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Definition: incest from Philip's Encyclopedia

Sexual relations within a family or kinship group, the taboo on which varies between societies. In many countries, incest is a crime that carries a prison sentence.

Incest

From Encyclopedia of Human Relationships
The term incest refers to the marriage and/or sexual intercourse between two individuals considered to be close kin according to local cultural norms. Although incest typically applies to cases when couples are in fact genetic relatives, it can also apply when couples are genetically unrelated, yet are categorized as kin according to local customs. In one sense, then, rules against incest can be seen as a way to regulate who one marries (and has sex with) within a particular culture. Although incest is typically a term used to understand norms relating to marriage patterns, the related term inbreeding is used to mark the degree of genetic relatedness between mating partners. Both incest and inbreeding are used interchangeably, yet they refer to slightly different concepts, with incest being a topic of greater interest in anthropology and cultural psychology and inbreeding a topic of greater interest in biology and cognitive science. This entry focuses on the aspect of incest that…
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Full text Article INCEST

From International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family
Incest is the sexual exploitation of a person who is legally unable to give informed consent due to age, intellect, and/or physical impairment by an older person having a close family blood tie (e.g., parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, or cousin) or a substitute for such a blood tie (e.g., …
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Full text Article incest

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Incest and its prohibition or avoidance are closely related social phenomena. However, the two topics have very distinct if not contrary intellectual histories in the social sciences. Incest, usually defined as sexual relations between close kin such as members of the same nuclear family, has merely…
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Full text Article Incest

From Encyclopedia of Women's Health
“Incest” traditionally has been defined as sexual activity between close blood relatives who cannot legally marry. The definition has been expanded to include sexual contact in a kinship-type relationship where sexual activity is usually barred, this including non-blood family members, such as…
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Full text Article Incest

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Incest is unlawful sexual relations between closely related persons of the opposite sex. A sexual relation between close family members is universally condemned and the criminal law places sanctions on such conduct. Anthropologists and sociologists have examined the incest taboo from many…
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Full text Article Incest

From World of Sociology, Gale
Incest is sexual abuse between nuclear family members, between a parent and child or between siblings. It involves fondling, vaginal penetration, or oral, genital, or anal intercourse. It is often difficult to evaluate the damage because of its hidden, taboo nature. Historically, incest was…
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Full text Article incest

From The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology
Sexual relations between close relatives. Close is defined differently in different cultures although almost all appear to have some form of prohibition against incest, the so-called incest taboo . Several theories have been proposed to account for this near universality. Some focus on genetic…
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Full text Article Incest

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Incest is the prohibited sexual relations between members of a close kinship group, such as parents and children or brothers and sisters. The term includes actual intercourse and other sexual acts, such as touching, self-exposure, masturbating, and posing for pictures. Although the incest taboo is…
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Full text Article incest

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
sexual relations between persons to whom marriage is prohibited by custom or law because of their close kinship . Ideas of kinship, however, vary widely from group to group, hence the definition of incest also varies. Customs prescribing whom a person may and may not marry are found among all human…
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Full text Article Incest

From The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality
child sexual abuse kinship law rape taboo Incest refers to a marital, sexual, or erotic relationship between members of a kinship group. Common organizations of kinship groups are by affinity—marriage ties—and consanguinity—blood ties. Incest may be prohibited between specific members of a kinship…
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Full text Article Incest

From The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Family Studies
child criminal law family power siblings Abstract Cultures and societies tend to be variable in what they consider to be taboo. However, one area in which almost every society seems to be in agreement is the social unacceptability of the relationships between family members. Incest typically refers…
| 3,149 words
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