I am a woman studies major at New Paltz University in New York. Currently I am involved in a project to create awareness about incest in our society. I was hoping that you could send me any information that you have on the subject statistical or otherwise. Thank you for your informative web site, we need more web sites like yours. Sincerely, Nuala

Thanks for your note to FEMINIST.COM and for helping to spread the word about the prevelance of incest.

The most widely used/accepted statistics is that: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. To learn more about what this means, I suggest you reference the following books:

• Father Daughter Incest and Trauma and Recovery, both by Judith Herman.
• By Silence Betrayed by John Crewdson
• Betrayal Trauma by Jennifer Freyd
• The Courage to Heal by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis

All of these are excellent, well-respected and well-researched sources.

—Amy