Information Sheet Incest is a betrayal of trust through sexual activity between biological or marital relatives. Further, incest offenders project their sexual expression both overtly and covertly by means of inappropriate touching, verbal seduction, abuse, objectification, intercourse, sodomy, direct threats and implied threats. Perpetrators of incest are both men and women, although the majority are men. Both girls and boys are victimized, with the majority of victims being girls.
Incest cuts across lines of race and class.
Incestuous abuse may start as early in a child's life as a few months old and may last throughout the teen years and into adulthood. African Americans are victimized in childhood at the same rates as Caucasians. They report being more severely abused with greater use of force. Lasting Effects of Child Sexual Abuse, ed. Men abuse children with greater frequency than women do.