Victimized Daughters

Jacobs examines the effects of incest on the personality formation of sexually victimized daughters, and particularly the role of the incestuous father. Based on in-depth interviews with 50 incest survivors from a range of ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds, the analysis investigates the effects of idealization of the father-daughter relationship and the development of an empathetic connection between victim and perpetrator. This text draws on feminist interpretations of social and psychological theories of personality to elucidate the relationship between sexual trauma and the construction of the female self. The book illustrates how the abused daughter often takes on the role of emotional caretaker, defined as an extreme manifestation of the cultural expectation that women be the caretakers of men.