Incest book's 'bitter' message

Experts say girls' low social status makes them vulnerable

By Jill McGivering in Delhi

A book being published on Thursday in India has provoked an unprecedented debate about the normally taboo subject of incest.

The book, Bitter Chocolate, by the Indian journalist, Pinki Virani says incest is widespread in Indian society.

Miss Virani, alleges that a minimum of 20% of all Indian children under the age of 16 are being regularly sexually abused, half of them in their homes.

She calls for greater awareness of the issue and more intervention by parents and other authority figures to protect children.

Personal experience

Miss Virani starts the book by talking about her own experiences of sexual abuse when she was a child and the failure of her parents to stop it.

The rest of the book is divided between real-life case studies and discussion of child sexual abuse - how and why it happens and how to counter it.

One section is written for adults who were victims of abuse as children and have never discussed it.

Girls at risk

Such open debate about incest is ground-breaking for India. Counsellors here say it's hard to judge how prevalent incest is in Indian society because the problem is only just starting to be acknowledged.

One counsellor says in her experience abuse often begins when children are about four years old and carries on until they become teenagers. Girls, she said, are much more at risk than boys.

The low social status of women in India can also make it difficult for girls who experience abuse to get protection.

Girls who complain about male relatives who are abusing them may not be supported by families who are anxious not to damage family relationships, nor to cause scandal.

This general secrecy also makes it difficult for developing counselling services to reach victims of abuse who might benefit from their support programmes.

Many, it seems, have reached adulthood without ever talking about the incest they experienced.