TLC has pulled its hit series, 19 Kids and Counting, after one of the show’s stars, Josh Duggar, admitted to molesting several young girls, including his sisters, when he was a teenager. While news of the development involving the conservative Christian family shocked many, the issue of incest in families occurs in many cases but is often not discussed because it’s an uncomfortable topic.

Lina Svedin, acting director of the University of Utah Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Policy programs, is currently working on a book related to incest and how social taboos influence behavior. Svedin’s research focuses on incest as a social problem and addresses how using taboos as a way to regulate social behaviors work poorly. Her work examines how when such taboos are carried into the policy sphere, they end up creating more damage than good in terms of combatting the problem. Ironically, Josh Duggar's father, Jim Bob Duggar, said in a 2002 campaign for senate that incest should become a capital crime. Svedin is available to talk about broader issues involving incest and policy-making in the wake of the Duggar case, which has cast a spotlight on a difficult subject.

"It is an important enough topic and I think that we have to speak on it even if it is deeply uncomfortable for many," says Svedin of the discussion around incest. "The degree to which children who find themselves in these kinds of relations are damaged and suffer makes our discomfort pale by comparison."

Svedin can be reached at:

Phone: 801-585-7984 | Email: [email protected]