In most of the literature on the sequelae or treatment of adult women who were incestuously abused by their fathers, little attention is paid to the impact of the abuse on the daughter's relationship with her mother, other than to hold the mother accountable for the abuse. Phenomenological analysis of extensive interviews with five adult survivors of paternal incestuous abuse resulted in the identification of several common themes in the daughters' relationships with their mothers. A feminist analysis informs this discussion of developmental and contextual factors related to these themes, and forms the basis for highlighting the clinical implications of mother-daughter issues when working with adult survivors of paternal incestuous abuse.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bagley, C.
(1969) `Incest Behavior and Incest Taboo', Social Problems16: 508-512.
2.
Baker-Miller, J.
(1988) `Connections, Disconnections and Violations', Work in Progress 33, Working Paper Series. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center.
3.
Bass, E.
and Davis, L. (1988) The Courage to Heal. New York: Harper and Row.
4.
Browne, A.
and Finkelhor, D. (1986) `The Impact of Child Sexual Abuse: A Review of the Research', Psychological Bulletin99: 66-77.
5.
Butler, S.
(1978) Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest. San Francisco, CA: New Glide.
6.
Caplan, P.J.
(1989) Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship. New York: Harper and Row.
7.
Colaizzi, P.
(1978) `Phenomenology as the Phenomenologist Views It', in R.S. Valle and M. King (eds) Existential-Phenomenological Alternatives for Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
8.
Courtois, C.A.
(1988) Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy. New York: Norton.
9.
Elbow, M.
and Mayfield, J. (1991) `Mothers of Incest Victims: Villains, Victims or Protectors?', Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services72: 78-85.
10.
Faller, K.C.
(1988) `The Myth of the Collusive Mother', Journal of Interpersonal Violence3: 190-196.
11.
Flax, J.
(1978) `The Conflict Between Nurturance and Autonomy in Mother-Daughter Relationships and Within Feminism', Feminist Studies4: 171-189.
12.
Friedman, G.
(1980) `The Mother-Daughter Bond', Contemporary Psychoanalysis16: 90-97.
13.
Gavey, N.
, Florence, J., Pezaro, S. and Tan, J. (1990) `Mother-Blaming, the Perfect Alibi: Family Therapy and the Mothers of Incest Survivors', Journal of Feminist Family Therapy2: 1-25.
14.
Gutheil, T.
and Avery, N. (1977) `Multiple Overt Incest as Family Defense Against Loss', Family Process16: 105-116.
15.
Hare-Mustin, R.T.
(1991) `Sex, Lies, and Headaches: The Problem is Power', Journal of Feminist Family Therapy3: 39-61.
16.
Herman, J.
(1981) Father-Daughter Incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
17.
Herman, J.
(1992) Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.
18.
Holmbeck, G.N.
and Hill, J.P. (1986) `A Path-Analytic Approach to the Relations Between Parental Traits and Acceptance and Adolescent Adjustment', Sex Roles14: 315-334.
19.
Jacobs, J.L.
(1990) `Reassessing Mother Blame in Incest', Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society15: 500-514.
20.
James, K.
and MacKinnon, L. (1990) `The "Incestuous Family" Revisited: A Critical Analysis of Family Therapy Myths', Journal of Marital and Family Therapy16: 71-88.
21.
Johnson, J.T.
(1992) Mothers of Incest Survivors: Another Side of the Story. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
22.
Jordan, J.
(1986) `The Meaning of Mutuality', Work in Progress 23, Working Paper Series. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center
23.
Justice, B.
and Justice, R. (1979) The Broken Taboo: Sex in the Family. New York: Human Sciences Press.
24.
Kaufman, I.
, Peck, A. and Taiguri, C. (1954) `The Family Constellation and Overt Incestuous Relations Between Father and Daughter', American Journal of Orthopsychiatry24: 266-279.
25.
Koch, K.
and Jarvis, C. (1987) `Symbiotic Mother-Daughter Relationships in Incest Families', Social Casework68: 94-101.
26.
LaSorsa, V.
and Fodor, I.G. (1990) `Adolescent Daughter/Midlife Mother Dyad: A New Look at Separation and Self-Definition', Psychology of Women Quarterly14: 593-606.
27.
Lewis, H.
and Herman, J. (1986) `Anger in the Mother-Daughter Relationship', in T. Bernay and D. Cantor (eds) The Psychology of Today's Woman: New Psychoanalytic Visions. Hillside, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
28.
Lustig, N.
, Dresser, J. W., Spellman, S. W. and Murray, T. B. (1966) `Incest: A Family Group Survival Pattern', Archives of General Psychiatry14: 31-40.
29.
Machotka, P.
, Pittman, F.S. and Flomenhaft, K. (1967) `Incest as a Family Affair', Family Process6: 98-116.
30.
McIntyre, K.
(1981) `Role of Mothers in Father-Daughter Incest: A Feminist Analysis', Social Work26: 462-466.
31.
Myer, M.H.
(1985) `A New Look at Mothers of Incest Victims', Journal of Social Work and Human Sexuality3: 47-58.
32.
Miller, A.
(1984) Thou Shalt Not Be Aware: Society's Betrayal of the Child. New York: New American Library.
33.
Mrazek, P.B.
and Bentovim, A. (1987) `Incest and the Dysfunctional Family System', in P.B. Mrazek and C.H. Kempe (eds) Sexually Abused Children and their Families. New York: Pergamon.
34.
Rich, A.
(1977) Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. New York: Bantam Books.
35.
Rubin, L.B.
(1983) Intimate Strangers. New York: Harper and Row.
36.
Russell, D.E.
(1986) The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women. New York: Basic Books.
37.
Surrey, J.
(1984) `The "Self-in-Relation": A Theory of Women's Development', Work in Progress 13, Working Paper Series. Wellesley, MA: Stone Center.
38.
Surrey, J.L.
(1991) `Mother-Blaming and Clinical Theory', in J.P. Knowles and E. Cole (eds) Woman-Defined Motherhood. Binghamton, NY: Harrington Park.
39.
Truesdell, D.L.
, McNeil, J.S. and Deschner, J.P. (1986) `Incidence of Wife Abuse in Incestuous Families', Social Work31: 138-140.
40.
Troll, L.E.
(1988) `Mother-Daughter Relationships Through the Life Span', Applied Social Psychology Annual7: 284-305.
41.
Walker, L.E.
(1988) Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children. New York: Springer.
42.
Wattenberg, E.
(1985) `In a Different Light: A Feminist Perspective on the Role of Mothers in Father-Daughter Incest', Child Welfare64: 203-211.
43.
Westkott, M.
(1978) `Mothers and Daughters in the World of the Fathers', Frontiers3: 16-21.
44.
Zeuler, M.B.
and Reposa, R.E. (1983) `Mothers in Incestuous Families', International Journal of Family Therapy5: 98-109.
