Breaking the Silence: Unraveling the Hidden Realities of Incest in Society

Incest involves sexual activities associated with people that are related to one another.it may be between parents and children, uncles with niece or aunts with nephews. It is a social taboo, and in most cases, it occurs in the form of sexual abuse from a family member to a child or an adolescent. Incest is also considered as the common form of child abuse. It is an act that is lowly regarded by the society because of the negative implications that it has on the children. The act also makes children more prone to sexual abuse by strangers. It is an act that causes a lot of emotional damage to children. This is because the aspect of the family turns against these children and are attacked by the people they looked up to and depended on in their lives. It is an act that results in the violation of trust and most of all family safety. It is sometimes accompanied by physical abuse and other acts of sadism, and this has a worse effect on the child. The psychological distress that follows is usually very negative and in most cases kept with high levels of secrecy. Acts of incest are never reported, and it is usually very difficult to. The reasons that make people fail to report the cases of incest and this makes it hard to follow up and solve the cases. It is an act that includes people in blood relationships, stepfamilies those who are related as a result of marriage or adoption or some lineage.it is a great taboo with many restrictions established by the society. Some societies have made it illegal, and this is made so to avoid inbreeding.

One of the biggest justification for the rejection of incest in the society is the negative implications associated with inbreeding. One of these implications includes the development of genetic disorders associated with a close genetic relationship. It includes the development of congenital disorders, physical disabilities and sometimes death. Despite the negative implications of inbreeding which is caused by incest it is not the first cause of prohibition in the society. The most common aspects of the prohibition of incest are to prevent relationships between close family members. This is termed as high-affinity relationships and involves family ties established through marriage and adoption. The next aspect of prohibition is established with the aim of preventing sex that does not lead to pregnancy.

However, in certain societies, incest is encouraged because of its capacity of maintaining a poor bloodline. As a result, close family members are allowed to engage in sexual activity. This is mostly common within royal families. However, sexual relationships with very close relatives are usually forbidden in most parts of the world. Incestuous relationships are common in many societies. There are also many historical accounts that depict incestuous relationships. The Bile has a few accounts of relationships associated with incest (Incest: Causes & Types, 2017).

A good example is a relationship between Abraham and his wife, Sarah. They were both children of the same father Terah but of different mothers. Monarchs around the world have also been associated with the establishment of incestuous relationships. It is, therefore, clear to understand that incest has been around for many years. It has been a factor within many societies. However, it is an act met with a lot of negativity and has never been accepted fully as a norm (Incest: Causes & Types, 2017).

Incest is also considered as a sexual abuse and has great emotional and mental implications on the victims. It is sometimes followed by acts of sadism which leads to the infliction of physical pain on the victims. Incest occurs in stages. The first stage is the engagement process. This is the first stage and is associated with access and existence of opportunities for abuse. The people who carry out these forms of abuse are known to the child. This makes it easier because of an already established trust associated with the existence of a relationship. The engagement stage involves aspects of being alone together which may be intentional or by accident. In most cases, it is initiated by someone older than the victim. The participants are usually advantaged with a position of power for which thy use exert authority over the victim and have them engage in sexual activities (Somer, 2000).

It is then followed by inducements into the sexual acts which take place in the form of mild as well as manner that appear non-threatening. This usually occurs when the participant presents the act in the form of a game or other fun activities. In these situations, the power associated with an already existing trust as well as the older age of the participant becomes sufficient enough to lure the child into the act. It is then followed by actual sexual interaction which is associated with the two exposing some sexual aspects of themselves. This may be in the form of kissing or fondling. With time there is the progression of sexual activities (STAGES OF INCEST, 2017).

Secrecy is also a great aspect of incest sexual activity. It is usually associated with great fear of getting caught. The aspect of secrecy is very important in such a relationship, and it is what keeps it going. As far as sexual abuse is concerned the abuser does not do it to meet his or her sexual needs. The main reason is associated with the need to feel powerful, dominant, important waned and many other psychological factors associated with sexuality and relationships (STAGES OF INCEST, 2017).

The participants engage in sexual activities with the children through abuse to satisfy their flawed sexual and emotional needs. There is a great aspect of persuasion to keep the relationship a secret and to maintain it for a longer period. In most cases, these children never report these situations, and some of them live with them until old age. The stage of secrecy allows sexual activities to progress and sometimes advance. In some cases, the victims become even more susceptible to more instances of sexual abuse which sometimes progress to old age (STAGES OF INCEST, 2017).

Disclosure of sexual abuse as a result of incest are usually very difficult to disclose. However, disclosure ultimately occurs, and the victim does so either purposefully or by mistake. Accidental disclosure occurs when the sexual acts involved aspects of physical abuse that led to injuries that need treatment. In this case, the treatment of the injuries discloses the sexual abuse. Purposeful disclosure is the most common form, and this occurs when the victims share the secret about the abuse to trusted friends or other family members (STAGES OF INCEST, 2017).

The excitement of the sexual situations forces them to share it with others, and as a result, it becomes disclosed. Purposeful disclosure is also associated with the need for the victims to try and escape the family situations associated with the incest (STAGES OF INCEST, 2017).

The news of disclosure is not usually met very well with people. The abuser usually reacts to the situation with a lot of fear. This is because disclosure may lead to legal actions, loss of social status, and other negative reactions from the society. They may become defensive and naturally try to protect themselves. There is also a high chance of hostility to anyone against them and most cases the people in support of the children will be offended by the abuser and attack him or her (Herzog, 2012).

Incest is, therefore, a taboo and has many negative implications especially when it occurs in the form of sexual abuse. When it occurs between an adult and a person who is below the age of 18; considered as the age of consent, then it is referred to as child sexual abuse. This has been viewed by many as an extreme form of child abuse, and this is because it results in the development of long-term psychological problems for the young victims.  It is a social problem which is very difficult to generalize because reporting and disclosure are not common (Somer, 2000).

It is treated with a high level of secret. The most common and studied form of incest is father-daughter. Statistics show that prevalence of incest is at an approximate of ten to fifteen percent of the general population. Reports show more prevalence of attempted intercourse and intercourse and women suffer the most from instances of sexual abuse associated with incest (Herzog, 2012).

Incest is considered a great taboo because of the negative implications it has on the society. It is an act that many people are against, but they still find themselves associated with them. There has been a high emphasis on the need to prevent child abuse which is highly associated with incest. There are high biological costs associated with incest. There are high chances of offspring’s form incest being born with congenital conditions (Somer, 2000).

Consanguineous relationships have been associated with intellectual deficits that are in most cases very server, physical deformities, and other genetic disorders. The odds of delivering a normal offspring from an incestuous relationship is very low. It leads to unwanted pregnancies which bring out the other issue of abortions. Like other forms of sexual abuse, incest puts the victims a very high risk of sexually transmitted diseases. Victims also face long-term emotional turmoil associated with betrayal from close family members. It lowers their self-esteem, beak family ties and alters their behavior (Somer, 2000).

Victims also become more susceptible to more abuse in their lifetimes. Disclosures also put them at risk because abusers may become hostile and threaten them. It is usually easier to offer support victims of abuse by offering them safety, but when abuse occurs within a family, it becomes very difficult to support the victims. The victims end up with a limited sense of trust because the abusers are close family members with whom they had established trust. In other cases, the victim’s parents fail to stop the abuse because of dependence on the abuser. The abuser might have offered them income, shelters, and other basic needs and in such a case it becomes difficult to confront him or her. Sometimes the parents themselves were once victims of incest and therefore, they find sexual abuse to their children through incest as normal (Herzog, 2012).