Sex

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Intent

To achieve a balance between protecting people from abuse, creating the liberty for consenting adults to do what they want as long as it’s not hurting others, educating future adults, and protecting people who don’t want or like sex or are not interested in seeing sex-related material so they are not confronted with it.

Proposal

The government shall not prohibit sex between consenting adults. If two adults enter into a marriage or other agreement that excludes the possibility of sex outside their relationship, and one of the adults violates the agreement, that is a civil matter between them and not a criminal offense.

The government shall have the power to regulate commercial sex to protect the health and safety of the public, as it would do for any other commercial activity.

No adult age 21 or older shall engage in any form of sexual activity or romantic relationship with a minor under the age of 18. No adult under the age of 21 shall engage in any form of sexual activity or romantic relationship with a minor under the age of 17.

No minor under the age of 17 shall engage in sexual intercourse with another minor under the age of 17.

No person shall engage in any sexual activity with an animal.

No sexually explicit material or advertisements for such material in physical or online spaces or media designated for children.

Discussion

People who don’t want sexual liberty are free to limit themselves. People who want sexual liberty want the most they can have. The government has an interest in protecting people and must enact laws regulating behavior, including sex.

Sex between consenting adults should be allowed. Adults in different cultures will do it differently. In some cultures there is only sex after marriage. In other cultures, sex is more open. The government might enact a law that when someone learns they have been infected with a sexually transmitted disease, they must inform all recent sexual partners (with recent being defined by the time period between when the person was last known to be free of any diseases and the time the person learned they are infected). People who might find this embarrassing should limit their sexual partners to one at a time with breaks and testing in between so they only need to have a conversation with their last partner.

Sex for money must be regulated to resolve moral and safety issues. People with moral issues regarding sex for money can refrain from providing that service or being a client. Social groups may voluntarily restrict sexual behaviors including sex for money. For example a religious group may excommunicate a member for engaging in any prohibited behavior, including sex for money, and this is allowed because they have the freedom of association. The government must regulate commercial sex to require safety practices to prevent transmission of disease. The right to consent protects sex workers from abuse by a “pimp” or sex trafficking but the government may enact laws specifically regulating the working conditions. This will disincentivize the abusive behavior and provide additional legal liabilities for perpetrators when they are caught. For example, the government may enact a law that makes the business, or “house”, legally responsible for complying with all regulations and for the sex workers complying with all regulations. As another example, minimum wage laws would apply to sex workers. Sex workers can then negotiate better pay or commissions.

Sex between adults and minors is prohibited due to a variety of issues including judgement of maturity, lack of ability to consent, unequal power in the relationship, right to parental control (when the adult is not the parent), and child abuse. In the law, a minor becomes an adult overnight on their 18th birthday, but this is disconnected from the reality of a youth’s journey to adulthood. This is why this proposal includes separate prohibitions on adults age 21 and older having any sexual or romantic relationship with a minor under the age of 18, and adults under 21 having any sexual or romantic relationship with a minor under the age of 17. If a minor who is age 17 graduates high school early and starts attending college or joins the military or starts volunteering or working at a place where many young adults volunteer or work, they might enter into a romantic relationship with a young adult they meet there, while being mere months (not more than a year) away from a legal adulthood status. The separate prohibition allows such relationships of almost-adults with recently-become-adults so that their natural behavior and something that would have been allowed anyway just months later is not criminalized.

Sex between minors is prohibited due to a variety of issues including judgement of maturity, lack of ability to consent, unequal power in the relationship (depending on ages of minors involved), and safety (lack of education or training in safe sex).

However, sexual development in adolescents happens while they are minors and some activities other than sexual intercourse between minors of a similar age may be allowed by parents (for example going to the school dance and kissing) so to allow for parental consent the federal law must only prohibit sexual intercourse for minors and thereby give parents the liberty of allowing or prohibiting other behaviors for their minors, and states can also enact additional prohibitions or mandatory sex education programs as appropriate for their own constituents.

The prohibitions proposed above on adults engaging in sexual activity or romantic relationships with minors, and on minor engaging in sexual intercourse with other minors, already broadly covers the most commonly recognized forms of incestuous sexual activity and child sexual abuse:

* parent and child (whether the parent is the biological parent, or guardian by law such as marriage or adoptive parent or foster parent, or is a “significant other” of the child’s actual parent)
* grand-parent and grand-child (whether the grand-parent is the biological grand-parent, or guardian by law, or a “significant other” of the actual grand-parent)
* uncle and niece, or aunt and nephew (whether biological, or by law, or a “significant other” of the actual uncle or aunt)
* siblings who are minors (whether full or half siblings or by law such as marriage of their parents or adoption or foster care)
* first or higher-degree cousins who are minors

Sex with animals is prohibited due to a variety of issues including lack of ability to consent and animal abuse.

Related topics:

* Reproduction
* Incest
* Abortion
* Right to consent
* Right to parental control

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