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The Incest and the Psychopathological Family

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Emotional, Physical and Sexual Abuse

Part of the book series: Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine ((TASM))

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Abstract

Etymologically, the word incest originates from the Latin word incestus, which is derived from the union of in and castus, i.e., not chaste, unchaste, unclean, dirty. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, incest is defined as: “a sexual activity involving people who are closely related and not legally allowed to marry” [1]. There is no unequivocal definition of incest; many definitions of incest can result from various disciplines. Some authors, from a medical perspective, describe incest as: “a sexual contact between family members who are not married to each other” [2] or “any sexual activity between close blood relatives who are forbidden by law to marry” [3], and here there is no discrimination between children and adults for incest; but, in a forensic perspective, other authors define incest as: “the sexual abuse of anyone whom the child trusts in the broadest sense” [4] or from a psychiatric/psychological point of view: “a degrading intrafamilial framework that is established between the victim and the abuser, where the abuser uses the kinship and affection that binds him to the child to force him to suffer sexual acts in silence” [5].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Emanuela Bianciardi, Sarah Ceccacci, Carolina Pinci, Cinzia Niolu & Alberto Siracusano

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  1. Emanuela Bianciardi
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  2. Sarah Ceccacci
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  3. Carolina Pinci
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  4. Cinzia Niolu
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  5. Alberto Siracusano
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Correspondence to Emanuela Bianciardi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Endocrinology Unit, Maggiore-Bellaria Hospital, Bologna, Italy

    Giovanni Corona

  2. Endocrinology and Medical Sexology (ENDOSEX), Department of System Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

    Emmanuele A. Jannini

  3. Sexual Medicine and Andrology Unit, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Mario Maggi

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Bianciardi, E., Ceccacci, S., Pinci, C., Niolu, C., Siracusano, A. (2023). The Incest and the Psychopathological Family. In: Corona, G., Jannini, E.A., Maggi, M. (eds) Emotional, Physical and Sexual Abuse. Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47892-5_7

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