Re: sibling incest and consent

[lisa fontes <lfontes@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Even the seemingly "neat" categories supplied by Jennifer Guimond below are
messy. I remember a student disclosing to me tearfully after a university
class on child sexual abuse that her brother--who was less than 2 years
older--had dragged her off to his room IN FRONT OF THEIR PARENTS "for a good
tickling" repeatedly over the years. She had tried to disclose to her
parents who hadn't believed her. he was (and remains) the preferred son--on
his way to medical school, while she was (and remains) the troubled younger
sister. She was quite distressed to learn that their relations would be
considered "consensual" because of their relatively small age difference.
She did not feel they were consensual at all. I guess there are many ways in
which a sibling can have power over another--and many would not be
discovered in a typical quantiative research study.

Jennifer Guimond wrote:

> The consent issue in sibling incest can be pretty fuzzy when the
> siblings in question are close in age and no obvious coercion is
> present.  My reading of the literature suggests that sexual contact
> between siblings can be classified in three ways:
>
> 1.  age-appropriate sexual play and exploration by children of similar
> age.
> 2.  sexual abuse in which one child clearly has more power than the
> other due to age, status in the family, physical strength, etc.
> 3.  consensual age-inappropriate sexual contact such as an 11-year-old
> and 12-year-old having consensual sexual intercourse.
>
> The first two scenarios have been studied, but the third scenario is
> less understood.  The third scenario involves sexual contact that is not
> age-appropriate exploration but is also not coercive.  When researchers
> study sexual abuse, they use a 5 year age difference between the victim
> and the perpetrator as a criteria for sexual abuse.  Thus, many cases of
> sibling incest (as well as incest with cousins) may be overlooked.
>
> I find the topic fascinating and I would love to exchange e-mail and
> share references with anyone else on the list.
>
> Jennifer Guimond