ABSTRACT
The emergence of incest, and child sexual abuse in general, as a social problem warranting a range of interventions is a recent phenomenon, dating approximately from the mid to late 1970s (Gomes-Schwartz, Horowitz & Cardarelli, 1990; Vander Mey & Neff, 1986). Kempe (1978) asserted that recognition of sexual abuse would be the last stage in society’s recognition of child abuse as a social problem and it has been referred to as ‘the last frontier of child abuse’ (Sgroi, 1975). Prior to this, because of its highly tabooed nature, incest was rarely disclosed; when it was, it was either disbelieved, or if believed, ignored or met with punitive, intrusive responses by authorities. This typical response of most communities to a disclosure of incest has been described by Giaretto (1981) as follows:
The victim’s accusations are often ignored by law enforcement officials if the evidence is weak and the parents deny the charges, thus leaving the child feeling betrayed both by her parents and by the community. On the other hand, the officials become harshly punitive if they have a court provable case. They separate the child from her mother and family and incarcerate the father, often for several years (p. 179).
