The family gathering at which Nora and her father met Jodi and Ken appears to be a recent development among couples who swap. It may prove to be a key factor in the creation of more frequent opportunity — and desire — to commit incest.
In the early days of swapping, Doctor Smith reports, the parents carefully concealed their involvement in such activities. Recently, however, the tendency has been to be more open about the practice. Many of the larger groups, the book reports, now hold "social" gatherings, such as the one described by Nora, and these are open to children of all ages.
The Sexual Freedom League, one of the largest of these groups, publishes a monthly newsletter. Though this is not the same group to which Nora's parents belonged, the club's Southern California Region Newsletter for October 15, 1968 describes a meeting similar to the one attended by Nora. The following is a direct quote from this newsletter:
... Between 40 and 50 members showed up at C-and M-'s for a really heartwarming event. In addition to married and single couples there were quite a number of stag singles. But the happiest feature was that between fifteen and twenty of those present were children ranging in age from infants upward.
Possibly because they were children from homes where the philosophy typical of the SFL prevails, they were relaxed, well-behaved, well-adjusted youngsters. The older kids took care of the youngsters... taking the strain off the adults, who were thus free to enjoy the good food and stimulating conversation that abounded.
... Now that the ball has started rolling, we shall probably have at least one big Family Circle affair each month. In the future an effort will be made to schedule the Sunday gathering on a weekend not following a Saturday night party; so even bigger turnouts can be expected. Nudity and sex activity will not, of course, be on the program. Thus it will be an ideal opportunity for new members or prospective members to come without trepidation or self-consciousness to see for themselves what sort of people SFL members are.
Even though, as the letter states, "nudity and sex activity will not, of course, be on the schedule", it can be seen that such parties will surely expose the child to the attitudes of the "swingers", to a certain amount of sexual bantering, though it may be no more than verbal exchanges between the adults in attendance, and to a varying degree of sexual temptation.
Are parents who encourage their own children to mingle with the type of person one would expect to meet at such a gathering to be considered perverts? Are they, perhaps, mentally disturbed?
No — according to Dr. Gilbert Bartell, a young anthropologist on the faculty of Northern Illinois University, who has conducted massive research on the subject of swapping. After interviewing 204 couples during the course of his research, Dr. Bartell is quoted in The Sex Researchers as saying; "The chief characteristic which the 204 couples had in common was their inherent normality. They were average, even commonplace."
In the case of Nora, the atmosphere and the opportunity for incest were created through a long, somewhat complicated sequence of events, it would seem. The first step was the family's acceptance of nudity, which later allowed the girl to feel no hesitance as she undressed before her father — even though she must have known he was sexually aroused.
By discussing sex with her from an early age, then providing her with "the pill", Nora's father openly recognized her as a sexually developed woman, thus giving tacit approval to her open sexual acts. By admitting to her that he and his wife swapped with other couples, he may have removed himself from the sexual pedestal upon which children tend to mentally place their parents.
When he actually gave his consent to her meeting with Ken, in exchange for his own interlude with Jodi — a move which, in effect, prostituted his own daughter — he probably removed the last block in the barrier against incest. He provided the atmosphere and the opportunity... Incestuous desire may well have been building in Nora's subconscious long before the incident in the motel room. She may have chosen Ken as a substitute "father-image", mentally stimulated by the thought of her father consenting to their having intercourse. Her father's obvious interest in Jodi seems to have added to her arousal, as shown by her description of the meeting. In the depths of her mind, Nora may have decided to commit incest long before their arrival at the motel.
When Nora says that her mother wanted sexual freedom only for herself, she reveals resentment and hostility that may also have contributed to her desire to commit incest. Jealousy toward a parent is often cited as a contributing factor in such relationship.
The belief that Nora harbored the subconscious desire to engage in sexual relations with her father is strengthened by the fact that, at no time during her narrative did she express a desire to end the incestuous portion of the affair. She expressed no remorse; she mentions no feeling of guilt. The only time she mentions a desire for Ken, in fact, is when she tells of her desire to engage in sex with both men at the same time.
Without probing deeply into the psyche of the man it is difficult to say what caused Nora's father to abandon the moral code which forbids sexual relations between father and daughter, but his consent to the meeting between Ken and his daughter may have been an overt expression of a subconscious desire to have relations with his daughter. And it is likely that this desire was one of long duration, and one of which he was totally unaware.
This desire lies hidden in many, buried beneath the restraints of society, and it plays upon the child from birth. All affection, every touch, each gentle kiss will have a lasting effect upon the child.
This is how Freud described that effect:
A mother or father would probably be horrified to know that all their marks of affection were arousing the child's sexual instinct and preparing it for its later intensity. What we call affection will unfailingly show its effects one day on the genital zones as well.
If the sexual development of a child is guided in such manner by the simplest expression of parental love, what, then, may be expected of a girl such as Nora, whose very life has been lived in an atmosphere of open sexuality?
Let her tell us.
Jodi had lost her cherry to her own father, I learned the next morning. Ken first balled her when she was thirteen, and she told me about it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. They had been making it ever since, behind her mother's back, naturally, and that was why they hadn't hesitated to join us when they saw us in the sack. She laughed as she told me about it.
We were at the beach, where we had gone after breakfast, and we had the place entirely to ourselves. The two of us lay side by side on the big beach blanket, watching Daddy and Ken as they swam in the water, splashing and puffing like a couple of kids. I asked Jodi if Ken had let her swap before.
"Sure," she said, looking almost surprised. She rested herself on one elbow, watching me. "It gives him a chance at some young cunt now and then — and it gives him an excuse to put the cock to me, if you get what I mean. Not that he needs an excuse. Not so far as I'm concerned, he don't. But he always likes to pretend it happens by accident. I guess that's the best way to describe it. Each time we do it, he says it's going to be the last — and I always know better. We make it too good together."
With that she flopped back down on the blanket, leaving me to think about what she had said. I closed my eyes, letting the morning sun warm my face, and I turned it over in my mind. I wondered if Daddy had any misgivings about what we had done. Probably not, I decided. He had enjoyed it too much. And Ken? I was sure he had none. Even before my talk with Jodi, I had been sure of that.
As we had originally planned, I had spent the night with Ken; Daddy had slept with Jodi. Ken had been too exhausted to make it again, but he had held me in his arms, his hands on my breasts, his cock touching my buttocks, and he had stroked me until I was asleep. The last thing I could remember him saying, now that I think about it, was that he hoped my father was giving his little girl a good one. He seemed excited by the thought.