This article is the second in a third part series on Incest. Sibling Incest is a lesser talked about crime and many times as I have experienced, is classified as something all kids do, calling itself Childhood Sexual Contact. What do we do when it goes beyond that…
As an RA survivor, I tend to gloss over the other form of sexual abuse—incest and even a lesser mentioned crime, sibling sexual assault. This month the DS shatters this taboo.
“It is estimated that approximately 15% of all people report some kind of sexual activity with a sibling in childhood.” (http://www.pandys.org/articles/siblingsexualabuse.pdf)
I know sibling incest is not always taken seriously. Among the comments I have heard are: “they were just playing doctor, it was just a little touching, she asked for it.” I agree there is sibling touching that occurs in the family with children, but where do we draw the line? At what acts? At what ages? Is a brother at the ages of 10-18 accountable for his actions beyond the line of childhood sexual contact?
Yes if:
- it goes from giggling between the differences in boy’s and girl’s bodies, as seen as young children, to one of them enjoying the pleasure of the other’s fear, shame and humiliation.
- he threatenens you about telling anyone,
- he finds places outside the home to perform acts where the danger of being found is minimal,
- he’s gone beyond touching to intercourse,
- he ridicules you in front of other family members insinuating ‘he hates your guts’ and doesn’t want to be near you as a cover. If disclosed the statement “Of course Jamie did not assault his sister. He can barely stand to be in the same room with her.”