Incestuous Sex Offenders

Incestuous sex offenders use their family members to act out their sexual impulses.

FACT: Of sexual assaults on children and youth by their family members reported to Canadian police in 2000, 39% of the perpetrators were parents, 32% were siblings, 28% were members of the extended family, and 1% were spouses (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2002¹).

FACT: One woman in 8 is incestuously abused before age 14, and 1 in 6 before age 18 (Wiehe, 1998, p. 21²).

Incestuous relationships include:

            »  father-daughter incest
            »  father-son incest
            »  stepfather-daughter incest
            »  mother-son/mother-daughter incest
            »  sibling incest
            »  grandfather-granddaughter incest
            »  uncle-niece incest
            »  first cousin incest

FACT: In the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse & Neglect, 7% of sexual abuse investigations involved mothers as alleged perpetrators (Trocme, 2001, p. 49³).

There's something about a mother. When you're small, she should be the first person you go to if you're hurt, the first person to cuddle, who gives you love and care. So when she abuses you, it leads to an even greater sense of despair than when your father does it. In my dreams I castrate my father and suffocate him. But I can't attack my mother. I'm torn between love and hate.

Elliott, 1993, p. 10⁴

Sibling incest interactions may take the form of:

            »  brother-sister
            »  brother-brother
            »  sister-sister

FACT: Canadian studies show that sexual abuse of males by siblings ranges from 6% to 33% and in most cases, the victim was younger than the perpetrator (Matthews, 1996⁵).

The table below is taken from interviews with incest perpetrators.

WARNING: Some statements may be disturbing for some readers.

Most incestuous sex offenders had the following similar belief systems:
Incest was defined as love and care.
The sexual experience was described as extremely pleasurable, using words such as "blissful", "thrilling" and "exciting".
Some incestuous sex offenders actually saw themselves in love with the child.
About half claimed the love was mutual.
These incestuous sex offenders were unresponsive to the children's attempts to stop the incest.
Most perpetrators knew their behaviour was wrong.
Many did not view their sexual acts as incest.
Some not only manipulated and took advantage of their child's trust, but felt a sense of power from the trust.
Almost all the fathers expressed a sense of excitement that they "had special rights" as the father to have sex with their children.
Gilgun, 1995, pp. 270-2766

Incestuous sex offenders provides a comparison of incest offenders based on victim age.

Sex offender pages on this site:

Sex Offenders	Adolescent Offenders	Female Offenders
Male Offenders	Incestuous Offenders	Internet Offenders
Child Offenders

---

Sexual Abuse pages on this site:

Sexual Abuse	Sexual Abuse Victims
Sexual Abuse Definition	Male Victims
Sexual Abuse Signs	Female Victims
Sexual Abuse Effects	Victims with Disability
Sexual Abuse Statistics	Sexual Abuse Disclosures

---

Child abuse information pages on this site:

Abuse Headlines	History of Abuse
Sexual Abuse Signs	Child Abuse Stats
Sexual Abuse Effects	Emotional Abuse
Sexual Abuse Stats	Emotional Abuse Types
Sexual Abuse Victims	Emotional Abuse Signs
Male Victims	Emotional Abuse Effects
Female Victims	Bullying
Victims w/ Disability	Emotional Abuse Stats
Sexual Abuse Disclosures	Physical Abuse
Sex Offenders	Physical Abuse Signs
Male Sex Offenders	Abuse & Discipline
Female Sex Offenders	Physical Abuse Effects
Child Sex Offenders	Physical Abuse Stats
Adolescent Sex Offenders	Child Neglect
Incestuous Sex Offenders	Child Neglect Signs
Internet Sex Offenders	Child Neglect Effects
Child Abuse Law	Child Neglect Stats
Age of Majority	Poverty & Neglect
Duty to Report	Sexual Abuse
Abuse Intervention	Sexual Abuse Defined
Abuse Prevention

---

References

Incestuous Sex Offenders

1 Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics. (2002). Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile 2002. Catalogue no. 85-224-XIE. Ottawa: Government of Canada.

2 Wiehe, V (1998). Understanding family violence. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.

3 Trocme, N., & MacLauren, B. et al. (2001). Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect: Final report. Ottawa: National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Health Canada.

4 Elliott, M. (Ed.). (1993). Female sexual abuse of children. New York: The Guildford Press.

5 Matthews, F. (1996). The invisible boy: Revisioning the victimization of male children and teens. Ottawa: National Clearinghouse on Family Violence.

6 Gilgun, J. (1995). We shared something special: The moral discourse of incest perpetrators. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 265-281.

Back to Homepage

This incestuous sex offenders page was last revised May 31, 2007