Talk:Research: Double-Taboo CSA

Potential additions

Raïssa A. de Boer et al., Meta-analytic evidence that animals rarely avoid inbreeding. Nat Ecol Evol 5, pp. 949–964 (2021). <https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01453-9>

Victoria L. Pike et al., Why don’t all animals avoid inbreeding?, The Royal Society, 11 August 2021 Volume 288, Issue 1956 <https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1045>

Human inbreeding avoidance: Culture in nature, in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 6, Issue 1, March 1983 (34 pages) <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00014850>

Recent commentators have noted that the existence of an incest taboo is puzzling when there is little evidence to suggest that many people desire erotic encounters with their own immediate family, although they might find the idea of incest, pornography featuring or simulating incest, or step-relatives through marriage not related by “blood” to be desirable. It’s important to recognize a gap between fantasy and action.

Two recent overview discussions include:

Thomas O’Carroll, Review of Arthur P. Wolf: Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos, Two Aspects of Human Nature, in Sexuality & Culture 21, 323–329 (2017). <https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9327-9>

A. H. Bittles et al., (2002) Does inbreeding lead to decreased human fertility?, Annals of Human Biology, 29:2, 111-130 <https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460110075657>

Abstract excerpt: “In most Western countries there is a widespread belief, fostered in part by historical prejudice and religious proscription, that inbreeding in human populations causes a reduction in fertility. […] To critically assess the overall status of fertility in consanguineous unions, data on 30 populations resident in six countries were collated from a systematic review of the literature. […] The results were, however, subject to a number of potential limitations, in particular lack of control for important socio-demographic variables. To overcome this problem, data on first cousin marriages were abstracted from the National Family and Health Survey conducted in India during 1992-1993. Multivariate analysis showed that fertility in first cousin unions was positively influenced by a number of variables, including illiteracy, earlier age at marriage and lower contraceptive uptake, but the most important of these parameters were duration of marriage and reproductive compensation. In net terms, consanguinity was not found to be associated either with a significant positive or negative effect on fertility.”

Gregory C. Leavitt, (1990) Sociobiological Explanations of Incest Avoidance: A Critical Review of Evidential Claims, American Anthropologist New Series, Vol. 92, No. 4, pp. 971-993 (23 pages) <https://www.jstor.org/stable/680655>

Ray H. Bixler (1982) Sibling incest in the royal families of Egypt, Peru, and Hawaii, Journal of Sex Research, 18:3, 264-281 <https://doi.org/10.1080/00224498209551152>

Abstract excerpt: “Analysts of the incest taboo who believe that cultural determinants alone are a sufficient explanation of human incest avoidance frequently cite alleged sibling marriages in the royal families of Egypt, Hawaii, and Peru as supporting evidence. If full‐sibling incest were common in intact families in several populous societies (where mates other than siblings were available) incest avoidance theories involving genetic components, and natural selection theory itself, would be seriously challenged”.

Ray H. Bixler (1983) The multiple meanings of “incest”, The Journal of Sex Research, 19:2, 197-201 <https://doi.org/10.1080/00224498309551180>

Bixler advocates the importance of distinctions within research, something which remains an issue in 2021, in part because of a taboo around recognizing that those involved in incest can be “willing participants” as Bixler puts it. If researcher’s risk opprobrium for acknowledging their existence, why would they risk studying “willing participants”, “positive experiences”, or making distinctions?

Abstract: “A host of different sexual activities between partners varying widely in age and degree of consanguinity are usually classified as "incest" and often analyzed in toto. Efforts to encourage investigators to draw distinctions between the various kinds of "incest" have not been very successful, in spite of the availability of both research and theory which suggest the need for a definitional reform. Several important theoretical and empirical issues can be clarified if analysts will specify, for incest partners, the ages, degree of consanguinity, the specific types of sexual acts in which they have engaged, the willingness of each participant, and how long and at what age they lived in the same nuclear family unit. The rationale for recording these data is introduced.”

Yates, (1991) Differentiating Hypererotic States in the Evaluation of Sexual Abuse, Journal American Academy Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 30:5, pp. 792-795.

Abstract: When young children behave in a sexual manner, they may be suspected of having been sexually abused. However, this behavior may or may not indicate sexual abuse. Case studies suggest that nonsexually abused children can manifest an increase in erotic behavior on the basis of unusually intense but nonabusive sexual experiences or as part of a compulsion. When the sexual behavior is secondary to abuse, it can be related to posttraumatic stress disorder or intense and prolonged sexual experience.

Alayne Yates, (1982) Children Eroticized by Incest, American Journal of Psychiatry, 139:4, pp. 482-485 <https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.139.4.482>

Abstract: “The assumption that children involved in incest are passive, unwilling victims is an oversimplification of a complex situation. Young children may find such relationships gratifying and, when exposed over time to intense genital and extragenital stimulation, they often become highly erotic. This hypermature responsiveness may be viewed as learned behavior; the behavior is self-reinforcing and may be difficult to modify. The author describes three children to illustrate their arousal, inability to differentiate sensual from affectionate touch, early gender discrimination, and stereotyped role modeling. Foster homes are neither trained nor supported in caring for these children, so serial placements are common.”

David Lester, (1972) Incest, The Journal of Sex Research, 8:4, 268-285 <https://doi.org/10.1080/00224497209550762> Reasonable discussion of research bias.

Lester writes:

“Extensive bias is present in the research carried out on the participants in incest. First, the majority of subjects who come to the attention of researchers are those brought to court as a result of the incest behavior. This increases the apparent incidence in families from the lower social classes and the likelihood of incest being noted in disorganized, unstable families, since these variables increase the chances that the incest will be reported and legal action instituted.

A second source of bias is that many reports of incest in the literature come from families in which some members are in therapy. This increases the likelihood that the participants will be seen as psychologically disturbed. These biases are apparent in that most cases of incest reported are instances of father-daughter incest whereas brother-sister incest is much more common.

A third source of bias is that families are examined after the incest has been reported and legal or therapeutic action taken. These actions may have a profound effect on the family. Gligor (1967) did not find incestuous families disorganized or unstable as Weinberg (1955) did, and Gligor felt that Weinberg's data were a reflection of the disorganization brought about by the legal prosecution of the fathers involved. It is clear from the case reports that prosecution of the father followed by jailing or detention in a psychiatric hospital for many years has a profound effect on the daughters. Usually, the daughters are not allowed to see their fathers during this period, a separation that may be especially traumatic since commonly father-daughter incest is protracted rather than episodic. The guilt, sexual acting-out, and other behavior problems found in the daughters invariably commence after the discovery of the incest and the break-up of the home. In addition, methodological problems are frequent in the research” (pp. 272-273).

Reamy, Kenneth J., and White, Susan E. (1987). "Sexuality in the puerperium: A review," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 16(2), 165-186.

"It has been written that "the survival of the human race, long before the concept of duty evolved, depended upon the satisfaction gained from the two voluntary acts of reproduction -- coitus and breast feeding" (Newton, 1971, 1973; Newton and Newton, 1972). Ellis (1935, p. 49) in his "Psychology of Sex" indicated that Bonnet in 1764 in "Contemplation de la Nature" wrote of "the sweet commotion accompanied by a feeling of pleasure" during lactation as reinforcing the "natural affection" of the mother for the child. In the early 19th century, Cabanis recorded that several lactating women reported that the children in suckling at their breasts produced in them "voluptuous sexual emotions" (Ellis, 1935, p. 49). Contemporary research by Robinson and Short (1977) has indicated a dramatic increase in breast sensitivity within 24 hr of parturition which lasts several days. They see this as a "key event" for activating suckling-induced oxytocin and prolactin release and suppressing ovulation during lactation. "The acquistion of postpartum nipple sensitivity might therefore be the key mechanism controlling the infant's present and future food supply, the mother's behavioral response and her reproductive cycle" (Robinson and Short, 1977, p. 1190).

Common physiologic responses of coitus and lactation include nipple erection, mammary venous dilation and breast warmth, and uterine contractions (Newton and Newton, 1967). Vaginal lubrication and clitoral sensations have also been described (Rossi, 1973). Milk ejection (squirting or spraying as well as dripping) can be triggered by sexual excitement as well as breast feeding (Campbell and Peterson, 1953; Fox and Knaggs, 1969; Harnes, 1980; Masters and Johnson, 1966). Breast stroking and nipple stimulation occur during breast feeding as well as sexual foreplay. Nipple stimulation, used clinically in antepartum fetal monitoring, predictably produces strong uterine contractions (Elliot and Flaherty, 1983; Lenke and Nemes, 1984). Neurohumoral reflexes involving oxytocin secretion may be similar in coitus, lactation, and parturition (Newton, 1973; Newton and Newton, 1967).

[...]

Lactating mothers reported sexual arousal, often to plateau levels of response, during nursing. Orgasm was reported on three occasions. Sexual excitement, including orgasm, associated with the suckling of infants has been reported elsewhere as well (Heiman, 1963; L'Esperance, 1980; Newton, 1971; Sarlin, 1963; Weichert, 1977; Weisskopf, 1980).

Although sexual pleasure manifested during lactation (and incompatible with the concept of asexual motherhood) is believed to be uncommon by some (Harnes, 1980; Lawrence, 1980; Waletsky, 1979), it may be more frequent than realized in uninhibited, unrestricted breast feeding (Pion and Reich, 1977; Riordan and Rapp, 1980; Rossi, 1973). Weichert (1977) indicated that 25% of lactaters in a small sample experienced sexual arousal with nursing. There are women who openly enjoy the sexual stimulation that breast feeding may afford (Sarlin, 1963). Others find it uncomfortable, distasteful, guilt producing, and intolerable to the extent that they wean their infants early (Heiman, 1963; Lawrence, 1980; Salin, 1963; Waletsky, 1979). It has been written that if the sensual feelings the mother experiences during breast feedlng "are accepted as a natural, gratifying maternal experience, (they can) strengthen the feeling of tenderness and commitment to her baby" (Riordan and Rapp, 1980, p. 111). Women have reported increased breast eroticism after the nursing experience (Riordan and Rapp, 1980). Anthropologic studies have revealed that attitudes concerning lactation and sensuality show marked variation among societies. The maternal-infant interchange within the Navajo culture is said to show "highly developed sexual innuendoes" including the occurrence of penile erections of the boy babies during breast feeding (Kluckhohn, 1957). Penile erections during nursing have been described elsewhere as welI (Newton, 1973; Sarlin, 1963; Weisskopf, 1980). The soft, contented "nursing songs" made by babies near the end of nursing when they are relaxed are "similar to the spontaneous noises sometimes made during coitus" (Newton, 1973 , p. 998). After breast feeding "there is often a relaxation (of the suckled infants) that is characteristic of the conclusion of satisfactory sexual response" (Newton, 1973, p. 82). (One might add that there is often a relaxation of the sated adult after a warm meal.) The psychoanalytic literature reports the presence of "vaginal sensations and contractions in suckled female infants" (Heiman, 1963). Sarlin (1963, p. 797) indicated that "the first stirrings of clitoral eroticism and the similar phallic erections during earliest infancy are associated with the passive mouth-breast stimulation by the erect eroticized nipple of the mother's breast during actual feeding." He described the nursing infant as "an active participant in an overtly erotic relationship" (p. 798)."

Nelson, Joan A. (1986). "Incest: Self-Report Findings From a Nonclinical Sample," Journal of Sex Research, 22(4), 463-434.

"In contrast to those studies documenting the damaging effects of incest, a few clinical studies reveal nondamaging incest. For example, Sloane and Karpinski (1942), using interviews from five clinical cases, stated that it was the least harmful, psychologically, for younger children with risk increasing as the subject approaches adolescence. They stated further that if a "nonparticipating adult" is comfortable with the incestuous relationship, harm to the child is decreased (p. 666). Henderson (1975) said that such relations do not always seem to have a traumatic effect and that it sometimes even "diminishes the subject's sense of psychosis and allows a better adjustment to the external world" (p. 1,537). Yorukoglu and Kemph (1966) reported minimal, if any, short term effects for one son in son-mother incest (p. 113). Bender and Blau (1938), utilizing the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale and interview data from four court-referred psychiatric patients, concluded that incest within an endorsing (supporting) family can be nontraumatic (p. 500). Fritz, Stoll, and Wagner (1981) found that 77% of adult women who had been victims of childhood incest had no difficulties with current sexual adjustment, had overcome negative consequences, or did not develop problems in the first place (p. 54).

In addition, a few surveys of nonclinical populations indicate that incest, even between adult males and female children, is sometimes nonproblematic. The Kinsey study of women (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebhard, 1953) indicated that 20% to 24% of the women questioned had been molested as children, about 4% having been approached sexually by adult male relatives before adolescence. The Kinsey researchers said "the contacts often involved considerable affection, and some of the older females in the sample felt that their preadolescent experience had contributed favorably to their later sociosexual development" (p. 121). [...]

Schultz (1980), noting that incest research abounds in myths and cliches, states, 'It may be useful for professionals to assume trauma is absent unless clear evidence contraindicates" (p. 1)."

Researchers worth looking into: James Ramey, Joan Nelson, Seymour Parker, Larry Constantine, Wardell Pomeroy