Incest

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This article is about illegal/socially taboo sexual contact between family members. For biological aspects, see inbreeding. For all other uses, see Incest (disambiguation).

Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons (often within the immediate family) that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo vary with culture and jurisdiction. Some societies consider it to include only those who live in the same household, or who belong to the same clan or lineage; other societies consider it to include "blood relatives"; other societies further include those related by adoption or marriage.[1]

According to some studies,[2] the most frequently reported type of incest is father-daughter incest. However, others studies[3][4][5] suggest that sibling incest occurs as often, or more often, than other types of incest. Incest between adults and prepubescent or adolescent children is considered a form of child sexual abuse[6][7] that has been shown to be one of the most extreme forms of childhood trauma, a trauma that often does serious and long-term psychological damage, especially in the case of parental incest.[8] Prevalence is difficult to generalize, but research has estimated 10-15% of the general population as having at least one incest experience, with less than 2% involving intercourse or attempted intercourse.[9] Among women, research has yielded estimates as high as twenty percent.[8]

Consensual adult incest is rarely reported.[citation needed] Consensual incest between adults is criminalized in most countries,[10] although it is seen by some as a victimless crime.[11][12]

Most societies have some form of incest avoidance.[13][14] The incest taboo is and has been one of the most common of all cultural taboos, both in current nations and many past societies,[15] with legal penalties imposed in some jurisdictions. Most modern societies have legal or social restrictions on closely consanguineous marriages.[16] However, in some societies, such as that of Ancient Egypt, brother–sister, father–daughter, and mother–son relations were practiced among royalty.[17][18] In addition, the Balinese[19] and some Inuit tribes[20] have altogether different beliefs about what constitutes illegal and immoral incest.

Contents

[edit] Types

[edit] Abuse of children

Main article: child sexual abuse

Incest perpetrated by an adult of either gender against a child is called "intrafamilial child sexual abuse." The most-often reported form of incest is of this inherently abusive form. Father-daughter and stepfather-daughter incest is most commonly reported with most of the remaining reports consisting of mother/stepmother-daughter/son incest.[14] Father-son incest is reported less often, however it is not known if the prevalence is less, because it is under-reported by a greater margin.[21][22] Prevalence of parental child sexual abuse is difficult to assess due to secrecy and privacy; some estimates show 20 million Americans have been victimized by parental incest as children.[14]

According to the National Center for Victims of Crime a large proportion of rape committed in the United States is perpetrated by a family member:

Research indicates that 46% of children who are raped are victims of family members.(Langan and Harlow, 1994) The majority of American rape victims (61%) are raped before the age of 18; furthermore, 29% of all forcible rapes occurred when the victim was less than 11 years old. 11% of rape victims are raped by their fathers or step-fathers, and another 16% are raped by other relatives.[23]

A study of victims of father-daughter incest in the 1970s showed that there were "common features" within families prior to the occurrence of incest: estrangement between the mother and the daughter, extreme paternal dominance, the mother's inability to fulfill her traditional parental role and reassignment of some of the mother's major family responsibility to the daughter. Oldest and only daughters were more likely to be the victims of incest. Furthermore, it was stated that the incest experience was psychologically harmful to the woman in later life, frequently leading to feelings of low self-esteem, unhealthy sexual activity, contempt for other women and other emotional problems.[24][clarification needed (needs a better source)]

Adults who were incestuously victimized by adults in their childhood often suffer from low self-esteem, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, and sexual dysfunction, and are at an extremely high risk of many mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, phobic avoidance reactions, somatoform disorder, substance abuse, borderline personality disorder, and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.[8][25][26]

[edit] Between childhood siblings

Childhood sibling–sibling incest is considered to be widespread but rarely reported.[14] Many types of sexual contact between children (e.g., "playing doctor") are not considered harmful or abnormal, but become child-on-child sexual abuse when there is overt and deliberate actions directed at sexual stimulation. The most commonly reported form of abusive sibling incest is abuse of a younger brother or sister, committed by an older brother.[14] A 2006 study showed a large portion of adults who experienced sibling incest have distorted or disturbed beliefs both about their own experience and the subject of sexual abuse in general.[27] An observational study in 1993 found that 16% of the 930 adult women interviewed reported that they had been sexually abused by a sibling before they were 18 years old.[28]

Sibling incest is most prevalent in families where one or both parents are often absent or emotionally unavailable, with the abusive siblings using incest as a way to assert their power over a weaker sibling and thereby express their feelings of hurt and rage.[28] Absence of the father in particular has been found to be a significant element of most cases of sexual abuse of female children by a brother.[29] The damaging effects on both childhood development and adult symptoms resulting from brother–sister sexual abuse are similar to the effects of father–daughter, including substance abuse, depression, suicidality, and eating disorders.[29][30]

[edit] Between consenting adults

While incest between consenting adults has not been widely reported in the past, the internet has shown that this behavior does take place, possibly more often than many people realize. Internet chatrooms and topical websites exist that provide support for incestuous couples.[31]

The majority of adult incestuous relationships between close blood kin (e.g. parent and child or siblings) are what is termed Post-adoption incest. This refers to situations where one or both persons were adopted at or soon after birth and raised for the majority of their lives away from the other person, often have never met or even knowing what they look like.[32] There has been some evidence that this unique situation of both close genetic relation and lack of familial attachment may somehow cause sexual attraction. A study in 1995 found that 50% of adoptees who reunited with kin felt "strong, sexual feelings."[33] They did not necessarily act on these feelings, and at present the data on this phenomenon is largely anecdotal and has not been studied systematically.[32]

In Slate, William Saletan drew a legal connection between gay sex and incest between consenting adults. As he described in his article, in 2003, U.S. Senator Rick Santorum publicly derided the theory of the Supreme Court ruling to allow private consensual sex in the home (primarily as a gay rights move). He stated: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery." However, David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign professed outrage that Santorum placed being gay on the same moral and legal level as someone engaging in incest. Saletan argued that, legally and morally, there is essentially no difference between the two, and went on to support incest between consenting adults being covered by a legal right to privacy.[34]

[edit] Between adult cousins

See also: Cousin couple

Marriages and sexual relationships between cousins are viewed differently in many cultures, in both law and religion. In most countries, marriage between cousins is legal, though some religious and cultural restrictions exist in these same nations. Many jurisdictions in the United States and the Netherlands follow a more restrictive doctrine and legally prohibit such marriages as incestuous.[35] Whereas in some countries in the east, eastern Europe and some other places, the marriage between first cousins is allowed.[citation needed] Consanguineous unions remain preferential in North Africa, the Middle East and large parts of Asia, with marriage between first cousins particularly popular.[36] Communities such as the Dhund Abbasi of Pakistan clearly prefer marriages between cousins as they ensure purity of the descent line, provide intimate knowledge of the spouses, and ensure that patrimony will not pass into the hands of "outsiders".[37]

[edit] Definition through marriage

Some cultures include relatives by marriage in incest prohibitions; the legal term for these relationships is affinity rather than consanguinity. In medieval Europe, standing as a godparent to a child also created a bond of affinity.[citation needed] But in other societies, a deceased spouse's brother or sister was considered the ideal person to marry. The Hebrew Bible forbids a man from marrying his brother's widow with the exception that, if his brother died childless, the man is instead required to marry his brother's widow so as to "raise up seed to him" (taken from Deuteronomy 25:5-6). In the United Kingdom the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 criminalized a widower marrying his deceased wife's sister, and was the subject of long and fierce debate in the 19th century, involving, among others, Matthew Boulton.[38][39]

[edit] Biological consequences of inbreeding

Main article: Inbreeding

In many cases incest is also inbreeding (depending on the incest taboos of a culture). Inbreeding may lead to a higher proportion of congenital birth defects through an increase in the frequency of homozygotes.[40] The effects of this can diverge - recessive genes that produce birth defects can become more frequent, resulting in a higher rate of these defects while genes that do not code for birth defects can become increased within a population. The overall consequences of this divergence depends in part on the size of the population. In small populations, if children born with heritable birth defects die before they reproduce the ultimate effect of inbreeding will be to decrease the frequency of defective genes in the population with an overall decrease in the number of birth defect-causing genes over time. In larger populations it is more likely that large numbers of carriers will survive and mate, leading to more constant rates of birth defects.[41]

[edit] History

[edit] Etymology

The word 'incest' was introduced into Middle English around 1225 as a legal term to describe the crime of familial incest as it is known today. It was also used to describe sexual relations between married persons, one of whom had taken a vow of celibacy (often called spiritual incest).[42] It derives from the Latin incestus or incestum, the substantive use of the adjective incestus meaning 'unchaste, impure', which itself is derived from the Latin castus meaning 'chaste'. The derived adjective incestuous does not appear until the 16th century.[43]

Prior to the introduction of the Latin term, incest was known in Old English as sibbleger (from sibb 'kinship' + leger 'to lie') or mǣġhǣmed (from mǣġ 'kin, parent' + hǣmed 'sexual intercourse') but in time, both words fell out of use.

Table of prohibited marriages from The Trial of Bastardie by William Clerke. London, 1594.

In ancient China, first cousins with the same surnames (i.e., those born to the father's brothers) were not permitted to marry, while those with different surnames (i.e., maternal cousins and paternal cousins born to the father's sisters) were.[44]

The fable of Oedipus, with a theme of inadvertent incest between a mother and son, ends in disaster and shows ancient taboos against incest as Oedipus is punished for incestuous actions by blinding himself. In the "sequel" to Oedipus, Antigone, his four children are also punished for their parents having been incestuous.

It is generally accepted that incestuous marriages were widespread at least during the Graeco-Roman period of Egyptian history. Numerous papyri and the Roman census declarations attest to many husbands and wives being brother and sister.[45][46][47][48] Some of these incestuous relationships were in the royal family, especially the Ptolemies; Cleopatra VII married more than one of her brothers.

Incestuous unions were frowned upon and considered as nefas (against the laws of gods and man) in the Roman Empire. In AD 295 incest was explicitly forbidden by an imperial edict, which divided the concept of incestus into two categories of unequal gravity: the incestus iuris gentium, which was applied to both Romans and non-Romans in the Empire, and the incestus iuris civilis, which concerned only Roman citizens. Therefore, for example, an Egyptian could marry an aunt, but a Roman could not. Despite the act of incest being unacceptable within the Roman Empire, Roman Emperor Caligula is rumored to have had sexual relationships with all three of his sisters (Julia Livilla, Drusilla, and Agrippina the Younger).[49] Emperor Claudius, after executing his previous wife, married his niece Agrippina the Younger, changing the law to allow an otherwise illegal union.[50] The taboo against incest in Ancient Rome is demonstrated by the fact that politicians would use charges of incest (often false charges) as insults and means of political disenfranchisement.

Many European monarchs were related due to political marriages, sometimes resulting in distant cousins (and even first cousins) being married. This was especially true in the Habsburg, Hohenzollern and Bourbon royal houses.

[edit] Laws regarding incest

Main article: Laws regarding incest

Incest is illegal in many jurisdictions. The exact legal definition of "incest," including the nature of the relationship between persons, and the types sexual activity, varies by country, and by even individual states or provinces within a country. These laws can also extend to marriage between subject individuals.

In some places, incest is illegal, regardless of the ages of the two partners. In other places, incestuous relationships between two consenting adults (with the age varying by location) are permitted.

[edit] Religious views on incest

[edit] Judeo-Christian

Main article: Biblical references to incest

The Book of Leviticus lists prohibitions against sexual relations between various pairs of family members. Men are prohibited, on pain of death, from having sexual relations with their daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, and various other relations. Father–daughter incest is covered by a prohibition on sexual relationships between a man and any daughter born to any woman he has had sexual relationships with, thereby prohibiting his incest not only with his own daughters but also with women who could be his stepdaughters by marriage.[51]

[edit] Islam

The Quran gives specific rules regarding incest, which prohibit a man from marrying or having sexual relationships with his mother, daughter, sister, paternal or maternal aunt, niece, a woman from whom he has nursed, a woman who has nursed from the same woman as he, his mother-in-law, the daughter of his wives with whom he has consummated the marriage, the wife of his biological son,[52] or his father's wife.[53] It is also forbidden to be married to two sisters at the same time.[52] A Hadith also prohibits marriage to a woman and her paternal or maternal aunt at the same time.[54] The same applies for a woman with the male counterparts to the aforementioned. However, Islam allows for marriage with first cousins and beyond.

[edit] Hinduism

Hinduism speaks of incest in highly abhorrent terms. Hindus were greatly fearful of the bad effects of incest and thus practise strict rules of both endogamy and exogamy within castes (Varna in Hinduism) but not in the same family tree (gotra) or bloodline (Parivara). Marriages within the gotra ("swagotra" marriages) are banned under the rule of exogamy in the traditional matrimonial system. People within the gotra are regarded as kin and marrying such a person would be thought of as incest.

[edit] Buddhism

Buddhist societies take a strong ethical stand in human affairs and sexual behavior in particular. In most of those societies, incest is regarded as highly abhorrent. However, unlike most other world religions, most variations of Buddhism do not go into details regarding what is right and what is wrong in mundane activities of life. Incest (or any other detail of human sexual conduct for that matter) is not specifically mentioned in any of the religious scriptures. The most common formulation of Buddhist ethics are the Five Precepts and the Noble Eightfold Path, one should neither be attached to nor crave sensual pleasure. These precepts take the form of voluntary, personal undertakings, not divine mandate or instruction. The third of the Five Precepts is "To refrain from committing sexual misconduct". It is understandable that incest itself could constitute "sexual misconduct".[55] 'Sexual misconduct' is a loose term, and is subjected to interpretation relative to the social norms of the followers. In fact, Buddhism in its fundamental form, does not define what is right and what is wrong in absolute terms for the laity.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Elementary Structures Of Kinship, by Claude Lévi-Strauss. (tr.1971).
  2. ^ Herman, Judith (1981). Father-Daughter Incest. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 282. ISBN 0-674-29506-4. 
  3. ^ Goldman, R., & Goldman, J. (1988). The prevalence and nature of child sexual abuse in Australia. Australian Journal of Sex, Marriage and Family, 9(2), 94-106.
  4. ^ Finkelhor, D. (1979). Sexually victimised children. New York: Free Press.
  5. ^ Rayment-McHugh, Sue and Ian Nesbit. 2003. Sibling Incest Offenders As A Subset of Adolescent Sex Offenders. Paper presented at the Child Sexual Abuse: Justice Response or Alternative Resolution Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology and held in Adelaide, 1-2 May 2003
  6. ^ Kathleen C. Faller (1993). Child Sexual Abuse: Intervention and Treatment Issues. DIANE Publishing. p. 64. ISBN 9780788116698. http://books.google.com/books?id=D-SEwHNu_NcC. 
  7. ^ Diane H. Schetky; Arthur H. Green (1988). Child Sexual Abuse: A Handbook for Health Care and Legal Professionals. Psychology Press. p. 128. ISBN http://books.google.com/books?id=QYyzGgZbllYC. 
  8. ^ a b c Courtois, Christine A. (1988). Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. p208. ISBN 0393313565. 
  9. ^ Nemeroff, Charles B.; Craighead, W. Edward (2001). The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral science. New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-24096-6. 
  10. ^ Jeff Jacoby (August 28, 2005). "Hypocrisy on adult consent". The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/08/28/hypocrisy_on_adult_consent/. 
  11. ^ Hipp, Dietmar (2008-03-11). ""German High Court Takes a Look at Incest"". Der Spiegel. http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,540831,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-12. 
  12. ^ Wolf, Arthur P.; William H. Durham (2004). Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century. Stanford University Press. p. 169. ISBN 0804751412. http://books.google.com/books?id=OW1nuQxcIQgC. 
  13. ^ Brown, Donald E., Human Universals. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991, p. 118-29
  14. ^ a b c d e Turner, Jeffrey S. (1996). Encyclopedia of Relationships Across the Lifespan. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. p92. ISBN 031329576X. 
  15. ^ Incest: The Nature and Origin of the Taboo, by Emile Durkheim (tr.1963)
  16. ^ Kinship, Incest, and the Dictates of Law, by Henry A. Kelly, 14 Am. J. Juris. 69
  17. ^ Maurice Godelier, Métamorphoses de la parenté, 2004
  18. ^ "New Left Review - Jack Goody: The Labyrinth of Kinship". http://newleftreview.org/?view=2592. Retrieved on 2007-07-24. 
  19. ^ Bateson, Gregory (2000). Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. University Of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226039053. 
  20. ^ Briggs, Jean (2006). Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674608283. 
  21. ^ Dorais, Michel; Translated by Isabel Denholm Meyer (2002). Don't Tell: The Sexual Abuse of Boys. McGill-Queen's Press. pp. p24. ISBN 0773522611. 
  22. ^ Courtois, Christine A. (1988). Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393313565. 
  23. ^ "Incest". National Center for Victims of Crime and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center. National Center for Victims of Crime. 1992. http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32360. 
  24. ^ Emotional Inheritance: A Dubious Legacy. (May 21, 1977). Science News, 111 (21), 326.
  25. ^ Trepper, Terry S.; Mary Jo Barrett (1989). Systemic Treatment of Incest: A Therapeutic Handbook. Psychology Press. ISBN 0876305605. 
  26. ^ Kluft, Richard P. (1990). Incest-Related Syndromes of Adult Psychopathology. American Psychiatric Pub , Inc.. pp. p83,89. ISBN 0880481609. 
  27. ^ Bonnie E. Carlson, PhD (December, 2006). "Sibling Incest: Reports from Forty-One Survivors", Journal of Child Sexual Abuse: Volume 15, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 19–34.
  28. ^ a b Jane Mersky Leder. "Adult Sibling Rivalry: Sibling rivalry often lingers through adulthood". Psychology Today (Sussex Publishers) January/February 93. http://psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=19930101-000023&page=1. 
  29. ^ a b Jane M. Rudd; Sharon D. Herzberger (September 1999). "Brother-sister incest—father-daughter incest: a comparison of characteristics and consequences". Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 23, Issue 9: pp915–928. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-3X6B587-7&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9314ab17d92875f87a83cc3fda6a949e. 
  30. ^ Mireille Cyr; S John Wrighta, Pierre McDuffa and Alain Perron (September 2002). "Intrafamilial sexual abuse: brother–sister incest does not differ from father–daughter and stepfather–stepdaughter incest". Child Abuse & Neglect Volume 26, Issue 9: pp957–973. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-46TGF9P-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a3ec1a197fca397ca5b3f7cb9b9fbba1. 
  31. ^ Hari J (2002-01-09). ""Forbidden love"". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4331603,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-11. 
  32. ^ a b Bjorklund DF; Ellis BT (2004). Origins of the Social Mind : Evolutionary Psychology and Child Development. New York: The Guilford Press. pp. 304-5. ISBN 1-59385-103-0. 
  33. ^ Greenberg M, Littlewood R (March 1995). "Post-adoption incest and phenotypic matching: experience, personal meanings and biosocial implications". Br J Med Psychol 68 ( Pt 1): 29–44. PMID 7779767. 
  34. ^ Saletan W (2003-04-23). "Incest Repellent? If gay sex is private, why isn't incest?". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2081904/. Retrieved on 2008-04-12. 
  35. ^ Grossman, J (2002-04-08). "Should the law be kinder to kissin' cousins?". FindLaw. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20020408.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-01. 
  36. ^ Saggara, AK; Bittles AH. "Consanguinity and child health". Paediatrics and Child Health 18 (5): 244-9. doi:doi:10.1016/j.paed.2008.02.008. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B8G3F-4SDX1TP-8&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=942268890&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=734aab14ef77ffc5b8ec67fef208051c. 
  37. ^ Suad J; Afsaneh N (2003). Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, body, sexuality and health. Brill. p. 261. ISBN 9789004128194. 
  38. ^ Pollak, E (2003). Incest and the English Novel, 1684-1814. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 38. ISBN 0801872049. 
  39. ^ Tann, J (2007). "Boulton, Matthew (1728–1809)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 
  40. ^ Livingstone, FB (1969). "Genetics, Ecology, and the Origins of Incest and Exogamy". Current Anthropology 10: 45-62. 
  41. ^ Thornhill, Nancy Wilmsen (1993). The Natural history of inbreeding and outbreeding: theoretical and empirical perspectives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-79854-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZFXYeHxwD10C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0. 
  42. ^ Online Etymology entry for 'incest'
  43. ^ Oxford Concise Dictionary of Etymology, T.F. Hoad (ed.) (1996), p232
  44. ^ Gulik, Robert Hans van (1974). Sexual life in ancient China: a preliminary survey of Chinese sex and society from ca. 1500 B. C. till 1644 A. D. Leiden: Brill. pp. 19. ISBN 90-04-03917-1. 
  45. ^ Lewis, N (1983). Life in Egypt under Roman Rule. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198148488. 
  46. ^ Frier, Bruce W.; Bagnall, Roger S. (1994). The demography of Roman Egypt. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46123-5. 
  47. ^ Shaw, BD (1992). "Explaining Incest: Brother-Sister Marriage in Graeco-Roman Egypt". Man, New Series 27 (2): 267–299. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0025-1496(199206)2%3A27%3A2%3C267%3AEIBMIG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N. 
  48. ^ Hopkins, Keith (1980). "Brother-Sister Marriage in Roman Egypt". Comparative Studies in Society and History 22: 303-354. 
  49. ^ Potter, 2007, p. 62.
  50. ^ Potter, 2007, p. 66.
  51. ^ Lev 18:6–18
  52. ^ a b "Sûrah an Nisa 4:23". http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/4.htm. 
  53. ^ "Surah an-Nisa 4:22". http://quran.al-islam.com/Targama/DispTargam.asp?nType=1&nSeg=0&l=eng&nSora=4&nAya=22&t=eng. 
  54. ^ "Islam Question and Answer - Is it permissible to marry two sisters from one father at the same time?". http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/8442. 
  55. ^ Higgins, W. "Buddhist Sexual Ethics". BuddhaNet Magazine. http://www.buddhanet.net/winton_s.htm. Retrieved on 2007-01-15. 

[edit] References

  • Bixler, Ray H. (1982) "Comment on the Incidence and Purpose of Royal Sibling Incest," American Ethnologist, 9(3), August, pp. 580–582.
  • Leavitt, G. C. (1990) "Sociobiological explanations of incest avoidance: A critical claim of evidential claims", American Anthropologist, 92: 971-993.
  • Potter, David Morris (2007). Emperors of Rome. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Quercus. ISBN 1-84724-166-2. 

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