Incestuous sexual abuse themes in contemporary novels for adolescence: A cultural study
Fiche mise à jour le 7 décembre 2018
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Description
Incestuous sexual abuse themes in contemporary novels for adolescence: A cultural study
Résumé :Based on qualitative methodology, this study investigated ten contemporary novels written especially for adolescents having incestuous sexual abuse as their major themes. Data were obtained through clinical‐format case history reports prepared on each novel. Findings showed that incest usually involved daughter‐father and niece‐uncle pairs, and for father‐daughter relationships the incest always included intercourse. In all cases the incestuous affairs ended with consequences for the adult offenders. In most cases authors pictured incest as an assault against the innocent, but they often saw the incest abuser, especially fathers, as victims of themselves and rarely was the father punished with prison. Although authors presented incestuous families as psychologically dysfunctional, the adolescent victims were given intelligence and determination enough to escape from the incest and to rebuild their lives.