Citation

Green J. Violence Against Women 1996; 2(3): 322-348.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12295888

Abstract

This paper critically reviewed the blame-oriented explanations of mothers' roles in father-daughter incest, which was contrasted with feminist reassessments in a sociopolitical context. The concept of the dysfunctional family forms the matrix in which views of blaming the mother take life. The mother is characterized as the ¿cornerstone¿ of the family dynamics that create and maintain the incestuous behavior of the spouse. Several categories of maternal behavior were reported to set up conditions in the family for father-daughter incest, including the contention that the mother colludes in the abuse either by unconscious passivity or by active conscious involvement in arranging the act. In addition, the mother's alleged inadequacies in the areas of intimacy and sexuality are often viewed as central factors in the dynamics of father-daughter incest. Identified as additional victims in the complex matrix of family and community, mothers are revictimized by the clinical establishment that upholds the unconscious patriarchal ideology underlying violence against women. Clinicians need to validate and support mothers in their ¿disenfranchised grief¿ so they can help their daughters to heal, and to design and lobby for programs that will promote social changes that are necessary for a more egalitarian society.

Language: en