INCEST porn and Hollywood’s obsession with “taboo” sex could be fuelling sick child abuse, experts fear.
British cops probed over 4,000 incest reports in the past five years and Home Office stats reported 888 arrests for incest or having sex with a family member in the last year of available data – a horrifying increase of 3 per cent on the previous year.
Around a fifth of almost 70,000 rape allegations reported to cops that year also involved victims who were related to their attacker. That rose to 37 per cent for male rape victims.
And over one in five rape victims who approached police in 2022 said they were assaulted by family.
But prosecutions for incestuous relationships remain rare.
It comes amid new concerns that “taboo porn” could be fuelling sick abuse of kids and vulnerable adults.
Now, experts fear that Hollywood’s growing fascination with incest could put youngsters at even more risk.
HBO series White Lotus has shocked viewers with a storyline of sex between two brothers at a five-star paradise resort.
The University of Birmingham’s Dr Sophie King-Hill, an expert in sibling abuse, warned: “Sensationalising this type of behaviour and abuse is unethical.
“One of the dangers of this type of storyline is the normalisation of sibling sexual behaviour and abuse within society and those that are experiencing it being deterred from reporting as it is seen as mainstream behaviour.
“Using shock factor in a TV programme such as this is doing more harm than good for those experiencing these issues.”
While in the past, Hollywood has shied away from showing incest on screen, shows such as House of the Dragon, Broadwalk Empire and, more recently, The White Lotus, have brought the taboo subject to the fore.
Justin Lehmiller, a Kinsey Institute sex researcher, previously spoke about the psychology that can attract people to become interested in incest porn.
He said: “Part of it is that transgressive element, that heightened arousal that comes from taboo activities.
“[It] might also be genuine curiosity, you know, ‘I suppose I’ve heard a lot of things about incest before and how it’s bad,’ so for some people there just might be this morbid curiosity behind it.”
It’s also become a popular theme on pornography websites.
In a recent study, researchers at Durham University found more than 150,000 porn films online and one in ten had titles with terms like “teen” or “incest”.
Study author, Prof Clare McGlynn, said: “The prevalence of incest-themed content matters, as it normalises and legitimises ideas of sexual activity between family members – particularly involving young girls.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=” Hollyoaks star whose incest storyline shocked Britain has quit acting for VERY different career away from the cameras” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6362211260112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“When these messages are consumed by millions every day, the influence extends beyond individual users and filters into broader cultural attitudes.
“In time, we may become desensitised, less likely to understand the prevalence of child sexual abuse, or its seriousness.”
Forty years ago, only three per cent of pornography was incest-related. An early study of internet porn by academics – in 2006 – found that one per cent depicted sex between family members.
But by 2014, “incest” was on the list of over-18s website Pornhub’s most popular searches.
Prof McGlynn warned: “The claim that incest porn is fantasy without real-world effects assumes incest is rare, abhorrent. But it’s not.
“We need to ask, in a culture saturated with incest porn, are we more likely to tolerate, excuse or dismiss the realities of incest and sexual abuse?”
She added: “If we continue to allow incest porn to proliferate, we risk perpetuating a culture that trivialises abuse, undermines survivors and distorts our understanding of what is acceptable in sexual relationships.”
A massive survey of Aussie men in 2023 found that an obsession with porn could lead to a sick interest in child abuse material.
Child sex abusers Down Under were 11 times more likely to watch violent porn online, researchers found.
Michael Sheath of anti-child abuse charity the Lucy Faithfull Foundation said: “Many of the men I work with describe how as young adults they relied on pornography for entertainment, distraction and escape.
“They describe how a lot of the material they viewed was misogynistic and exploitative, even if it was legal.”
He warned: “Searches for legal pornography may shift over time to fetishistic pornography, ‘teen’ pornography, and sometimes even to child sexual abuse material, in a series of imperceptible steps.”
Incest was first officially made a crime in England and Wales in 1908, with ministers worried about the “disastrous consequences” for children born from incestuous relationships.
It remained an offence until in 2003 Tony Blair’s government brought in new crimes of sexual activity with child or adult family members.
Analysis of court documents by The Sun suggests that four people have appeared in court since November charged with having sex with adult family members.
A further two – including a woman – face incest charges dating back to the 1990s.
The cases can be difficult to prosecute, with barristers and judges navigating a complex family dynamic.
Top silk John Hardy KC said: “As a barrister, you have to keep in mind the need for objectivity and not appear sympathetic to one party over another.”
IMPACT OF ABUSE
The impact of the abuse can last a lifetime.
Sick Jehovah’s Witness Dennis Cottee, from Wiltshire, was too ill to go to jail after a jury found him responsible for 12 counts of sexually assaulting his daughters in the 1980s. His son Jacques was locked up for almost four years for incest.
Cottee’s younger daughter – abused by him from the age of four – said after the trial: “Justice for me was not a search for a long sentence, it was a search for closure and the truth.”
Four decades on from her awful ordeal, she said: “I grew up unable to talk to him in a way that a normal daughter-father relationship should.
“It is sad that as he has got older he couldn’t say sorry for his actions.”
Some men have claimed they are unable to stop committing incest.
Robert Cole, from Melksham, Wilts, was jailed for 18 months in 2020 after CCTV caught him performing a sex act on his estranged daughter – who was also charged with sex with an adult family member.
[quote credit=”Prof McGlynn”]The claim that incest porn is fantasy without real-world effects assumes incest is rare, abhorrent.[/quote]He was sent back to prison three years later for having sex with a second daughter, with the judge branding it a “dreadful act”.
Cole’s barrister suggested he was the victim of “genetic sexual attraction” – a psychological flaw that results in close relatives “falling in love”.
That supposed psychological condition has been debunked by scientists.
Dr Sophie King-Hill of the University of Birmingham said: “Portraying this behaviour as biologically expected is incredibly damaging.
“If ‘genetic sexual attraction’ is used as a reason for these behaviours it risks normalising something that is damaging and abusive.”