the child's behavior in terms of adult, sexual themes, lewd reading and video-tape watching with the child, use of objectifying, sexualizing language, and invasive hygienic practices; and
(2) overt incest manifesting itself in behaviors such as french kissing, exhibitionism, fondling, fellatio, cunnilingus, penetration with objects, intercourse, and sodomy.
Historically, incest and the public reaction to it has been rooted in the incest taboo. According to authors such as Ford and Beach (1951), Cohen (1978) and Ullerstam (1966), the taboo against sexual relationships with particular relatives arose early in human history. However, the type of relatives which one was required to refrain from having sexual interactions with, has and does vary from culture to culture.
Cohen (1978) has noted that when the incest taboo is examined across thousands of cultures, the group of prohibited partners increases as the complexity of the society decreases. For example, both the Cheyenne Indians and the Kwonia of New Guinea include in-laws in the prohibited group whereas most modern-day industrial societies limit the prohibited group to the immediate family household.
Ullerstam (1966) reported that regardless of which relatives are or are not included in the prohibited group, most societies allow exceptions to the rule. For example, royal marriages have often been incestuous on the grounds of preserving the "royal blood." Similarly, when the incestuous act is associated with beneficent "magic," it will be allowed in some societies such as when African hippo hunters engage in sex with their daughters on the night before the hunt because they believe that the incestuous act will improve their luck on the hunt.
Cohen (1978) stated that the incest taboo arose in order to expand tribes, clans, and small social collectives, thereby increasing their limited sources of materials and products by marriage outside of their group. As soc...