Protection vs. Privacy: An Insight into Sexual Rights

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Braganza

Protection vs. Privacy: An Insight into Sexual Rights

        A man and a woman meet at a bar and decide to go home together.  One of the neighbors gets alarmed by the noises they make and calls the police.  Little does the couple know that they are breaking the law, so they are charged with a misdemeanor.  Ridiculous?  Now picture the same police breaking into a different house to find a grown male about to abuse a young girl.  This break-in just saved a little girl from a rape.  While privacy may seem like a universal right, some sex laws, that questionably invade this privacy, are needed for the protection and well-being of others.  For example, there are certain sex laws that can protect children from potential rapists.  In no way, however, are all sex laws helpful, or even acceptable, for they put constraints on people’s sexual lives.  An example might be sex laws that prohibit certain sexual acts such as watching obscene films or fornication.  So while laws are needed for the monitoring of certain sexual acts and behavior, legislation should provide a certain degree of sexual freedom and uphold people’s right to privacy.  Sexual expression may be viewed as an act worth monitoring, but it should be given some measure of freedom from regulation.      

Some sex laws do in fact serve for the protection and security of others, especially children.  A reference guide, entitled A Guide to America’s Sex Laws, for example, states, “In the vast majority of state laws, the age of consent is either fifteen or sixteen” (Prosner and Silbaugh 44).  The purpose of these laws is to protect children from potential pedophiles trying to take advantage of them and their naiveté.  Although one might question the particular ages stated, a certain line must be drawn between child and adult.  Most children at a particularly young age cannot fully comprehend the decisions they make and therefore cannot be held responsible for their actions.  This is why lawmakers view them as minors and are unable to participate in certain activities that adults can, such as drinking alcohol.  In this case, it is the responsibility of the authorities to watch over these certain situations and for legislators to make sure no one tries to take advantage of the innocence and inexperience of children.  Furthermore, it is illegal in most states for a minor to appear in any pornographic film.  Legislators believe it is wrong to sexually exploit an underage male or female on camera for the viewing pleasure of others.  Again, although the age declared in this law can be debated, an exceptionally young child cannot make the decision to go into the pornographic industry.  While some can argue children are just sexually expressing themselves, a child cannot fully understand the implications and consequences of being in a pornographic film at that young age.  Including children in pornography can, in some cases, also lead to other damaging events.  For example, Jamie Reno from Newsweek wrote, “a little girl named Danielle was abducted and killed by a man who had fantasies about young girls as evidenced by the child porn founded on his computer” (Reno).  Although there is no proof that the child pornography directly caused this abduction, certain precautions must be taken so that events like this do not occur again.  While not all children are innocent and pure, their lack of experience allows them to be susceptible to others trying to take advantage of them.  Children are sexually curious beings, but their immaturity stresses the need for guidance by authority figures, in this case lawmakers.  If the protection of children is the main goal, then these sex laws are a necessity.  

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Other sex laws, however, border on the invasion of people’s privacy as they regulate certain aspects of people’s sexual lives.  This raises the question of: when are sex laws good and when are they bad?  One can argue that they are bad when they are placed for the purpose of declaring the sexual norm set by society, invade the right of privacy that adults possess, and do not really focus on preventing harm.  This can be most clearly seen in laws forbidding fornication.  While sex between a man and woman may seem to be okay and fit the standard set ...

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