In chapter 12 incest is defined as “sexual contact between family members; a form of child abuse when it occurs between a child and a caregiver” (Ferris and Stein 381). Incest is a known taboo, people often joke it about when referencing the southern United States, but unfortunately for some people- not always from the south- incest is/was their reality. Incest is known to be psychologically detrimental to the victims of it; often leading to self-destructive behavior, mental illnesses (depression, anxiety, etc.), and the inability to form close personal relationships later on in life due to a lack of trust. In fact, children that are victims of abuse whether it be incestual, physical, or sexual have a higher likelihood of becoming abusers later on in life. This unfortunately keeps the cycle going.

About four minutes into this documentary the narrator says, “you wouldn’t consider that the protective home turns into a dangerous place”, perfectly capturing the essence of what the victims portrayed in the documentary must have felt. They, and so many others were betrayed by the people closest to them; their caregivers, parents, uncles, grandparents, brothers and so on.

Reports stated in the video show that more than two-thirds of sexual assaults come from within the family. In these cases, there was often a power imbalance, where the victims felt utterly powerless and had no choice but to submit to their assailant. Not only that but humiliation and intimidation went along with it; victims were sexually humiliated by being forced to do unthinkable acts at young ages, and the intimate relationships the perpetrators had with the rest of the family often intimidated victims. They were afraid to speak up because they didn’t want to damage family relationships, once they figured out that these incestual tendencies being forced upon them was wrong. Each of the interviewees claimed that their abuse became more frequent the longer it went on. “After a while the person who is dominated is no longer even dominated; that person is enslaved”.

In some cases, the domination went further than that; going hand in hand with the compassionate family relationships some of the perpetrators looked at themselves as teachers. With many of the victims unable to say no, and unable to stop their abuse they felt like partners in the very crimes that were committed against them. Unfortunately, most families won’t press charges against incestual sexual assault on the pure basis that they’re family and hopefully they won’t do it again.

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