Dictionary:
in·cest (ĭn'sĕst')  |
[Middle English, from Latin incestum, from neuter of incestus, impure, unchaste : in-, not; see in–1 + castus, pure, chaste.]
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: incest |
For more information on incest, visit Britannica.com.
| Encyclopedia of Judaism: Incest |
Maimonides explains that the female relatives whom a man may not marry are, as a rule, constantly together with him in his home and that he would have no difficulty procuring them. "If we were allowed to marry any of them, and were only precluded from sexual intercourse with them without marriage, most people would constantly have become guilty of misconduct with them. But as they are entirely forbidden to us ... there is reason to expect that people will not seek intercourse and will not think of it" (Guide III, 49).
Punishment for incest varies. In some instances, it consists of death by stoning, in others, death by burning, and in still others, Karet, (a form of Divine punishment), or flogging by the court.
The act of incest, to be considered a capital offense, must consist of sexual intercourse (Shab. 13a), although complete penetration was not required (Maim. Yad, Issuré Bi'ah 1:10). However, since the Torah used the term "near of kin," the sages also prohibited bodily contact that produced physical pleasure (Yad, Issuré Bi'ah 21:1). Kissing and hugging such close relatives as a sister or an aunt is to be avoided, but between a mother and son and a father and daughter it is permissible when the children are minors (21:6,7). Females as well as males are forbidden to commit incest (Yev. 84b).
Incest is condemned by such terms as "depravity" (Lev. 20:14); "corruption" (Lev. 20:12); "reproach" (Lev. 20:17); "indecency" (Lev. 20:21). It is one of the three cardinal sins, along with idolatry and murder, which call for martyrdom rather than transgression. Incest may not be committed to save another person's life (Tos. to Shab. 15:17) nor on medical grounds (Pes. 25a).
| Columbia Encyclopedia: incest |
Bibliography
See J. Shepher, Incest: A Biosocial View (1983); J. B. Twitchell, Forbidden Partners: The Incest Taboo in Modern Culture (1986).
| Psychoanalysis: Incest |
Characterization and definitions vary across cultures, but incest refers to sexual relations between close relatives. Prohibition may be according to custom or morality, and embodied in law. In psychoanalysis, the term is also and especially discussed in terms of fantasy and psychological conflict.
Freud mentioned incest for the first time in his correspondence with Wilhelm Fliess (Draft N, dated May 31, 1897), in which he explained "saintliness" in terms of its impious and anti-social character (1950a). A family primordially promiscuous would be forced to give up incestuous behavior in order to avoid being socially isolated.
Incest subsequently became a central theme in Freud's formulation of the Oedipus complex, defined as a child's conflict between sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex (the "positive" oedipal complex) and repression of that desire. The theory was put forth in Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905d) and in Freud's discussion of the case of "Little Hans" (1909b), among other works.
From the start Freud also discussed the incest taboo in an anthropological context, in terms of its role in the evolution of society. The first chapter of Totem and Taboo (1912-13a) was devoted to "the horror of incest" and was based on the work of contemporary ethnologists. For Freud it was important to establish that such a taboo operated in every human society. This view gained some support in the work of later anthropologists, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, who, however, maintained reservations regarding Freud's obligatory corollary, that the Oedipus complex was "universal." (See André Green [1995] for a discussion of Lévi-Strauss's views.)
Freud held that psychic energy which accumulates through repression of sexual gratification, prohibitions owed to the oedipal situation, becomes an essential force propelling the development of civilization, especially through channels of sublimation. In "'Civilized' Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness" (1908d), Freud suggested that repression can also provoke psychological disorders through the "damming-up" of libido (the "actual" neuroses) or by substitute symptom formation (the psychoneuroses). The price of civilized morality is high when repression adversely affects too many individuals and distorts the social fabric; Freud examined these issues in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921c) and in Civilization and Its Discontents (1930a).
The incest theme has received little attention in contemporary psychoanalytic literature; an exception is Paul-Claude Racamier's interesting treatment of the "incestual" (1995).
Bibliography
Freud, Sigmund. (1905d). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. SE, 7: 123-243.
——. (1909b). Analysis of a phobia in a five-year-old boy. SE, 10: 1-149.
——. (1921c). Group psychology and the analysis of the ego. SE, 18: 65-143.
——. (1908d). "Civilized" sexual morality and modern nervous illness. SE, 9: 177-204.
——. (1912-13a). Totem and taboo. SE, 13: 1-161.
——. (1930a). Civilization and its discontents. SE, 21: 57-145.
——. (1950a [1897]). Draft N. "Impulses, fantasies and symptoms." SE, 1: 173-280.
Green, André. (1995). La Casualité psychique. Paris: Odile Jacob. Propédeutique. La métapsychologie revisitée. Paris: l'Or d'Atalante.
Racamier, Paul-Claude. (1995). L'inceste et l'incestuel. Paris: Éditions du Collège de psychanalyse groupale et familiale.
Further Reading
Simon, Bennett. (1992). Incest—see under "oedipus complex": the history of an error in psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 40, 955-988.
Simon, Bennett, and Bullock, Christopher. (1994). Incest and psychoanalysis: Are we ready to fully acknowledge, bear and understand? Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 42, 1261-1282.
—ROGER PERRON
| Law Encyclopedia: Incest |
The crime of sexual relations or marriage taking place between a male and female who are so closely linked by blood or affinity that such activity is prohibited by law.
Incest is a statutory crime, often classified as a felony. The purpose of incest statutes is to prevent sexual intercourse between individuals related within the degrees set forth, for the furtherance of the public policy in favor of domestic peace. The prohibition of intermarriage is also based upon genetic considerations, since when excessive inbreeding takes place, undesirable recessive genes become expressed and genetic defects and disease are more readily perpetuated. In addition, the incest taboo is universal in human culture.
Rape and incest are separate offenses and are distinguished by the fact that mutual consent is required for incest but not for rape. When the female is below the age of consent recognized by law, however, the same act can be both rape and incest.
The proscribed degrees of incest vary among the different statutes. Some include parent and child, brother and sister, uncle and niece, or aunt and nephew, and first cousins. In addition, intermarriage and sexual relations are also frequently prohibited among individuals who are related by half-blood, including brothers and sisters and uncles and nieces of the half-blood.
In a number of jurisdictions, incest statutes extend to relationships among individuals related by affinity. Such statutes proscribe sexual relations between stepfathers and stepdaughters, stepmothers and stepsons, or brothers- and sisters-in-law, and such relations are punishable as incest. It is necessary for the relationship of affinity to exist at the time the intermarriage or sexual intercourse occurs in order for the act to constitute incest. In the event that the relationship has terminated prior to the time that the act takes place, the intermarriage or sexual intercourse is not regarded as incest.
Affinity ordinarily terminates upon the divorce or death of the blood relation through whom the relationship was formed. Following the divorce or death of his spouse, it is not a violation of incest statutes for a man to marry or have sexual relations with his stepdaughter or his spouse's sister.
Certain statutes require that the individual accused of incest have knowledge of the relationship. In such cases, both parties need not be aware that their actions are incestuous in order for the party who does know to be convicted.
When intermarriage is prohibited by law, it need not be proved that sexual intercourse took place in order for a conviction to be sustained, since the offense is complete on intermarriage. In statutes that define incest as the intermarriage or carnal knowledge of individuals within the prohibited degrees, incest can be committed either by intermarriage or sexual relations.
Some state laws provide that the crime of incest is not committed unless both parties consent to it. When the sexual relations at issue were accomplished by force, the act constitutes rape, and the individual accused cannot be convicted of incest.
It is no defense to incest that the woman had prior sexual relations or has a reputation for unchastity. Similarly, voluntary drunkenness, moral insanity, or an uncontrollable impulse are insufficient defenses.
Punishment for a conviction pursuant to an incest statute is determined by statute.
| Science Dictionary: incest |
Sexual relations between relatives who are forbidden by law to marry; for example, between father and daughter or mother and son.
| Dream Symbol: Incest |
Dreams about incest most often do not refer to physical incest. As a major social taboo, we typically repress awareness of incestuous desires, and these repressed feelings can emerge in one's dream life. Alternatively, an incest dream can symbolize a coming together of different aspects on one's self that have been kept in separate psychological compartments.
| Wikipedia: Incest |
Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons (often within the immediate family) that is illegal or a social taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo vary with culture and jurisdiction. Some societies consider it to include only those who live in the same household, or who belong to the same clan or lineage; other societies consider it to include "blood relatives"; other societies further include those related by adoption or marriage.[1]
The most frequently reported type of incest is father-daughter incest.[2] Incest between adults and prepubescent or adolescent children is considered a form of child sexual abuse[3] that has been shown to be one of the most extreme forms of childhood trauma, a trauma that often does serious and long-term psychological damage, especially in the case of parental incest.[4] Prevalence is difficult to generalize, but research has estimated 10-15% of the general population as having at least one incest experience, with less than 2% involving intercourse or attempted intercourse.[5] Among women, research has yielded estimates as high as twenty percent.[4]
Consensual adult incest is rarely reported.[3] Consensual incest between adults is criminalized in most countries, although it is seen by some as a victimless crime.[6]
Most societies have some form of incest avoidance.[7][8] The incest taboo is and has been one of the most common of all cultural taboos, both in current nations and many past societies,[9] with legal penalties imposed in some jurisdictions. Most modern societies have legal or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages.[10] However, in some societies, such as that of Ancient Egypt, brother–sister, father–daughter, and mother–son relations were practiced among royalty.[11][12] In addition, the Balinese[13] and some Inuit tribes[14] have altogether different beliefs about what constitutes illegal and immoral incest.
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Incest perpetrated by an adult of either gender against a child is called "intrafamilial child sexual abuse." The most-often reported form of incest is of this inherently abusive form. Father-daughter and stepfather-daughter incest is most commonly reported with most of the remaining reports consisting of mother/stepmother-daughter/son incest.[8] Father-son incest is reported less often, however it is not known if the prevalence is less, because it is under-reported by a greater margin.[15][16] Prevalence of parental child sexual abuse is difficult to assess due to secrecy and privacy; some estimates show 20 million Americans have been victimized by parental incest as children.[8]
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime a large proportion of rape committed in the United States is perpetrated by a family member:
Research indicates that 46% of children who are raped are victims of family members.(Langan and Harlow, 1994) The majority of American rape victims (61%) are raped before the age of 18; furthermore, 29% of all forcible rapes occurred when the victim was less than 11 years old. 11% of rape victims are raped by their fathers or step-fathers, and another 16% are raped by other relatives.[17]
A study of victims of father-daughter incest in the 1970s showed that there were "common features" within families prior to the occurrence of incest: estrangement between the mother and the daughter, extreme paternal dominance, the mother's inability to fulfill her traditional parental role and reassignment of some of the mother's major family responsibility to the daughter. Oldest and only daughters were more likely to be the victims of incest. Furthermore, it was stated that the incest experience was psychologically harmful to the woman in later life, frequently leading to feelings of low self-esteem, unhealthy sexual activity, contempt for other women and other emotional problems.[18][clarification needed (needs a better source)]
Adults who were incestuously victimized by adults in their childhood often suffer from low self-esteem, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and sexual dysfunction, and are at an extremely high risk of many mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, phobic avoidance reactions, somatoform disorder, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.[4][19][20]
Childhood sibling–sibling incest is considered to be widespread but rarely reported.[8] Many types of sexual contact between children (e.g., "playing doctor") are not considered harmful or abnormal, but become child-on-child sexual abuse when there is overt and deliberate actions directed at sexual stimulation. The most commonly reported form of abusive sibling incest is abuse of a younger brother or sister, committed by an older brother.[8] A 2006 study showed a large portion of adults who experienced sibling incest have distorted or disturbed beliefs both about their own experience and the subject of sexual abuse in general.[21] An observational study in 1993 found that 16% of the 930 adult women interviewed reported that they had been sexually abused by a sibling before they were 18 years old.[22]
Sibling incest is most prevalent in families where one or both parents are often absent or emotionally unavailable, with the abusive siblings using incest as a way to assert their power over a weaker sibling and thereby express their feelings of hurt and rage.[22] Absence of the father in particular has been found to be a significant element of most cases of sexual abuse of female children by a brother.[23] The damaging effects on both childhood development and adult symptoms resulting from brother–sister sexual abuse are similar to the effects of father–daughter, including substance abuse, depression, suicidality, and eating disorders.[23][24]
While incest between consenting adults has not been widely reported in the past, the internet has shown that this behavior does take place, possibly more often than many people realize. Internet chatrooms and topical websites exist that provide support for incestuous couples.[25]
The majority of adult incestuous relationships between close blood kin (e.g. parent and child or siblings) are what is termed Post-adoption incest. This refers to situations where one or both persons were adopted at or soon after birth and raised for the majority of their lives away from the other person, often have never met or even knowing what they look like.[26] There has been some evidence that this unique situation of both close genetic relation and lack of familial attachment may somehow cause sexual attraction. A study in 1995 found that 50% of adoptees who reunited with kin felt "strong, sexual feelings."[27] They did not necessarily act on these feelings, and at present the data on this phenomenon is largely anecdotal and has not been studied systematically.[26]
In Slate, William Saletan drew a legal connection between gay sex and incest between consenting adults. As he described in his article, in 2003, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum publicly derided the theory of the Supreme Court ruling to allow private consensual sex in the home (primarily as a gay rights move). He stated: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery." However, David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign professed outrage that Santorum placed being gay on the same moral and legal level as someone engaging in incest. Saletan argued that, legally and morally, there is essentially no difference between the two, and went on to support incest between consenting adults being covered by a legal right to privacy.[28]
Marriages and sexual relationships between cousins are viewed differently in many cultures, in both law and religion. In most countries, marriage between cousins is legal, though some religious and cultural restrictions exist in these same nations. Many jurisdictions in the United States and the Netherlands follow a more restrictive doctrine and legally prohibit such marriages as incestuous.[29] Whereas in some countries in the east, eastern Europe and some other places, the marriage between first cousins is allowed.[citation needed] Consanguineous unions remain preferential in North Africa, the Middle East and large parts of Asia, with marriage between first cousins particularly popular.[30] Communities such as the Dhund Abbasi of Pakistan clearly prefer marriages between cousins as they ensure purity of the descent line, provide intimate knowledge of the spouses, and ensure that patrimony will not pass into the hands of "outsiders".[31]
Some cultures include relatives by marriage in incest prohibitions; the legal term for these relationships is affinity rather than consanguinity. In medieval Europe, standing as a godparent to a child also created a bond of affinity.[citation needed] But in other societies, a deceased spouse's brother or sister was considered the ideal person to marry. The Hebrew Bible forbids a man from marrying his brother's widow with the exception that, if his brother died childless, the man is instead required to marry his brother's widow so as to "raise up seed to him" (taken from Deuteronomy 25:5-6). In the United Kingdom the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 criminalized a widower marrying his deceased wife's sister, and was the subject of long and fierce debate in the 19th century, involving, among others, Matthew Boulton.[32][33]
In many cases incest is also inbreeding (depending on the incest taboos of a culture). Inbreeding may lead to a higher proportion of congenital birth defects through an increase in the frequency of homozygotes.[34] The effects of this can diverge - recessive genes that produce birth defects can become more frequent, resulting in a higher rate of these defects while genes that do not code for birth defects can become increased within a population. The overall consequences of this divergence depends in part on the size of the population. In small populations, if children born with heritable birth defects die before they reproduce the ultimate effect of inbreeding will be to decrease the frequency of defective genes in the population with an overall decrease in the number of birth defect-causing genes over time. In larger populations it is more likely that large numbers of carriers will survive and mate, leading to more constant rates of birth defects.[35]
The word 'incest' was introduced into Middle English around 1225 as a legal term to describe the crime of familial incest as it is known 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).[36] 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.[37]
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.
In ancient China, first cousins with the same surnames (i.e., those born to the father's brothers) were not permitted to marry, while those with different surnames (i.e., maternal cousins and paternal cousins born to the father's sisters) were.[38]
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. In the "sequel" to Oedipus, Antigone, his four children are also punished for their parents having been incestuous.
It is generally 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.[39][40][41][42] Some of these incestuous relationships were in the royal family, especially the Ptolemies; Cleopatra VII married more than one of her brothers.
Incestuous unions were frowned upon and considered as nefas (against the laws of gods and man) in the Roman Empire. In AD 295 incest was explicitly forbidden by an imperial edict, 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 sexual relationships with all three of his sisters (Julia Livilla, Drusilla, and Agrippina the Younger).[43] Emperor Claudius, after executing his previous wife, married his niece Agrippina the Younger, changing the law to allow an otherwise illegal union.[44] 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.
Many European monarchs were related due to political marriages, sometimes resulting in distant cousins (and even first cousins) being married. This was especially true in the Habsburg, Hohenzollern and Bourbon royal houses.
Incest is illegal in many jurisdictions. The exact legal definition of "incest," including the nature of the relationship between persons, and the types sexual activity, varies by country, and by even individual states or provinces within a country. These laws can also extend to marriage between subject individuals.
In some places, incest is illegal, regardless of the ages of the two partners. In other places, incestuous relationships between two consenting adults (with the age varying by location) are permitted.
The Book of Leviticus lists prohibitions against sexual relations between various pairs of family members. Men are prohibited, on pain of death, from having sexual relations with their daughters, sisters, 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.[45]
The Quran gives specific rules regarding incest, which prohibit a man from marrying or having sexual relationships with his mother, daughter, sister, paternal or maternal aunt, niece, a woman from whom he has nursed, a woman who has nursed from the same woman as he, his mother-in-law, the daughter of his wives with whom he has consummated the marriage, the wife of his biological son,[46] or his father's wife.[47] . It is also forbidden to be married to two sisters at the same time.[46] A Hadith also prohibits marriage to a woman and her paternal or maternal aunt at the same time.[48] The same applies for a woman with the male counterparts to the aforementioned. However, Islam allows for marriage with first cousins and beyond.
Hinduism speaks of incest in highly abhorrent terms. Hindus were greatly fearful of the bad effects of incest and thus practise strict rules of both endogamy and exogamy within castes (Varna in Hinduism) 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.
Buddhist societies take a strong ethical stand in human affairs and sexual behavior in particular. In most of those societies, incest is regarded as highly abhorrent. However, unlike most other world religions, most variations of Buddhism do not go into details regarding what is right and what is wrong in mundane activities of life. Incest (or any other detail of human sexual conduct for that matter) is not specifically mentioned in any of the religious scriptures. The most common formulation of Buddhist ethics are the Five Precepts and the Noble Eightfold Path, one should neither be attached to nor crave sensual pleasure. These precepts take the form of voluntary, personal undertakings, not divine mandate or instruction. The third of the Five Precepts is "To refrain from committing sexual misconduct". It is understandable that incest itself could constitute "sexual misconduct".[49] 'Sexual misconduct' is a loose term, and is subjected to interpretation relative to the social norms of the followers. In fact, Buddhism in its fundamental form, does not define what is right and what is wrong in absolute terms for the laity.
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| Translations: Incest |
Nederlands (Dutch)
incest, bloedschande
Français (French)
n. - inceste
Deutsch (German)
n. - Inzest, Blutschande
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αιμομιξία
Português (Portuguese)
n. - incesto (m)
Русский (Russian)
кровосмешение
Español (Spanish)
n. - incesto
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
近亲相奸, 乱伦
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 近親相姦, 亂倫
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) سفاح القربى
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - גילוי עריות
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| Can fragile X be associated with incest? |
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