Do you want to know what incest is? What it really is? No ...

Every morning, under the guise of waking her for school, Hairsine entered her room and
masturbated in her presence. Kim, now 30 and living in Washington, D.C., says, "That's
how I'd wake up, to him coming into a dish towel as he stood by my bed."
One reason for the imprecise nature of the incest statistics is that when children try to
tell, they aren't believed. Another is that many victims don't recognize certain behaviors
as abusive. My parents would never have let anyone abuse me—if they had known.
They didn't know because I didn't know to tell them.
Small children understand very little about sex. Even kids who use "dirty" words often
don't understand what those words mean. And as little as they know about normal sex,
they know less about deviant sex. They simply trust that whatever happens to them at
the hands of those who take care of them is supposed to happen. Children know that
adults have absolute power over them, and even in the face of the most awful abuse,
they will obey.
The victim who does tell is almost always asked: Why didn't you tell sooner? The
answers are:
I didn't know anything was wrong.
I didn't know it was illegal.
I didn't know who to tell.
I did tell and no one believed me.
I was ashamed.
I was scared.
The abuser keeps the incest secret through threats:
If you tell, I will kill you.
If you tell, you'll be sent away.
If you tell, I'll kill your little sister.
If you tell, I'll molest your little brother.
If you tell, I'll kill your dog.
If you tell, it will kill your mother.
If you tell, no one will believe you.
If you tell, then you will go to the insane asylum.
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