Preface
Incest is the universal crime, it violates a society that is as forceful among primitives as among sophisticated moderns. It is behavior that disrupts or destroys the social intimacy and sexual distance upon which family unity depends. It is the resource of every disturbed and very perverse persons.
Incest is forbidden by law in all states of the U.S.,. though the definitions of what constitutes incest vary considerable. In California, the sentence can be from one to fifty years in prison. Some states confine their definition of incest to blood relationships, others consider stepchildren and step-parents included. It is a complicated and absurd network of confusion and varies widely by states. There is no uniform treatment of incest in this country and most of our laws are still based on ancient biblical prohibitions, which shows how little grasp we have of this taboo.
Since we are not a theocracy, it is amazing that we should have a set of laws that are based on religious doctrine. These laws are also hardest to change, for they go deep into our religious history and traditions. "If the Bible says it's so, it must be so," is the common belief of the masses when resisting logic. But it is not our purpose here to delve into the varied ramifications of these strange, outdated laws. Rather, it is enough to state that incest is still in that shadow-world of legislation where almost everyone is too fearful of society's taboos to tamper with it. It's a shame, because in this instance, most of us are still in the pre-dark ages, far behind the pace of a society that is both progressing towards sophistication, yet is held back by a vast number of well-meaning but ignorant "plain folk."
It is also a pity that we cannot explain the reasons for the strong taboo against incest. Certainly we have numerous examples of its working throughout recorded history and within our own lives.
Quite a few legislators and authorities hold with the above view, and it has served both as a basis for definition and as a guide to dealing with offenders. An opposite view, however, is held by the philosopher and jurist Rene Guyon, And indeed, when we arrive at the state of social development at which taboos are asked to show their raison d'etre, we soon discover that, in this particular matter of incest at any rate, no solid grounds at all can be produced. There are no logical or physiological arguments of any kind available.
However this write is in agreement with R. E. L.
Masters, who also writes:
Quite plainly, there exists no adequate understanding of incest. By and large, sexologists have neglected or avoided, or at any rate failed to discuss, consumated incest. Compared to the great masses of material available on so many other varieties of sexual experience, the writings on incest are slight.
We find both of the latter views to be more realistic, and though we seek a key to the understanding of the tapestry of incest, we lose the thread in most instances. Partly, this is due to the fact that we have so few case histories to work with, and partly because of the taboo itself. We rely on literature to give us the back-ground, and attempt to keep all the threads intact through the study of modern sexual behavior. It is not a hopeless task by any means, but it is held back by society's unwillingness to dig deep into both its behavior patterns and its motivational factors, especially regarding incest.
Greek and Roman mythology is abundant with sexual experiences regarding the gods, and incest is quite commonplace, among other aberrations, in this literature. Zeus raped his mother Rhea, and married his sister Hera. He also copulated with his daughter Persephone (when he raped Demeter, Persephone was conceived). Oceanus and Hyperion indulged in brother-sister incest. Coelus (Heaven) and Terra (Earth) were united incestuously, being brother and sister respectively. Their son Titan, later married his mother Terra. Enceladus was born as a result of that union, and became oddly enough, both the son and grandson of incest. The Titans also were incestuous with their own sister, and this resulted in numerous offspring.
Caligula, the Roman emperor, was inspired by Jupher's marriage to Juno (Zeus and Hera in Greek myth) and married his sister Drusilla. Nero's liaison with his mother was a gruesome affair and will be touched upon in the mother-son section of this book.
Egyptian mythology is full of incest. Notable here are the sisters Isis and Nephthys, who married their brothers, Osiris and Set. The dynasties were said to have been completed incestuously, with Cleopatra being an apparently marvelous example of the perfection achieved by intermarriage.
It may be seen by the examples in the foregoing chapter that brother-sister incest is not only common, but is most often undetected by society. Few cases of this type of incest end up in the courts. We might say that its prevalance depends a great deal on opportunity. While no statistics are available on just where incest occurs most often, that is in which portions of the country, or whether urban or rural the cases we see most often involve brothers and sisters who are not brought up strictly in urban areas of our country. As the country expands its metropolises, however, this may be changing, and cases of brother-sister incest could occur more frequently in our cities.