A wise, fictional high school student once said, “I was half a virgin when I met him.” A reference to the general mulligan that is oral sex, Mean Girls’ Regina George was able to retain part of her innocence by participating in an alternative form of sexual relations.
Unfortunately, the fate of half-virginities of Virginia teenagers is now threatened. Republican Senator Thomas Garrett of Virginia seeks to make oral sex between teenagers illegal.
According to The Huffington Post, the ulterior motive behind the bill is to indirectly reinstate Virginia’s anti-sodomy law, which was named unconstitutional by the Supreme Court over 10 years ago.
The bill states that the “crimes against nature” statute of the former law will be reinstated—but adults over 18 years of age enjoying oral and anal sex in the privacy of their own homes are not in a violation of the new law.
Garrett contacted The Huffington Post and said the intention of this bill is to bring Virginia’s former anti-sodomy law into compliance with the Constitution.
Initially, this law appears as an effort to produce hysterical laughter amongst Americans.
How would the state go about enforcing a law like this? Unless police officers are assigned to patrol the basements of suburban homes, parking lots at night and the occasional high school bathroom, there is no way that Virginia will be able to put an end to oral sex.
Chelsi Posey, a senior health sciences major at James Madison University and Virginia resident, finds the bill to be idiotic.
“It’s kind of stupid to make oral sex illegal without making all sex in general illegal,” Posey said. “Oral sex is often a safer alternative to intercourse. If oral sex were illegal, teens would forget that it is even an option and will go straight to intercourse. With inexperience and lesser education, that could make way for a lot more teen births and transmissions of STIs.”
As a fellow resident of Virginia, I agree with the risks associated with pushing legislation as restrictive as Senator Garrett’s bill. It is not only a direct violation of our guaranteed right to the pursuit of happiness, but let’s face it—few people are going to argue against the experience of oral sex.
Why is it feared that people are participating in a sexual act that does not result in pregnancy, and, according to the Center for Disease Control, has a remarkably lower STI transmission rate than vaginal sex?
Most importantly, what difference does it make to Senator Garrett whether or not teenagers that he does not know are giving and getting blow jobs? The activity is neither harmful nor uncommon, and it is a personal choice. The government should not have the ability to rule over activities in our bedroom.
Virginia, with its history of passing anti-gay legislation, has decided to follow in its own footsteps and attempt to make homosexual teenagers illegal by technicality.
With both oral and technically anal sex made illegal for being “crimes against humanity,” homosexual teenagers will find themselves unable to act on their desires without legal consequences—a Class 6 felony, Huffington Post reported.
Junior international and cultural studies major Sam Pfaff views the law as a corruption of our political system.
“It seems rather absurd in the sense that creating this law won’t actually prevent these sexual encounters,” Pfaff said. “Criminalizing people for being human draws negativity into the judicial system. This type of law is largely discriminatory and would especially alienate gay teens.”
According to The Huffington Post, Garrett claims that the purpose of the law outlawing oral sex is to protect children from child predators—but how do the two concepts relate? UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh contacted The Huffington Post to share his opinions on the legislation.
“Virginia law takes the view that ordinary genital sex among 15-to-17-year-olds isn’t abuse at all (and indeed isn’t a crime), and that adult genital sex with 15-to-17-year-olds is a misdemeanor. How is that consistent with making all oral and anal sex with minors (including such sex among 15-to-17-year-old minors) a felony?” Volokh said.
The “hidden agenda” behind this law isn’t actually all that hidden. The passing of said legislation is a blatant attack on the rights of teens, gay, straight or in between, to act on their sexual freedoms. It is time that a state in which it is still legal to marry your first cousin focuses on larger issues and comes to terms with the changing times.
Nobody has the right to tell you what your sex life should consist of. I encourage everyone to exercise their right to play third base. Save the blow jobs.
Terry Preston can be reached at terrence.preston@spartans.ut.edu