The incest offenders vs. adults constitute our oldest group, the average individual being nearly fifty years old. Almost three fifths of their years since puberty had been spent as married men—as is also true of the incest offenders vs. minors—and the average man married at age 22.6. Their marriages were rather stable: about two thirds had married once, and very few had brief marriages. The average incest offender vs.
adults had known his future wife six months before marrying her, a time span neither long nor short in comparison with the other groups. Very few (44 per cent, the second smallest proportion and even less than that of the control group) had premarital coitus with the girls who became their first wives, which is in keeping with their general sexual restraint. Furthermore, more incest offenders vs. adults than any other group strongly desired virginity in their brides. Those who did have coitus with their future wives shared with the other incest offenders a disproportionate number of premarital pregnancies, holding second rank with 28 per cent. In view of the relatively small number who had premarital coitus with their fianc?es and the low frequencies of such coitus, it is surprising to find one of every four brides pregnant. One possible explanation is naivet?: if one assumes the fianc?es were as unsophisticated, restrained, and inexperienced as their future husbands, it is likely that not even the most rudimentary contraceptive measures were taken.
If we are a bit surprised by this premarital fertility, it at least warns us of what occurs after the marital vows. The incest offenders vs. adults are by far our most fertile group, the average male fathering five children.
The incest offenders vs. adults spent very little time in petting with their wives before beginning coitus. Fifty-four per cent (first in rank) ordinarily spent only three minutes or less this way, while only 16.7 per cent (next to the smallest proportion) spent as much as 30 minutes.
While marriage broke down some of the restraints about sexual techniques, a certain constraint seems to have lingered. Only 28 per cent, a rather small proportion, had mouth-genital contact in marriage. Nearly one third (the largest proportion) never had marital coitus in any but the “standard” position.
The incest offenders vs. adults were as conservative in marriage as they were before: the average offender always is found in low to intermediate position in the rank-orders of frequency of marital coitus at different ages. They have the lowest mean frequency in three of the six age-periods between sixteen and forty-five and the second lowest in two. They are noteworthy in yet another way: whereas most groups contain some sexually very active individuals who cause the mean frequency to strongly exceed the median, the incest offenders vs. adults lack such extremists. Consequently we see an unusual situation wherein the mean and median frequencies of marital coitus are similar or even identical. Thus in age-period 21-25 the median is 2.4 per week and the mean 2.8, but by age-period 36-40 the difference has dwindled and identity prevails then and thereafter (1.75 vs. 1.73 at age-period 36-40 and 1.50 vs. 1.48 at age-period 41-45). One should also note that to have the median exceed the mean is extraordinary, and can occur only in a group typified by conservatism and a narrow range of activity.
While incest offenders as a whole tend to have low frequencies of marital coitus, the incest offenders vs. adults exhibit this trait perhaps the clearest of all. Nevertheless, between ages twenty-one and thirty they derived a greater proportion (90-92 per cent) of their total sexual outlet from marital coitus than did any other group; at older ages the proportions become moderate to low-moderate.
With the general picture of inhibition and restraint one is prepared for the discovery that, according to their husbands’ reports, the wives of the incest offenders vs. adults did not experience orgasm in their marital coitus as often as the wives of others. Twenty-eight per cent of their married years were spent at a low level of orgasmic response (0 to 10 per cent); no other group comes near matching them in this misfortune. On the other hand, a moderate proportion (58 per cent) of their married years were passed at a high orgasmic level (90 per cent).
The incest offenders vs. adults gave their marriages higher happiness ratings than did most other offenders. Forty-eight per cent (third in rank-order) labeled their marriages “very happy,” while only 9 per cent (third from the bottom of the rank-order) said they were “very unhappy.” How this marital bliss fits, or fails to fit, with their incestuous behavior will be studied later when we take up the situation at the time of the offense.
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