James Wilson: American incest patterns

Intrafamilia sex, or incest, is on the rise according to Dr. Ralph Dormann a sociopsychoanalyst who not only studies the behavior of individuals but of entire social groups in relationship to their particular environment. At one time, sexual incest was practiced almost exclusively in the upper middle-class and extremely wealthy segments of American society. In isolated pockets such as the Kentucky hill country, families also lived together and slept together as well. Until the turn of this decade, these two extreme segments were representative of the social type, who openly turned inward for sex. Mothers slept with sons, fathers with their daughters and there were even cases where grandmothers, women in their sixties had sexual relations with their grandsons who were still in their teens. As previously stated, these cases were to be found almost exclusively in either the backward hill country of the American South-east, or wealthy families where inbreeding had become a way of life for many generations past. In the mid-1970s, this pattern for incestuous conduct has changed drastically.

In the majority of incestuous case histories that are documented today, the socioeconomic background appears to have very little effect on the participating couples. Incest may occur in the middle class, or the poorer classes as easily and as often as it does in wealthier families.

The motivations for incestuous conduct also appear to be changing in the past, wealthier families who consistently practiced incest wanted to keep their wealth in the family.

They distrusted outsiders, or new blood. Today, they fear for their lives. They are afraid of being exploited, blackmailed or even murdered for lawlessness has increased to a point where the rich trust no one but members of their immediate families. They draw together for social interests, and those social interests include sex. The sex rites of the rich today are not only exercises in pleasure but experiments to discover the most appropriate mate within the family.

The middle class are no less distrustful of strangers than the rich in the 1970s, the advent of the family picnic among the middle class has become an annual and extremely important event. The picnic, usually held on the isolated bank of a river, brings all of the family together, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, cousins, nieces and nephews. Nude bathing has become a vital rite in such an affair. Eventually, the nude bathers pair off and disappear for sex. A mother may seduce her son, a father his daughter, an aunt her nephew and so on.

The widowed women in the family are given the choice of the youngest available boys.

In the poorer segment of society, incest has become more prevalent than ever. When a man dies and leaves a wife who can still bear children, she selects the strongest son, to impregnate her.

The motive? Fear. For the past five years, Dr. Ralph Dormann, a director of the Institute of Human Faetois in Santa Barbara, California has been analyzing many hundreds of incestuous case histories from all of the socioeconomic levels. His very definite conclusion is that fear of strangers outside of the family structure is causing more couples to turn to intrafamilia sex. He compares the situation to feudal times when villagers, all related to each other, erected high walls around the village to keep out intruders who threatened their safety. Today, families are erecting psychological walls, and turning inward to keep out strangers.

Is fear a strong enough motive for modern day couples to condone incestuous sexual activity? According to The Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, "… fear is a recognized threat, characterized by a feeling of disagreeable tension and an impulse to escape danger…"

Dr. Dormann uses this definition when analyzing a case history. This impulse to escape danger, he claims, is a strong enough impulse to goad people toward the incestuous bed. How precisely do people react sexually when gripped by the neurosis of fear? The Encyclopedia states that, "… this reaction (fear) contrasts with anxiety, which consists of vague feelings of impending disaster, arising from indefinable threats. Fear is usually more temporary and more directly related to external events than anxiety; anxiety is likely to be more persistent and to stem primarily from internal problems involving feelings of inadequacy or guilty impulses. The two reactions are frequently found together especially in situations of pervasive danger such as combat…"

In over ninety percent of all case histories analyzed by Dr. Dormann, fear and anxiety were found together. The case subject was not only afraid of outsiders but anxious about his or her own ability to function outside of the family unit. In brief, they were afraid of rejection.

In the family, they knew they would be accepted. But functioning outside of the unit, they were anxious about their own ability to compete. An older woman was afraid her advances towards a desired young boy would be laughingly rejected. But inside the family structure, she knew she had to be accepted. If Grandmother wanted to be sexed by her grandson, she knew her desires would be respected and carried out. An older aunt could select a young nephew for her bedroom companion and she knew also that her request would be quickly and gladly honored. Conversely, an older man could voice a desire to sleep with his young niece or daughter. There would be no problem as to acceptance or rejection. But outside of the family, the older man could be ridiculed or even jailed for making such advances. The family structure provided the older members with security. They could not be harassed by the authorities for having sexual relations with minors, and they needn't fear they would be laughed at by a callous youth.

Intrafamilia sex also provided a sense of security for the younger members of the family, too. Teenage boys are, for the most part, clumsy and inept when it comes to giving a good sexual performance. A young boy often requires the expertise of an older woman, and a young girl, especially a virgin, requires the calm but knowledgeable behavior of an older man.

In sixty-eight percent of the cases studied by Dr. Dormann, he found a history of impotence with partners outside of the family unit. Sexual vigor returned only when the older male had sex with a close relation. This reaction is entirely consistent with known mental and physical responses when the individual is confronted with a situation where his security is threatened. The Encyclopedia concurs:

"… the principal reaction (to fear) is the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system."

When a person finds himself in a threatening situation, large quantities of adrenalin are secreted, quickening the heartbeat, sending blood to the brain and muscles, and in general mobilizing the organism for fight, or flight…

When an inordinate amount of adrenalin is pumped into the blood stream and the individual is mobilized for fight or flight, his sexual responses are almost non-existent. Naturally, impotency occurs. A man gripped with the impulse to flee, or defend himself from a threatening situation is in no condition or mood to perform sexual activities. Many men and women during this turbulent era of the 1970s do find themselves in a condition of mental and physical inadequacy when confronted by a situation outside of the family unit.

As the Encyclopedia goes on to say, "… there are situations, especially in panic, where the body becomes over-mobilized and behavior becomes disorganized. Moreover, if the state of arousal continues for a long period of time, the continual drain may result in psychosomatic disorders…"