Talk:Research: Double-Taboo CSA

Potential additions

Human inbreeding avoidance: Culture in nature, in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 6, Issue 1, March 1983 (34 pages) <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00014850>

Recent commentators have noted that the existence of an incest taboo is puzzling when there is little evidence to suggest that many people desire erotic encounters with their own immediate family, although they might find the idea of incest, pornography featuring or simulating incest, or step-relatives through marriage not related by “blood” to be desirable. It’s important to recognize a gap between fantasy and action.

Recent overview discussions include:

A. H. Bittles et al., (2002) Does inbreeding lead to decreased human fertility?, Annals of Human Biology, 29:2, 111-130 <https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460110075657>

Abstract excerpt: “In most Western countries there is a widespread belief, fostered in part by historical prejudice and religious proscription, that inbreeding in human populations causes a reduction in fertility. […] To critically assess the overall status of fertility in consanguineous unions, data on 30 populations resident in six countries were collated from a systematic review of the literature. […] The results were, however, subject to a number of potential limitations, in particular lack of control for important socio-demographic variables. To overcome this problem, data on first cousin marriages were abstracted from the National Family and Health Survey conducted in India during 1992-1993. Multivariate analysis showed that fertility in first cousin unions was positively influenced by a number of variables, including illiteracy, earlier age at marriage and lower contraceptive uptake, but the most important of these parameters were duration of marriage and reproductive compensation. In net terms, consanguinity was not found to be associated either with a significant positive or negative effect on fertility.”

Gregory C. Leavitt, (1990) Sociobiological Explanations of Incest Avoidance: A Critical Review of Evidential Claims, American Anthropologist New Series, Vol. 92, No. 4, pp. 971-993 (23 pages) <https://www.jstor.org/stable/680655>

Reamy, Kenneth J., and White, Susan E. (1987). "Sexuality in the puerperium: A review," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 16(2), 165-186.

"It has been written that "the survival of the human race, long before the concept of duty evolved, depended upon the satisfaction gained from the two voluntary acts of reproduction -- coitus and breast feeding" (Newton, 1971, 1973; Newton and Newton, 1972). Ellis (1935, p. 49) in his "Psychology of Sex" indicated that Bonnet in 1764 in "Contemplation de la Nature" wrote of "the sweet commotion accompanied by a feeling of pleasure" during lactation as reinforcing the "natural affection" of the mother for the child. In the early 19th century, Cabanis recorded that several lactating women reported that the children in suckling at their breasts produced in them "voluptuous sexual emotions" (Ellis, 1935, p. 49). Contemporary research by Robinson and Short (1977) has indicated a dramatic increase in breast sensitivity within 24 hr of parturition which lasts several days. They see this as a "key event" for activating suckling-induced oxytocin and prolactin release and suppressing ovulation during lactation. "The acquistion of postpartum nipple sensitivity might therefore be the key mechanism controlling the infant's present and future food supply, the mother's behavioral response and her reproductive cycle" (Robinson and Short, 1977, p. 1190).

Common physiologic responses of coitus and lactation include nipple erection, mammary venous dilation and breast warmth, and uterine contractions (Newton and Newton, 1967). Vaginal lubrication and clitoral sensations have also been described (Rossi, 1973). Milk ejection (squirting or spraying as well as dripping) can be triggered by sexual excitement as well as breast feeding (Campbell and Peterson, 1953; Fox and Knaggs, 1969; Harnes, 1980; Masters and Johnson, 1966). Breast stroking and nipple stimulation occur during breast feeding as well as sexual foreplay. Nipple stimulation, used clinically in antepartum fetal monitoring, predictably produces strong uterine contractions (Elliot and Flaherty, 1983; Lenke and Nemes, 1984). Neurohumoral reflexes involving oxytocin secretion may be similar in coitus, lactation, and parturition (Newton, 1973; Newton and Newton, 1967).

[...]

Lactating mothers reported sexual arousal, often to plateau levels of response, during nursing. Orgasm was reported on three occasions. Sexual excitement, including orgasm, associated with the suckling of infants has been reported elsewhere as well (Heiman, 1963; L'Esperance, 1980; Newton, 1971; Sarlin, 1963; Weichert, 1977; Weisskopf, 1980).

Although sexual pleasure manifested during lactation (and incompatible with the concept of asexual motherhood) is believed to be uncommon by some (Harnes, 1980; Lawrence, 1980; Waletsky, 1979), it may be more frequent than realized in uninhibited, unrestricted breast feeding (Pion and Reich, 1977; Riordan and Rapp, 1980; Rossi, 1973). Weichert (1977) indicated that 25% of lactaters in a small sample experienced sexual arousal with nursing. There are women who openly enjoy the sexual stimulation that breast feeding may afford (Sarlin, 1963). Others find it uncomfortable, distasteful, guilt producing, and intolerable to the extent that they wean their infants early (Heiman, 1963; Lawrence, 1980; Salin, 1963; Waletsky, 1979). It has been written that if the sensual feelings the mother experiences during breast feedlng "are accepted as a natural, gratifying maternal experience, (they can) strengthen the feeling of tenderness and commitment to her baby" (Riordan and Rapp, 1980, p. 111). Women have reported increased breast eroticism after the nursing experience (Riordan and Rapp, 1980). Anthropologic studies have revealed that attitudes concerning lactation and sensuality show marked variation among societies. The maternal-infant interchange within the Navajo culture is said to show "highly developed sexual innuendoes" including the occurrence of penile erections of the boy babies during breast feeding (Kluckhohn, 1957). Penile erections during nursing have been described elsewhere as welI (Newton, 1973; Sarlin, 1963; Weisskopf, 1980). The soft, contented "nursing songs" made by babies near the end of nursing when they are relaxed are "similar to the spontaneous noises sometimes made during coitus" (Newton, 1973 , p. 998). After breast feeding "there is often a relaxation (of the suckled infants) that is characteristic of the conclusion of satisfactory sexual response" (Newton, 1973, p. 82). (One might add that there is often a relaxation of the sated adult after a warm meal.) The psychoanalytic literature reports the presence of "vaginal sensations and contractions in suckled female infants" (Heiman, 1963). Sarlin (1963, p. 797) indicated that "the first stirrings of clitoral eroticism and the similar phallic erections during earliest infancy are associated with the passive mouth-breast stimulation by the erect eroticized nipple of the mother's breast during actual feeding." He described the nursing infant as "an active participant in an overtly erotic relationship" (p. 798)."

Researchers worth looking into: James Ramey, Joan Nelson, Seymour Parker, Larry Constantine, Wardell Pomeroy