Voices of adolescent incest victims: A qualitative study on feelings about trauma and expectations of recovery.

BACKGROUND: Incest, is a serious social problem facing society and children/adolescents themselves. The purpose of this study is to explore the ways adolescents talk about and give meaning to their experiences of incest concerning cultural, ethnic factors relevant to southeastern of Turkey. METHOD: We focused on in-depth interviews of five incest victims (14-16 years girls, from low socioeconomic status in southeastern of Turkey). RESULTS: Four key themes were constructed from the qualitative analysis: 1. Unable to understand/Delayed meaning-making: Adolescents provided definitive information about the first abuse memory but they were also unable to understand what they had experienced so they delayed meaning making. 2. Dysfunctional coping style with the incest: Adolescents told that they threatened the perpetrators in various phases of incest. 3. Avoidance of eye contact by the perpetrator: We recognized that perpetrators avoided social contact with the victim. This theme evokes dehumanizing of women during incest. 4. The urge to destroy happy memories: This theme presents data on the adolescents' expectations about recovery. CONCLUSION: According to the themes, two fundamental therapeutic precepts could guide the treatment process for adolescent girl incest survivors: 1. Exploration of the delayed meaning making: Therapist could address dysfunctional family functioning and explain that it is normal for a child to be delayed in meaning making. 2. Recovery of the adolescent's lost self after semantic dehumanization in abuses: Therapist should help her to dispute irrational beliefs about worthlessness and to gain control of her body.

Evolution of kinship structures driven by marriage tie and competition.

The family unit and kinship structures form the basis of social relationships in indigenous societies. Families constitute a cultural group, a so-called clan, within which marriage is prohibited by the incest taboo. The clan attribution governs the mating preference and descent relationships by certain rules. Such rules form various kinship structures, including generalized exchange, an indirect exchange of brides among more than two clans, and restricted exchange, a direct exchange of brides with the flow of children to different clans. These structures are distributed in different areas and show different cultural consequences. However, it is still unknown how they emerge or what conditions determine different structures. Here, we build a model of communities consisting of lineages and family groups and introduce social cooperation among kin and mates and conflict over mating. Each lineage has parameters characterizing the trait and mate preference, which determines the possibility of marriage and the degree of cooperation and conflict among lineages. Lineages can cooperate with those having similar traits to their own or mates', whereas lineages with similar preferences compete for brides. In addition, we introduce community-level selection by eliminating communities with smaller fitness and follow the so-called hierarchical Moran process. We numerically demonstrate that lineages are clustered in the space of traits and preferences, resulting in the emergence of clans with the incest taboo. Generalized exchange emerges when cooperation is strongly needed, whereas restricted exchange emerges when the mating conflict is strict. This may explain the geographical distribution of kinship structures in indigenous societies.

Psycho-Social Effects of Father-Daughter Incest: Views of South African Social Workers.

Father-daughter incest (FDI) is one of the most prohibited sexual acts and is increasingly becoming a widespread problem in South Africa. Specifically, the study explored factors contributing to incest, how incidences of incest become known, different ways that incest affects the offender, the victim and the family as well as how professionals intervene in incest cases. The literature was reviewed to fully understand incest within the Western and African context, the relationship of father-daughter in the incest act, what influences the occurrence of father-daughter incest and what measures are taken to intervene in father-daughter incest cases. A qualitative approach was used in this study and focused on exploring the psychosocial effects of incest on the victims and the offender as well as the family's perspectives affected by such experiences. Systems theory, psychoanalytic and trauma theory formed the theoretical framework of this study.

Betrayed and Broken: A Study of the Experiences of Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in the Ga Community in Accra, Ghana.

Child sexual abuse is increasingly becoming an issue of concern in most societies across the globe, including Ghana. This is a phenomenological study that sought to describe the lived experiences of victims of child sexual abuse in Ghana, using the Ga community as a case study. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify 17 sexually abused children in the Ga Community. Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), four main themes described the experiences of the victims: (a) forced sex (b) incest (c) joleying and (d) transactional sex. The findings illustrate the different circumstances in which children were sexually abused in the community studied. It also presents socio-cultural factors that normalizes the sexual abuse of children in the Ga Community. These findings underline the need for effective preventive programs and community interventions to protect children and support victims of child sexual abuse.

[Sexual violence against women in Tunisia]. / Violence sexuelle exercée sur les femmes en Tunisie.

BACKGROUND: Sexual violence exists everywhere in the world. It depends mainly on the cultural and religious norms conveyed in the various societies. This is a neglected area of research. Available data are insufficient, especially in Arab-Muslim context. METHODS: In this paper, we comprehensively review the scientific literature in order to clarify the cultural, religious and legal aspects of the concept of sexual violence against women in Tunisia, and ask the question of the urgent need to put in place strategies to counter this problem. RESULTS: The National Office for Family and Population published in 2011 the results of the national survey on violence against women in Tunisia, including data on sexual violence and its impact on women's health and well-being. According to this survey, 14.2% of women reported having been sexually abused by an intimate partner during their lifetime and 9.0% reported having experienced it during the last 12 months. One out of every six Tunisian women has been the victim of a sexual violence in a conjugal setting. More men than women legitimized violence against women in contexts where family control, especially conjugal control, is exercised over them. In a study examining the impact of culture and religion on experiences and sexual practice of women in Tunisian society, the majority of respondents thought that sexuality in women was a religious duty and that they do not have the right to refuse their husbands or to rebel. Thus, women would be doubly sanctioned having neither the right to express their desire nor not to respond to their husband's desire. A survey of a representative sample of Tunisian women found that 56.9% of the participants reported being victims of domestic violence, particularly sexual violence (10.7%) consisting mainly of rape and sodomy, at least once in their lifetime. This survey showed that those victims expressed dissatisfaction with overall quality of life. Moreover, contrary to Western literature, sexual violence was the least reported form of violence by teenage girls in Tunisian schools. Indeed, cultural values of modesty, virginity and honor are socially much more demanded for girls, in Arab countries in general, reinforcing staggering silence and inaction around violence experienced by school-aged adolescents. In Tunisian society, the cultural "solution" to rape wants the woman to marry her rapist which safeguards her family's integrity by legitimizing the union. CONCLUSION: Sexual violence has detrimental effects on female victims' physical and mental health. Even if the information on this form of violence is not easy to obtain in our environment, and that rates of subjects reporting sexual violence in their lifetimes are not important, the problem of sexual violence must be considered as a public health problem requiring urgent interventions and a greater institutional will.

Action research improves services for child sexual abuse in one Caribbean nation: An example of good practice.

BACKGROUND: Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a multi-dimensional problem. The search for best practice must consider the complexities surrounding CSA and its management in any particular society. OBJECTIVE: Data previously gathered from service providers on CSA service provision in Trinidad and Tobago identified key deficient issues in policy and practice. In this paper, researchers aimed to bridge the gaps identified, and effect changes to improve services for CSA using an action research methodology. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Service providers from all sectors in governmental and non-governmental organizations in Trinidad and Tobago, who work with children at risk of CSA were involved in the process. METHODS: Researchers led the service providers into an awareness of their own practice through critical discussion of, and reflection on, the key deficient issues. The new knowledge generated, with guided input from evidenced-based best practice, led to the development of guidelines for management. Discussion of the practicability of the guidelines by service providers in multiple sectors generated more new knowledge that refined the management approach. RESULTS: The contextual knowledge obtained from service providers resulted in best practice guidelines for service providers that were culturally relevant and context-sensitive, adaptive and implementable, and allowed a seamless multidisciplinary response to CSA in Trinidad and Tobago within prevailing constraints. CONCLUSIONS: Action research offers an effective approach to improve services for CSA through mobilization of service providers and changes in policy and practice. It is applicable in any setting and likely to be effective in any socio-cultural context.

Evitação e proibição do incesto: fatores psicobiológicos e culturais / Évitement et prohibition de l'inceste: facteurs psychobiologiques et culturels / La evitación y la prohibición del incesto: factores psicobiológicos y culturales / Incest avoidance and prohibition: psychobiological and cultural factors

Embora historicamente a regulação proibitiva do incesto seja considerada um fenômeno cultural quase universal que não é influenciado por fatores psicobiológicos relativos à história evolutiva da espécie humana, evidências recentes têm questionado essa visão tradicional e defendido que a evitação e a proibição do incesto são influenciadas biológica e cognitivamente com a cultura. Este artigo objetiva desenvolver uma discussão teórica acerca da inibição e proibição do incesto, enfatizando os mecanismos evolutivos subjacentes a esses fenômenos. Argumenta-se a existência de mecanismos endógenos que evoluíram porque inibem a atividade sexual entre parentes próximos e que formam a base para regular socialmente a proibição do incesto (mecanismo exógeno). Destaca-se o efeito Westermarck, no qual a proximidade de pessoas que vivem juntas desde a infância provoca uma aversão ao intercurso sexual entre elas. A ausência de propensão ao incesto e sua proibição institucional constituem uma complexa integração entre fatores psicobiológicos e culturais.

Bien que, historiquement, le règlement prohibitif de l'inceste est considéré comme un phénomène culturel presque omniprésente pas influencé par des facteurs psychobiologiques liés à l'évolutionniste de l'histoire de l'espèce humaine, des preuves récentes ont contesté ce point de vue traditionnel et fait valoir que la prévention et la prohibition de l'inceste sont influencées biologiquement et cognitivement le long à la réglementation culturelle. Cet article vise à développer une discussion théorique sur l'interdiction et la prévention de l'inceste, mettant l'accent sur les mécanismes de l'évolution sous-tendent à ces phénomènes. On fait valoir l'existence de mécanismes endogènes qui ont évolué car ils inhibent l'activité sexuelle entre proches parents et qui forment la base de l'interdiction formulée culturellement de l'inceste (mécanisme exogène). L'effet Westermarck est mis en évidence, dans lequel la proximité des personnes qui vivent ensemble depuis la petite enfance déclenche une aversion pour les rapports sexuels entre eux. L'absence de propension à l'inceste et son interdiction institutionnelle représentent une intégration complexe entre les facteurs psychobiologiques et culturels.

Aunque históricamente la prohibición del incesto es considerada como un fenómeno cultural, casi universal, que no está influenciada por factores psicobiológicos relacionados con la historia evolutiva de la especie humana, las evidencias recientes han desafiado este punto de vista tradicional, argumentando que la prevención y la prohibición del incesto son influenciados biológica y cognitivamente juntos a la regulación cultural. Este texto tiene como objetivo desarrollar una discusión teórica de la inhibición y el tabú del incesto, subrayando los mecanismos evolutivos que subyacen a estos fenómenos. Argumenta la existencia de mecanismos endógenos evolutivos que inhiben la actividad sexual entre parientes cercanos y forman la base para la prohibición del incesto culturalmente formulado (mecanismo exógeno). Se pone de relieve el efecto Westermarck en el que la proximidad de las personas que viven juntas desde la primera infancia provoca una aversión a las relaciones sexuales entre ellas. La falta de propensión hacia el incesto y su prohibición institucional forman una integración compleja entre los factores psicobiológicos y culturales.

Although historically the incest prohibitive regulation is considered an almost ubiquitous cultural phenomenon that is not influenced by psychobiological factors related to the evolutionary history of human species, recent findings have challenged this traditional view and argued that the incest avoidance and prohibition are influenced by biological and cognitive factors along with cultural regulation. This article aims to develop a theoretical discussion about incest prohibition and avoidance, emphasizing the evolutionary mechanisms underlying these phenomena. One argues the existence of endogenous mechanisms that have evolved for inhibiting sexual activity between close relatives and form the basis to regulate the incest prohibition (exogenous mechanism) socially. The Westermarck effect is highlighted, in which the close proximity of persons living together from early childhood triggers sexual intercourse aversion between them. The absence of disposition to incest and its institutional prohibition represent a complex integration between psychobiological and cultural factors.

Disgust, Gender, and Social Change : Testing Alternative Explanations for the Decline of Cousin Marriage in Karo Society.

Among the Karo of Indonesia, the frequency of matrilateral cross-cousin (impal) marriage has declined in recent decades. We conducted a vignette experiment to assess the contributions of a handful of factors in shaping this pattern. Surprisingly, we found that cosocialization of a hypothetical woman with her impal led to increased judgments of marriage likelihood and decreased feelings of disgust in male and female respondents (n = 154). We also found that females, more than males, judged impal marriage more likely when there were practical advantages. Finally, we found that younger men expressed more disgust in response to impal marriages than did older men, while women displayed an opposite but weaker reaction. This suggests the existence of gender-specific changes in attitudes toward the practice, indicating that a full understanding may require the application of sexual conflict theory. Our study illustrates the potential utility-and limitations-of vignette experiments for studying social change.

Do incest, depression, parental drinking, serious romantic relationships, and living with parents influence patterns of substance use during emerging adulthood?

This study examined how incest, depression, parental drinking, relationship status, and living with parents affect patterns of substance use among emerging adults, 18 to 25 years old. The study sample included (n = 11,546) individuals who participated in Waves I, II, and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The study used separate latent class analysis for males and females to determine how patterns of substance use clustered together. The study identified the following three classes of substance use: heavy, moderate, and normative substance use patterns. Multinomial logistic regression indicated that, for females only, incest histories also nearly doubled the risk of heavy-use class membership. In addition, experiencing depression, being single, and not living with parents serve as risk factors for males and females in the heavy-use group. Conversely, being Black, Hispanic, or living with parents lowered the likelihood of being in the group with the most substance use behaviors (i.e., heavy use). Findings highlight the need for interventions that target depression and female survivors of incest among emerging adults.

Milk banks through the lens of Muslim scholars: one text in two contexts.

When Muslims thought of establishing milk banks, religious reservations were raised. These reservations were based on the concept that women's milk creates 'milk kinship' believed to impede marriage in Islamic Law. This type of kinship is, however, a distinctive phenomenon of Arab tradition and relatively unknown in Western cultures. This article is a pioneer study which fathoms out the contemporary discussions of Muslim scholars on this issue. The main focus here is a religious guideline (fatwa) issued in 1983, referred to in this article as 'one text', by the Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi who saw no religious problem in establishing or using these banks. After a number of introductory remarks on the 'Western' phenomenon of milk banks and the 'Islamic' phenomenon of 'milk kinship', this article analyses the fatwa of al-Qaradawi 'one text' and investigates the 'two contexts' in which this fatwa was discussed, namely, the context of the Muslim world and that of Muslim minorities living in the West. The first context led to rejecting the fatwa and refusing to introduce the milk banking system in the Muslim world. The second context led to accepting this system and thus allowing Muslims living in the West to donate and receive milk from these banks. Besides its relevance to specialists in the fields of Islamic studies, anthropology and medical ethics, this article will also be helpful to physicians and nurses who deal with patients of Islamic background.

The primal scene in cross-species and cross-cultural perspectives.

A review of cross-species and cross-cultural research suggests that, throughout most of human behavioral evolution, children may have been enlightened as to the facts of life by observing parental intercourse and then imitating it in sexual rehearsal play in the context of a continuously rising curve of sexual desire and sexual knowledge throughout childhood. Concealment of the primal scene and prohibition of cross-generational, bisexual, and 'polymorphously perverse' childhood sex play may be of relatively recent origin in human cultural evolution, buttressed by the instillation of culturally acquired sexual disgust in sexually conservative cultures. Looking at the primal scene in cross-species and cross-cultural perspectives utilizing the adaptationist framework of contemporary evolutionary biology can challenge normative assumptions that may still be embedded in psychoanalytic theories of species-wide psychosexual development.

"Every family become a school of abominable impurity": incest and theology in the Early Republic.

Using the controversy surrounding marriage with a deceased wife's sister that occupied Presbyterian and Congregationalist theologians of the early Republic, this essay explores the eroticization of the sentimental family and the contours and crises of the incest prohibition in the wake of the Revolution. The essay begins by tracing the history of ecclesiastical trials of incestuous marriage in the Presbyterian church, arguing that the failure of the synods and General Assembly to offer definitive judgments of such marriages suggests a tension in the force of a transcendent incest prohibition. Two cases from the late 1820s, in particular, gained national attention in both the theological and secular press, and force the Presbyterian church to explore the legitimacy of their incest prohibition, and exploration that lead, ultimately, to a constriction of the incest prohibition as written in the Westminster confession of Faith. I then turn to the conjunction of kinship, sexuality, and sentiment that animates the texts comprising the controversy and argue that, in an effort to defend an expansive interpretation of the Levitical incest prohibitions these theologians were among the earliest writers to argue that sentimental, affectionate relations between family members were inherently erotic. In this sense, the family becomes the primary site for the deployment of sexuality. Such a concern about the incestuous nature of family relations, in turn, forced theologians to consider the problem of incest in the postlapsarian origins of society.

Travelling the path from fantasy to history: the struggle for original history within Freud's early circle, 1908-1913.

Between 1908 and 1913, Freud and his disciples debated different theories of the origins of mankind, which Freud analysed in the context of his theory of neuroses. Wittels was the first of this group to present, in 1908, what Freud labelled a "fantasy" on the subject. Wittels contemplated various prehistoric scenarios (such as a murder of the father by his children) which he postulated as potential explanations for the origin of man's conception of religion, law and state. Freud (1913) eventually conceived his own human prehistory which differed significantly from the ideas of Wittels and his other disciples (Jung, Tausk) and allowed him to claim he now held a "historical" point of view that his disciples were missing.

Maternal incest as moral panic: envisioning futures without fathers in the South African lowveld.

During 2008, rumours about revolting incestuous encounters between sons and their mothers circulated in the Bushbuckridge municipality of the South African lowveld. This article views these rumours as expressing moral panic, paying particular attention to the historical contexts of their emergence and circulation, and to their temporal orientation. I locate these rumours in the periphery of South Africa's de-industrialising economy, marked by increased unemployment and criminality among men and by a growing prominence of women-headed households. They express a regressive temporalisation and pessimistic vision, not of development, progress and civilisation, but rather of deterioration and de-civilisation. Through the alleged act of incest, sons who engage in crime usurp the authority of fathers who once produced value in strategic industries and mines. As such the rumours envision a dystopia marked by the 'death of the father' and chaotic disorder without morality and law.

Sexual abuse and violence among adolescent girls in Botswana: a mental health perspective.

The presence of sexual abuse among societies in Botswana is a phenomenon whose occurrence is usually denied albeit the police report on it and legal frameworks have been established to combat it. Several factors influence the concealment of sexual abuse among adolescent girls, which includes cultural factors and social status of the perpetrators. This paper espouses the concept of sexual abuse among adolescent girls, the existence of the problem, its magnitude, the factors that increase vulnerability to violence and abuse, and how these factors intersect with HIV and AIDS. Two case studies using a discovery method were used to explore the phenomenon under the study. The findings of the study indicated that sexual abuse and violence have profound mental health consequences including guilt, anxiety, depression and anger. Future research is suggested to explore this problem on a wider scale and develop interventions that can assist victims and perpetrators to cope with the situation.

Sin vergüenza: addressing shame with Latino victims of child sexual abuse and their families.

This article explores shame issues for Latino children who have been sexually abused and their families. Latino cultural concerns around shame that are associated with sexual abuse include: attributions for the abuse, fatalism, virginity, sexual taboos, predictions of a shameful future, revictimization, machismo, and fears of homosexuality for boy victims, and the intersection of shame from sexual abuse with societal discrimination. Quotes and case material are drawn from the author's research and clinical work. The article includes clinical suggestions.

Childhood sexual abuse among Black women and White women from two-parent families.

Differences in childhood sexual abuse (CSA) between Black women and White women are explored in a community sample of 290 women raised in two-parent families.A self-administered questionnaire and a face-to-face interview assessed CSA characteristics, aftermath, and prevalence as well as family structure and other childhood variables. Siblings served as collateral informants for the occurrence of CSA. Overall, comparisons of the nature, severity, and aftermath of CSA showed similarities by race; some differences, for example, in age of onset, are potentially relevant for the planning of prevention programs. Logistic regression models examined effects of childhood variables on CSA prevalence. Initial analyses showed a higher CSA prevalence among Black women (34.1% [45] of Black women vs. 22.8% [36] of White women) that was attenuated when family structure (e.g., living with two biological parents throughout childhood or not) and social class were considered. Of interest, differences in family structure remained important even among these two-parent families. Understanding the dynamics of abuse by race and family structure will facilitate the design of more targeted CSA prevention programs.

Familiarity breeds: incest and the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

This paper examines the problem of Ptolemaic incest from a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives. Specifically, it seeks to establish the following: that there is little in the ancient record to support the common claim that the Ptolemies suffered extensively from the deleterious genetic effects of inbreeding; that the various theories so far put forward as explanations for Ptolemaic incest offer at best only a partial rationale for this dynastic practice; that the most compelling rationale for Ptolemaic incest is to be found in complex, and perhaps unconscious, symbolic motivations analogous to those observed by anthropologists in other cultures; and finally, that, for the Ptolemies, incest was, like the "truphê" for which they were so notorious, a dynastic signature which highlighted their singularity and above all, their power.