I'm Dr.

Lindsey Doe and this sex curious show is Sexplanations. Today's episode is about the sex crimes I could have been guilty of if someone hadn't appealed legislation and overturned them.

This episode is brought to you by Adam & Eve.com (a sex toy store, interestingly named after the original law breakers). [WHIP CRACKING, COUGH]. There were, and in some places still are laws, that prohibit many of the sexual things I've done:. Fornication - having sex outside of marriage - yep, have done this.

Miscegenation - marriage, romance, and or sex between people of different racialized groups, check. Sodomy - non-procreative sex like oral and anal - true, none of my sex makes babies. Because I use contraception - which has also been a crime I've committed.

Just like distributing birth control and sex ed information through the mail - I've done both of those. I've also cohabitated with partners - illegal! And I'm guilty of Exhibitionism - having sex in front of others, voyeurism - watching others have sex, and possessing sex toy.

Mmm, sex toys. There are all sorts of laws throughout history and even now intended to regulate behaviors. I value some of them, the ones meant to free people from sexual harm and exploitation, laws in which an individual's rights and the interest of society are in agreement.

Some of them though, I'm glad are no longer on the books, because... they enforce double standards and oppression. Make sure you vote! Miscegenation - Loving v.

Virginia. Mildred and Richard lived in Virginia where the Racial Integrity Act prohibited a person classified as “white” from partnering with a person of color. So, Mildred, a Native American and African American woman, and Richard, a white man, went to Washington D.

C. and married, June 2, 1958. Not long after returning home to Virginia, police invaded their home, and despite presenting their marriage certificate, the two were incarcerated. The American Civil Liberties Union or ACLU took their case and the Supreme Court ultimately struck down miscegenation laws in Loving v.

Virginia, but it was an eight year legal battle and they were rejected from Virginia. Contraception - Griswold v. Connecticut Anthony Comstock, who I've talked about in a previous episode of Sexplanations, took it upon himself to regulate access to contraception and information about sexuality through Comstock Laws.

One law in Connecticut prohibited the use of quote "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception." Bummer. I can't imagine having to choose between sex and my education or career. Fortunately I don't have to because Estelle Griswold, Executive Director of the Planned.

Parenthood League of Connecticut in 1965, went up against this law. She and Dr. Buxton, a medical volunteer opened a clinic in Connecticut.

They were arrested and fined, but they appealed their conviction and the Connecticut Supreme. Court voted 7 to 2 that Comstock Law denied the "right to marital privacy.” meaning the start of access to birth control. Sex Education - Eisenstadt v.

Baird This is the case of Eisenstadt, the sheriff who instituted the legal proceedings, versus. Baird, a Boston University lecturer who plotted with hundreds of students to break a Massachusetts law. “Crimes against chastity” law stated that contraceptives could be distributed “only by registered doctors or pharmacists, and only to married persons.” As in you could ONLY get birth control if you were MARRIED AND if doctor or pharmacist gave it to you. On April 6, 1967 at Boston University, Baird gave a talk on birth control, environmentalism, and overpopulation to fifteen hundred students.

Then he handed contraception (a condom and some foam) to one a young woman knowing full well that this was a crime and he'd be arrested. Baird was arrested on the spot and charged with a felony, but managed through the case, to legalize birth control for all Americans based on the Equal Protection Clause. Married and unmarried citizens should have the same rights.

I should mention William Baird is known as the father of birth control and abortion rights! He won three Supreme Court cases -- and he's not a lawyer! Sodomy (And Fornication, Cohabitation, Exhibitionism, Voyeurism).

Lawrence v. Texas. Sodomy also called “crimes against nature”, “non procreative sex”, “oral”, “anal”, and “buggery” was illegal in Texas, among other states until 2003.

Basically adults consenting to sex that wouldn't lead to pregnancy could be charged with breaking the law, especially homosexuals. In 1998, John Lawrence's home was raided by police with drawn weapons. They arrested him for sodomy -- having sex with another man -- which was probably not true but this time...

Lawrence, with the help of gay rights activists played the case to their benefit -- all of our benefits and the result was..... Consenting adults in the United States has the right to sexual privacy. Lawrence v.

Texas argued and won the case that are sexual liberty as adults is protected under the 14th amendment, whatever the sexual orientation, marital status, gender etc. of the participants. There hundreds of cases like this. Laws that we made once upon a time and need to revisit to represent our values today.

Current laws that aren't very sex positive at all. For example, Alabama still upholds the very controversial Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act of 1998 making it illegal to sell sex toys! No one is allowed “to knowingly distribute, possess with intent to distribute, or offer or agree to distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for any thing of pecuniary value." And yet, like Lawrence and Baird, Loving, and Griswold, there are everyday people who push back, protesting, voting, or like Loretta Nall, sending a package of sex toys to Alabama's.

Attorney General. Wow! I love that I can express myself sexually in all sorts of ways all over the the country, and this is entirely because so many people have challenged laws that would have inhibited me otherwise.

People have gone to jail, lost their homes, faced incredible ridicule and violence. They paid huge costs for my sexual freedom and that's something I don't want to take for granted. This show's existence is because people challenged laws that said sex education shouldn't be criminalized.

They made it so I don't go to jail for having sex and using birth control! Can we all be more like them?? At least vote and stay curious!

If you'd like to express your sexual freedom with a stroker or a schlong, go to. AdamandEve.com and use the discount code DOE at checkout. You'll get 50% off an eligible item and free shipping in the U.

S. (though not the vast majority of Alabama) and Canada. Soooo much gratitude for sexual liberty and privacy, which is respected with nice nondescript packaging.