Father-Daughter Incest
Also known as Father-Daughter Incest: With a New Afterword, Father-daughter Incest
Judith Herman's 1981 study of 40 incest survivors and the families they grew up in
At a glance
What it argues
A family pattern, A feminist analysis, Recovered memories
See all 3Key ideas
Incest versus seduction, Helping the family, Therapy with adults
See all 3Read next
Trauma and Recovery, Truth and Repair
See all 2Connections
Judith Herman and Psychological trauma
See all 2
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- Herman studied 40 women abused by their fathers and compared them with 40 whose fathers had been seductive.
- From these cases and interviews with professionals, she builds a composite picture of the incestuous family.
- Her feminist analysis treats incest as an extreme of male domination where fathers do not share in raising children.
- It gives practical guidance on protecting victims, supporting mothers and treatment.
- The 2000 edition adds an afterword defending survivors' recovered memories against the backlash.
Why it matters
- For anyone who will work with survivors of child sexual abuse: it is the research behind Trauma and Recovery, and a classic on how abusive families work.
Key facts
- Author
- Judith Lewis Herman1
- Published
- 19812
- Edition with new afterword
- May 5, 20001
- Publisher
- Harvard University Press1
- Pages
- 3361
- ISBN
- 97806740027081
- Design
- Clinical study of 40 incest victims, plus interviews with professionals in mental health, child protection and law enforcement1
What it argues
-
A family pattern1
Herman develops a composite picture of the incestuous family from intensive clinical study.
-
A feminist analysis1
A reviewer in the American Journal of Psychiatry sums up the thesis: incest is the furthest extension of male domination where men do not share child raising.
-
Recovered memories1
The 2000 afterword reviews research supporting the validity of survivors' sometimes repressed and recovered memories, against the backlash movement.
Key ideas
-
Incest versus seduction1
Families of 40 incest victims are compared with 40 families where the father had been seductive but not incestuous.
-
Helping the family1
Practical steps: strengthen the mother’s position and the mother-daughter bond, protect the victim, and prosecute or treat the father.
-
Therapy with adults1
Advice on psychotherapy for adult survivors, and on therapists’ countertransference feelings that can get in the way.
Read next
-
Her second book, which draws on this incest research to build a general account of trauma.
-
Her last book: what survivors want by way of justice.
Connections
Links
Sources
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