No I'm not, Varina, I'm a paragon of suspicion. I think that is perhaps something that you and I have in common at times. But we are wasting our energy if we let our suspicions lead us in directions which are not indicated by the few facts we know about this case.
You will perhaps deny it, but to me it is unmistakeable that you are implying the possibility of incest. As I said, I am willing to at least consider the worst in any person known in this investigation.
But that phenomenon is comparatively rare. What have we seen to indicate its presence here? Nothing. The reason I, for one, don't wish to consider it now is b/c I think it's the wrong answer. It would be a waste of energy.
We are using our knowledge of the world, the experiences we've all had which have hopefully divested us of too much naivete, to imagine every possibility. But since there's only so much energy available to each one of us, we need to use it wisely, and concentrate on theories which have at least some underpinning of fact. Sometimes, I think, we are ignoring the normal-looking aspects of Elizabeth's family in favor of imaginings of abnormal doings which are just not backed up by what little we can see plainly.
Incest has been cited as the most common form of child abuse. Studies conclude that 43 percent (43%) of the children who are abused are abused by family members, 33 percent (33%) are abused by someone they know, and the remaining 24 percent (24%) are sexually abused by strangers (Hayes, 1990). Other research indicates that over 10 million Americans have been victims of incest.
One of the nation's leading researchers on child sexual abuse, David Finkelhor, estimates that 1,000,000 Americans are victims of father-daughter incest, and 16,000 new cases occur annually (Finkelhor, 1983). However, Finkelhor's statistics may be significantly low because they are based primarily on accounts of white, middle-class women and may not adequately represent low-income and minority women (Matsakis, 1991).
Victims of incest are often extremely reluctant to reveal that they are being abused because their abuser is a person in a position of trust and authority for the victim. Often the incest victim does not understand -- or they deny -- that anything is wrong with the behavior they are encountering (Vanderbilt, 1992). Many young incest victims accept and believe the perpetrator's explanation that this is a "learning experience" that happens in every family by an older family member. Incest victims may fear they will be disbelieved, blamed or punished if they report their abuse.
You say the "phenomenon is comparatively rare." Statistics disagree. Plus, it is one of the most under-reported crimes on children. Hopefully, this is not the reason so many young girls run away from from home-- or simply disappear.