The Indian family: too sacrosanct to touch? Indian women's movement and civil society's responses to incest abuse

Abstract

abstract This briefing raises the issue of incest abuse of girl children in India. A few available studies indicate that the prevalence rate could be as high as 40% to 50%. Though incest affects physical and mental integrity, security, and the lives and development possibilities of the survivors, it has not achieved social recognition or consistent attention from the Indian women's movement and of civil society. The women's movement in India has a long and rich history of struggle against sexual violence. Yet, incest abuse does not figure much in its discourses or activities. The briefing identifies some reasons why voices of incest abuse survivors are often not heard by women's and other civil society organisations in India. The findings of this briefing suggest that social, material and ideological forces pose challenges that impact on the autonomy of the organisations and consequently that of the women's movement to take up the issue of incest abuse.