allows for marriage with cousins and other more distant relatives. Only in case of marriage does Islam allow sexual relations between cousins and other distant relatives.

Hinduism

Hinduism speaks of incest in highly abhorrent terms. Hindus were greatly fearful of the bad effects of incest and thus practice to date strict rules of both endogamy and exogamy, that is, marriage in the same caste (varna) but not in the same family tree (gotra) or bloodline (Parivara). Marriages within the gotra ("swagotra" marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest.

In some South Indian communities, where gotra membership passed from father to children, marriages were allowed between uncle and niece, while such marriages were forbidden in matrilineal communities, like Malayalis and Tuluvas, where gotra membership was passed down from the mother. A much more common characteristic of south Indian Hindu society is permission of marriage between cross-cousins (children of brother and sister). Thus, a man is allowed to marry his maternal uncle's daughter or his paternal aunt's daughter but is not allowed to marry his paternal uncle's daughter, a parallel cousin, who is treated as a sister.

North Indian Hindu society not only follows rules of gotra for marriages, but also has many regulations which go beyond the basic definition of gotra which result in few occurrences of similarly incestuous relationships.

Folklore

Popular culture

Incest in art: literature, movies, painting

See also

• Child sexual abuse
• Consanguinity
• Covert incest
• Genetic sexual attraction
• Human sexual behaviour
• Kinship and descent
• Levirate marriage
• Westermarck effect
• Inbreeding
• Incest pornography
• Incest taboo
• Paraphilia
• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction (boys)
• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in fiction (girls)
• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in films
• Pedophilia and child sexual abuse in the theatre
• Prohibited degree of kinship
• Royal intermarriage
• Sexual ethics
• Cousin couple

Notes

1. Child Sexual Abuse and the State, by Ruby Andrew, UC Davis Law Review, vol. 39, 2006.
2. Brown, Donald E., Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991, p. 118-29
3. Kinship, Incest, and the Dictates of Law, by Henry A. Kelly, 14 Am. J. Juris. 69
4. Incest: The Nature and Origin of the Taboo, by Emile Durkheim (tr.1963)
5. Maurice Godelier, Métamorphoses de la parenté, 2004
6. "New Left Review - Jack Goody: The Labyrinth of Kinship". Retrieved 2007-07-24.
7. Elementary Structures Of Kinship, by Claude Lévi-Strauss. (tr.1971).
8. Online Etymology entry for 'incest'
9. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Etymology, T.F. Hoad (ed.) (1996), p232
10. ^ Debra Lieberman, John Tooby and Leda Cosmides (26 February 2003). "Does morality have a biological basis? An empirical test of the factors governing moral sentiments relating to incest" (PDF). Center for Evolutionary Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara.
11. "When Incest Is Best: Kissing Cousins Have More Kin - Scientific American, February 8, 2008".
12. "Curtain drops on incest drama - The Register Herald, January 6, 2005".
13. "Maternal Age and Chromosomal Abnormalities at Live Birth".
14. EMOTIONAL INCEST
15. CHILD AND ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY
16. "Marriage Act 1961 s 5".
17. "Marriage Act 1961 s 23B".
18. See NSW: "Crimes Act 1900 s 78A".; Vic: "Crimes Act 1958 s 44".; Qld: "Criminal Code s 222".; SA: "Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 s 72".; WA: "Criminal Code s 329".; Tas: "Criminal Code s 133".; ACT: "Crimes Act 1900 s 62".; NT: "Criminal Code s 134"..
19. "Marriage Act 1961 s 11".
20. "Marriage (Prohibited Degrees) Act S.C. 1990, c. 46, s. 2".
21. "Criminal Code R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, s. 155".
22. De er bror og søster og har fire børn sammen - Verden
23. "Sky News "Challenge To Incest Laws"".
24. "BBC News "Couple Stand by Forbidden Love"".
25. "BBC News "German court upholds incest law"".
26. "Aizawa v Japan". Murdoch University.
27. "Forbidden Relatives - The American Myth of Cousin Marriage, by Martin Ottenheimer".
28. "Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42)".
29. "Is Incest Next? Brett McDonnell, University of Minnesota Law School, Cardozo Women's Law Journal, Vol. 10, No. 2, February 2004".
30. "'زنای با محارم از مشکلات پیش روی کودکان در ایران' - BBC Persian: Incest paedophilia, one of great challenges of Iranian Children".

References

• Adams, Kenneth, M., Silently Seduced: When Parents Make Their Children Their Partners, Understanding Covert Incest, HCI, 1992.
• Adams, Kenneth, M., When He's Married to His Mom: How to Help Mother-Enmeshed Men Open Their Hearts To True Love, Fireside, 2007.
• Anderson, Peter B., and Cindy Struckman-Johnson, Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies, Guilford, 1998.
• Bagnall, Roger S. and Bruce W. Frier, The demography of Roman Egypt, Cambridge, 1994
• Bixler, Ray H. (1982) "Comment on the Incidence and Purpose of Royal Sibling Incest," American Ethnologist, 9(3), Aug, pp. 580-582.
• Blume, E. Sue, Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and its Aftereffects in Women, Ballantine, 1991.
• DeMilly, Walter, In My Father's Arms: A True Story of Incest, University of Wisconsin Press, 1999.
• Elliot, Michelle, Female Sexual Abuse of Children, Guilford, 1994.
• Forward, Susan (1990). Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life. Bantam. ISBN 0-553-28434-7.
• Goody, John (Jack Goody) (1956) A Comparative Approach to Incest and Adultery, The British Journal of Sociology, 7 (4), Dec, pp. 286-305 doi:10.2307/586694
• Gil, Eliana, Treating Abused Adolescents, Guilford, 1996.
• Herman, Judith, Father-Daughter Incest, Harvard University Press, 1982.
• Hislop, Julia, "Female Sexual Offenders: What Therapists, Law Enforcement, and Child Protective Services Need to Know", Issues, 2001.
• Hopkins, Keith (1980) "Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 22: 303-354.
• Leavitt, G. C. (1990) "Sociobiological explanations of incest avoidance: A critical claim of evidential claims", American Anthropologist, 92: 971-993.
• Lew, Mike, Victims No Longer: Men Recovering from Incest and Other Sexual Child Abuse, Nevraumont, 1988.
• Lewis, Naphtali, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, Oxford, 1983.
• Lobdell, William, "Missionary's Dark Legacy", Los Angeles Times, Nov. 19, 2005, p. A1.
• Love, Pat, Emotional Incest Syndrome: What to Do When a Parent's Love Rules Your Life, Bantam, 1991.
• Méndez-Negrete, Josie, Las hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed, Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8223-3896-3.
• Miletski, Hani, Mother-Son Incest: The Unthinkable Broken Taboo, Safer Society, 1999.
• Miller, Alice, That Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child, Farrar Strauss Giroux, 1983.
• Pryor, Douglass, Unspeakable Acts: Why Men Sexually Abuse Children, New York University Press, 1996.
• Rosencrans, Bobbie, and Eaun Bear, The Last Secret: Daughters Sexually Abused by Mothers, Safer Society, 1997.
• Scruton, Roger, Sexual Desire: A Moral Philosophy of the Erotic, Free Press, 1986.
• Shaw, Brent D., Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt, Man, New Series, 27(2), Jun 1992, pp. 267-299. JSTOR article
• Shaw, Risa, Not Child's Play: An Anthology on Brother-Sister Incest, Lunchbox, 2000.
• Tyldesley, Joyce, Ramesses: Egypt's Great Pharaoh, London, 2000.

External links

Support organizations

• RAINN - Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network
• Survivor Matters - Forum created by survivors to discuss issues and gain support from each other
• After Silence, online support group, message board, and chat room for survivors of rape, incest and sexual abuse.
• Pandora's Aquarium, online support group, message board, and chat room for survivors of sexual violence, including incest, and their supporters.
• VOICES in Action Victims Of Incest Can Emerge Survivors, an international organization providing assistance to adult and adolescent victims of child sexual abuse and trauma.
• The Awareness Center, Inc. The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA)
• Making Daughters Safe Again Online resources for mother-daughter incest survivors.
• SASIAN Sibling Abuse Survivors Information and Advocacy Network
• SIA Survivors of Incest Anonymous World Service Office, Inc. links independent SIA 12-step support groups around the world.

Published articles

• Child Sexual Abuse and the State by Ruby Andrew, UC Davis Law Review, vol. 39, 2006. Discusses U.S. incest laws in cases where victim is a minor.
• Forbidden Fruit by John Dougherty, Phoenix New Times, Dec. 29, 2005. Intrafamilial child sexual abuse in Arizona-Utah polygamist community.
• The Gentle People by Nadya Labi, Legal Affairs, Jan. 2005. Intrafamilial child sexual abuse in Amish community.
• The Incest Loophole by Andrew Vachss, New York Times, Nov. 20, 2005. Sentencing incest perpetrators when victim is a minor.
• Gutachten zur Vereinbarkeit von § 173 StGB mit dem Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Template:De icon Legal examination of the incest ban in Germany (2007)
• Incest survivor speaks, writes, and performs published locally and nationally; facilitated grief, rage and Healing Sexual Self workshops, ACOA/ISA.
• What is incest: Incest victims tell the truth (2007)

Statistics

• Adult Survivors of Incest, Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA)

• Incest
• Family law
• Sex crimes
• Sexual abuse
• Rape
• Anthropology