Laws intended to control sexual behavior have been used throughout the world. Many seem absurd by today’s Western standards but common place with Asian sensibilities. Sex is promoted everywhere in the Western world. We see it on the television soap operas and prime-time sitcoms. It is discussed from religious pulpits to afternoon talk shows. And it is argued on the floor of the U.S. Congress. Sex is discussed, shown, and sensationalized. Sex seems to be free of legal constraints, yet there are statutes on the books in many states intended to control certain sexual activities. Robert Pelton reviewed some of these laws in his book Loony Sex Laws That You Never Knew You Were Breaking (1992). Some of these are listed below. While reading the list, remember groups of people became involved in creating and enforcing these laws. Much time was spent on these issues. Ask yourself, for example, why anyone would care about a man shooting off his gun when his wife has an orgasm or about a person masturbating in his or her own home? Who benefits from such laws and who is controlled? Women usually fare far worse than men in cases concerning adultery. Why the inequality? And why such drastic measures (death penalty) to control homosexuality?
SEX LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES
Courting and sexual activity:
•It is illegal for a man in Hogansville, Georgia, to use his lariat to lasso and seduce his girlfriend.
•It is illegal for male skating instructors to have sexual relations with their female students in Indiana and Ohio.
•Because of Michigan’s sodomy statutes, single men and women caught having sex could be sentenced to five years in prison or $5,000, or both.
•Female toll collectors in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, are prohibited from engaging in sex with truck drivers while working in their booths.
•It is illegal for a husband to swear or curse during sex in Willowdale, Oregon.
•In Connorsville, Wisconsin, it is illegal for a man to shoot a gun off when his female partner has an orgasm.
•Skullbone, Tennessee, has made it illegal for a woman to “pleasure a man” while he is sitting behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.
•It is illegal in Oblong, Illinois, to make love on your wedding day if you are also hunting or fishing.
•In Carlsbad, New Mexico, you must have tightly drawn curtains on your parked vehicle if you engage in sex in it during a lunch break.
•It is illegal for a husband and wife in Cattle Creek, Colorado, to make love while bathing “in any lake, river or stream.”
•Couples are specifically banned from having “sex while standing inside a store’s walk-in meat freezer” by a bizarre ordinance in Newcastle, Wyoming.
•In Alexandria, Minnesota, a wife may legally force her husband to brush his teeth or stop having sex if she objects to his bad breath due to “garlic, onions, or sardines.”
Masturbation and adultery:
•Michigan’s sodomy laws require prison time and a fine for any man who masturbates.
•Adultery can be punished by a small fine of $20 to $100 in Arkansas, to $1000 or one year in prison, or both, in California.
Youths:
•In Hawaii the parents of a girl under the age of eighteen may be arrested and sentenced to three years of hard labor if they know their daughter engages in coitus. Interestingly, the law does not apply to young men under eighteen years of age, nor does it apply if the daughter engages in sex other than coitus.
•In Indiana and Wyoming it is illegal to entice or help a person under the age of twenty-one to masturbate.
Condoms and sex toys:
•Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin prohibit the sale of condoms by vending machine.
•Vending machines in Maryland may sell condoms, but only “in places where alcoholic beverages are sold for consumption on the premises.”
· Only physicians can sell condoms in Nebraska and Arkansas.
•Condoms must be used in Nevada brothels.
•Alabama passed an antiobscenity statute in 2000 that made it un-lawful to produce, distribute, or otherwise sell sexual devices that are marketed primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs. What makes this statute interesting is how its constitutionality was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (Williams v. Pryor). Several sellers of such items, along with two married women who used them as marital sex aids, filed suit with assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge the statute’s constitutionality. The court agreed with the state of Alabama’s contention that it had the right to promote “morality” by discouraging “autonomous” sexual expression, that is, masturbation. The court found support for this argument in Bowers v. Hardwick, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution does not automatically extend the right to privacy to protect all private, consensual sex between adults, and specifically does not protect same-sex (homosexual) conduct. From this, the circuit court concluded that Alabama had the right to bar “homosexuals” from buying such items. As such, the statute had some clearly constitutional uses and could not be stricken as a whole. This is an example of a law that affects heterosexuals but is based on the persecution of homosexuals. (Alabama Obscenity Code)
Unique laws:
•The state of Washington has an archaic sex statute that makes having intercourse with a virgin female punishable with substantial prison time or a monetary fine, or both. Surprisingly, this law also applies to newlyweds.
•In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the hotel room a couple rents for only one night must have twin beds placed a minimum of two feet apart.
•A cleaned and pressed nightshirt must be provided to every hotel guest in Hastings, Nebraska. Guests are also prohibited from sleeping together in the nude (married or not).
•In Kansas City, Kansas, women can be arrested for going out alone at night in the streets.
SEX LAWS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES
Sexual activity:
•In Georgetown, Guyana, if two people are caught engaging in sex while skinny-dipping, both people are first covered with paint, then “attached to an ass and taken on a tour of then village,” whereupon they are banished.
•Newlyweds in Cali, Colombia, are watched by the bride’s mother while they engage in sex.
•Male specialists are paid to have sex with virgin girls in rural Guam because the law does not allow virginal females to marry.
•Couples in the People’s Republic of China must obtain govern- mental permission to marry. After the wedding, they must obtain government permission to have sex.
•Women in Johannesburg, South Africa, can legally charge their husbands every time they engage in sex.
•A husband in Equatorial Guinea may force his wife’s boyfriend to become his slave for life. However, if his wife’s lover is not a man but another woman, the husband may force this woman to be his mistress for the rest of her life.
•It is illegal for couples in the community of Bristol, England, to engage in sex while under their automobiles. Interestingly, in this same community, a dog has the legal right to observe sexual activities, whereas a cat does not.
Adultery, rape, and illicit lovemaking:
•In most of Central and South America, adultery by women is se- verely punished. For men, adultery is perfectly legal and expected.
•A man must divorce his unfaithful wife in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. If a woman catches her husband with another women, the wife is not permitted to divorce him.
•In Colombia, South America, a husband may legally murder his wife if she is caught in bed with her lover.
•A husband in Uruguay who catches his wife in bed with her lover may legally either kill both of them or castrate her lover and slice off his wife’s nose.
•In Paramaribo, Surinam, a rapist will not be punished if the woman he raped agrees to marry him.
•A woman accused of illicit lovemaking in Guatemala may be stopped on the street, spat upon, and beaten by the citizenry.
Bestiality:
•According to Islamic Law it is forbidden to eat a sheep after having sex with it.
•In Oman, a camel, a cow, or a ewe is to be slaughtered and the carcass burned if a man has sex with it. The man is also required to pay its owner the dead animal’s full market value.
•In Lebanon men can legally have sex with female animals. However, if a man has sex with a male animal, the man is put to death.
Genital observations:
•While conducting a gynecological exam, it is forbidden in Bahrain for a physician to look directly at a woman’s genitals. He must use a mirror.
•Muslim morticians are not allowed to look at the genitals of the corpse they are preparing. While preparing the corpse, a brick or piece of wood must be placed over its genitals.
Homosexuality:
•Men who are arrested for homosexual behavior in Panama are castrated. Friends of the arrested homosexual have their heads shaven and receive 100 lashes and banishment.
•In many countries homosexuals are arrested and executed. For example, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries classify homosexuality as “deviant sexual behavior” and publicly execute homosexuals.
Reference
Pelton, R. W. 1992. Loony Sex Laws That You Never Knew You Were Breaking. New York: Walker Publishing Co.
