Incest 0000i-xiv FM 1 - William L. White

Sexual Closure 121
Analysis. The relationship was what in incest literature would be called
a “lust attachment.” The isolation of program staff members from outside
training and consultation made it easy for the supervisor to act out
his acute case of “prima donna–hood” and sexually exploit the supervisory
relationship. The supervisor’s own professional and social isolation
probably contributed to the breakdown of the usual professional
ethics that would have precluded such a relationship. The deterioration
of respect for the supervisor, and the daily soap-opera atmosphere that
dominated the agency for weeks, all but destroyed the provision of services
by the team.
In both cases reviewed, there is clear confirmation of how the incest
dynamic increases the risk of members being extruded from the organization—particularly
women partners in sexual relationships.
Supervisor-Supervisee, Nonconsummated Incest. Peg was a middleaged
counselor who had been traditionally trained and had worked in a
highly structured work situation until she took a job with a youth program.
The majority of her new employer’s staff members were in their
twenties, were sexually active with a number of partners, and expressed
vocally their feelings about the limitations of traditional marriage. Peg’s
supervisor, Dennis, was a very attractive young man who had sexual involvements
of varying intensity with a number of young women on the
staff, and responded in an equally seductive manner to Peg. A number
of staff members joked about how long it would take before Dennis
would get Peg into bed, and it became something of an unstated goal of
the group to “convert” the new counselor. Peg, confronted by new
ideas, a lack of “professional” structure, the seductive behavior of her
supervisor, and her own response to that seductiveness became conflicted
over her values, her marriage, and her work. When the anxiety
became too great, she turned in her immediate resignation and left quite
distraught.
Analysis. Though rather extreme, the example illustrates that the incestuous
dynamic may produce extrusion of staff even when no sexual
act occurs. Here we have a homogenous group that had become increasingly
closed professionally, socially, and sexually. Again, there was no
effective restraining agent (in fact, quite the opposite), and we see the
organization’s values were so distorted that it could turn the seduction
of a new counselor into an entertaining game.