Incest

Incest (§ 188 Criminal Code) is defined as  sexual intercourse between individuals so closely related that legal marriage is therefore excluded. In addition to blood relatives, the incest taboo also includes step-parents and other persons who live in the same household and directly participate in the upbringing and protection of the object.

The reason for the prohibition of incestuous behavior lies in the low mutual  erotic attractiveness  of individuals who live together in the same family. This low mutual attractiveness motivates a higher interest in extrafamilial sexual contacts. The lower sexual attractiveness of members of one's own family is one of the attributes of the sexual behavior of all higher mammals. It is especially true for those individuals who grew up together. The beginning of this phenomenon is undoubtedly the low sexual attractiveness of the children's object for standard, i.e. non-deviant,  motivated individuals. Interestingly, lower mutual sexual attraction also occurs in biologically unrelated individuals who were raised together. For example, it is known that the vast majority of individuals who were raised in Israeli kibbutzim establish partner relationships outside their starting community.

It is important for the victim that incestuous relationships do not prolong unnecessarily. Timely resolution of the problem is related to the victim's ability to somehow signal his problem to the surroundings. Various "low-threshold" centers for counseling and assistance to victims of sexual offenses play an irreplaceable role in this direction.

If the crime of incest is dealt with by the police, the interests of the child victim should be consistently taken into account. Secondary traumatization does not have to be tied only to the tactlessness or recklessness of the investigators. Today, specialized investigation teams no longer usually commit direct traumatization of abused children. However, the long-term consequences of incest are lower if the child's social environment is not informed about the crime. There really is never enough discretion here.

Source
Autor: '''doc. MUDr. Jaroslav Zvěřina, CSc.' (přednosta Sexuologického ústavu 1. LF a VFN)''

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