Introduction
Banning sexual activities between individuals of close “blood relationship”
establishes human society, in other words, it is the human society”.
Levi Strauss
Incest is a form of violence that takes place within the family, while domestic violence is
defined as any act by a member of a family against another member of the same family
that result in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or any other
form of pain and abuse. Penal laws in general distinguish between incest and other sexual
crimes such as rape, adultery and indecent assault, depending on the elements of the
crime and according to which the level of the punishment is determined. It considers
incest as a crime that prejudices the family, defining it as having sexual intercourse with
a female of blood, legal or actual relationship, whether that relationship is legitimate or
illegitimate, upon her consent. It conditions the occurrence of incest on three combined
elements: the physical element exemplified by the occurrence of intercourse; the mental
or psychological element exemplified by free will; and the blood relationship element.
Incest is one of the maximum forms of sexual violence practiced within the family,
constitutes a flagrant infringement of women’s rights to security of person, and is in
contravention of human ethics and values. It is also a blatant exploitation of the offender’s
social and legal status in addition to the blood relationship between the victim and the
offender. It also constitutes a general exploitation of family relationships as well as the
control of females’ lives by men who are presumed to be taking care of them.
Current law specific to the crime of incest considers men and women equal accomplices,
and this is due to an assumption of free will which women are understood to assume at
the age of reason. When a young woman is at that stage of life, she is understood to be
able to exercise free will and assumed to accept such a relationship willingly. Therefore,
the law considers the woman who is subjected to sexual abuse without coercion by one of
her relatives or those in charge of taking care of her to be an accomplice on equal footing
with the man, and so the same level of punishment would be imposed on both of them.
The law ignores the status of women due to a society organized by patriarchal values
where the elderly control the young, males control females, and the father or eldest
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