incest
Until very recently around early part of 1970's, the sexual assault of children within their families was rarely openly discussed until the emergence of the second wave of feminism. Incest has been variously defined. The definition that will be used here is a wide one, which includes sexual assault of a female child by a male member of her immediate family ( father or stepfather) or extended family (brother, grandfathers and uncles) and/or trusted family friends. These men are in generally in a relationship with the child which involves trust and respect to an authority on the side of child, and family, social and economic power on the side of the perpetrator. Children are vulnerable and dependent on adults for their very survival. As with other crimes of sexual assault, the sexual abuse of children is a crime which is characterized by a high incidence of under- reporting. The reasons for this include the fact that the abuse is taking place within the privacy of the family. The victims are children of all ages some of whom are so young they cannot talk and do not have the knowledge to know that anything is wrong. The perpetrators are men whose authority children are told to obey. Often the child is also threatened to keep w
According to this approach the traditional gender roles for men and women must be fulfilled, i. Secondly, the initial aim of feminism was to educate not to develop a theory on child sexual abuse and as a result feminist have understood incest as abuse of power that was gender specific and age oriented. Gender is the social construction of masculinity and femininity. Patriarchy is defined as male dominance over women , children are invisible in this definition. Firstly, the initial Feminist theory (as does Freud's psychoanalytical theory and dysfunctional family model) only focuses on one type of abuse - Incest. He placed the blame and responsibility for childhood sexual abuse and incest on the "seductive child," not on the offender where it should have been. Within these patriarchal families there is a sever power imbalance between women , children and men. Thirdly, Children's experiences are not the focal point of feminist analysis (as with dysfunctional family and Freud's psychoanalytic theory).
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Acceptance Essays
