NCJ Number
93308
Date Published
1979
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Personal accounts by members of a family in which a father was sexually involved with his daughter provide insight into incest and the importance of therapeutic services in helping families resolve the underlying problems.
Abstract
Incest is usually committed against daughters by their fathers. The average age of the victim is 8 years old. It is estimated that there are at least 100,000 incest cases in the United States each year, although no effective reporting system exists and most cases may go unreported. The film tells what happened in one particular family and how the mother, father, and daughter reacted to the resulting crisis. In this typical case, incest resulted from problems in family dynamcis: the inability of family members to express affection and a power structure in which the father was the absolute head of the household and the daughter became his ally, placing the blame for disputes on the mother. The film advocates confession by the perpetrator without arrest and recommends therapy rather than prosecution as a means of dealing with the problem. As interviews with a psychiatrist and a representative of a child protection service organization emphasize, successful treatment is contingent on shattering the secrecy surrounding the incest situation. Open family communications, especially in sexual matters, is encouraged as a preventive measure. Family treatment programs and special programs for adult family members can remove the blame from the child and help adults accept their responsibility, enabling the family to function as a unit. This solution offers hope that victimzed children need not face a life marked by guilt, self-doubt, and fear of acceptable sexual involvement.