It's not less taboo. It's illegal in all cultures.
There are practical reasons why incest is psychologically damaging to the child, no matter whether the grooming is manipulative or coercive. It is rape because children do not experience adult desires and because they're not mature enough to know how to defend themselves.It predisposes the victim to a lifetime of low self-esteem, depression, and very often addiction and worse. On the physical level, male on female, there are the risks of pregnancy and babies with subnormal intelligence and genetic deformities.
The only difference now is that we do and should talk about it.
Perpetrators need to understand the serious and long-term damage they do.
Victims are learning that it is important to report their perpetrator to a responsible adult who will believe, support and help them.
Adult survivors are learning the value of talking about it to their therapists, if they can afford one.
The media are talking about it because of the terrible toll. There is no justification for harming a child in any way.
