Tipping Points and the Accommodation of the Abuser: Ongoing Incestuous Abuse during Adulthood

Abstract

Until recently the widespread reality of ongoing incestuous abuse during adulthood had attracted no systematic research. The scientific literature was limited to the occasional case study and brief anecdotal references. This minimal literature was supplemented by biographical works written by or about victims of this form of abuse, and by press reports. With the advent of the Josef Fritzl case there was a very marked increase in the press reporting of such abuse, which in turn provided a reference point for more fine-grained data collection and scientific reporting. This paper introduces the subject of prolonged incest via the lens of organised abuse, summarises research on incestuous abuse and draws on multiple clinical examples to elucidate the mechanisms by which such abuse merges with, or develops into, variations of organised abuse, including that centred on the family, on prostitution, or on that involving abuse networks. The abuse practices, the net-working, and the ploys used to avoid prosecution practiced by the father perpetrating ongoing incestuous abuse during adulthood have much in common with other variants of organised sexual abuse.