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Sex Ed Week of Action

Jill

It’s Sex Ed Week of Action, and Planned Parenthood is giving away some awesome prizes to the first Feministe reader who emails me with the correct answers to the following questions:

1. By age 25, what percentage of sexually active young Americans will have a sexually transmitted disease?
2. In how many American states is it still illegal for an unmarried heterosexual couple to live together (cohabitate)?
3. New York City Public Schools require comprehensive sex education to be taught in what grades?
4. Who was the first African American Women to receive a baccalaureate degree?
5. At 10 feet long and 1 foot wide, which mammal has the largest penis?

Good luck!

UPDATE: Congrats to Jean for answering all of the questions correctly. The answers are:

1: 1 in 2 will contract an STD by 25
2: seven states!
3: sadly none
4: Mary Jane Patterson
5: blue whale

14 thoughts on Sex Ed Week of Action

  6. I am so shocked that several states make it illegal for two people to share a living space for any reason. How dare the state decide who should live where?

  8. Michigan surprises me with the anti-cohabitation law, since it is generally quite progressive. On a related note, is it required in the U.S. that married couples live together? In the Netherlands that requirement wasn’t removed until 2001.

  9. Bushfire: I am so shocked that several states make it illegal for two people to share a living space for any reason.How dare the state decide who should live where?  

    Not that this is any way okay either way, but I looked up the Michigan statute to see what kind of punishment I’d be in for, and the law only applies to cohabitants who “who lewdly and lasciviously associate.” Unfortunately for my humor, there was not a description of what that exactly entails.

  10. @Heather

    A lot of statutes with the phrase “lewd and lascivious” in them use (in practice) a hypothetical “average citizen” and ask if such conduct would shock or offend their hypothetical sensibilities. And that way lies of the fun of imposed normative morality, sexuality, etc.

    There is something magical about the number of laws we have that are overly vague (in addition, in this case, to absurdly unjust) simply because the lawmakers would’ve been embarrassed to write down what they actually wanted to regulate.

  11. So, what I’d like to know is, in those states where it’s illegal for unmarried heterosexual partners to live together, is it also illegal for men and women to be roommates (sexual relationship or no?) If not, how the heck do they tell the difference?

  12. As a Michigander, I can safely say that the state is not going on a widespread crackdown on unmarried couples living together. Michigan also has a law on the books that would sentence someone for 15 years in jail if they performed or received oral sex. Do I think it’s ridiculous that these laws are still on the books? However, there are more pressing concerns in the state (including a gubenatorial election and budget problems) that I want to have taken care of first.

  13. The laws banning cohabitation are almost certainly unconstitutional under Lawrence v. Texas and since nobody is trying to enforce them, so it’s not particularly troublesome that they’re still on the books. The only case I’ve found directly addressing the issue is from North Carolina, where the law was found unconstitutional, and I find it hard to believe any American court would rule otherwise.

    Lindsay–I think all the states banning cohabitation require that it be “lewd and lascivious,” which rules out pure roommate situations. If there’s really a dispute about whether the relationship is chaste or sexual, the court would look at evidence like whether they have separate bedrooms, whether witnesses see them kissing goodbye or saying goodbye, and so on. It would be circumstantial evidence (unless they forgot to close the blinds and the state subpoenaed the neighbors to provide eyewitness testimony), but most criminal cases are based on circumstantial evidence.

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