All of the women were married to the men accused of incestuously abusing their daughters; 65 percent of the men were the girls' biological father and 35 percent were the stepfather. The victims ranged in age from 3 to 18 years old. Data were gathered via life history interviews. The primary finding was that these women reacted immediately and strongly to the disclosure of paternal incest in their families, either believing or disbelieving the allegations, emotionally responding to them, and exhibiting some degree of protective behavior toward their daughters. Many of the respondents described childhoods characterized by chaos and abuse, and many were abused, physically, emotionally, and sexually, by their husbands. Compared with previous studies, this analysis found less collusion, less disbelief of the allegation of incest, more shock and outrage upon its discovery, and more protective actions on the part of the mothers. 4 tables and 42 references