Incest
From Encyclopædia
{in'-sest} Incest is prohibited sexual relations between members of the same
kinship group. It is almost universally proscribed between unmarried members of the NUCLEAR FAMILY (between siblings or between parents and children). In many cultures the definition of incest includes other relatives also, although which ones varies from society to society.Most social scientists believe that the primary purpose of the
prohibition, often called the incest
taboo, is to protect the nuclear family from the consequences of sexual rivalry and jealousy. The
taboo is linked with the rule of EXOGAMY, which requires
marriage outside of one's family. Besides reinforcing the incest
prohibition, this rule prevents families from becoming culturally ingrown and encapsulated through perpetual ENDOGAMY, or
marriage within specified segments of a society.
marriage to relatives outside the nuclear family is common in a
number of cultures, however, and it is no longer widely believed that the incest
prohibition serves principally to guard against inbreeding as a negative biological consequence of incest.Some societies permit explicit, rare exceptions to the incest
prohibition for cultural reasons. Such exceptions have included brother-sister
marriage among the royal families in ancient
Egypt, among the INCA, and in traditional Hawaiian society. Unpermitted violations occur with varying
frequency in all societies, and incest in the form of
child abuse is a major social concern.James
Lowell Gibbs, Jr.
bibliography: Arens, W., The Original Sin (1986); Fox, R., The Red
lamp of Incest (1983); Goodwin, J.M., Sexual Abuse, 2d ed. (1989); Herman, J., Father-Daughter Incest (1982); Maisch, Herbert, Incest, ed. by Fernando Henriques, trans., by Colin Bearne (1973); Russell, D., The Secret Trauma (1986); Twitchell, J.B., Forbidden Partners (1986).
