# Debunk/Verify these please?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 5, 1999, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720 "1999-10-05T01:01:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/1 "1999-10-05T01:01:00Z")
I received this in email today and it’s certainly valueable for its humorous content, but I am always skeptical of such things being true. Please help out here, Oh Intelligent Ones!
-
Most Middle Eastern countries recognize the
following Islamic law:
“After having sexual relations with a lamb, it is a
mortal sin to eat its flesh,”
(umm OK, I’m sure the lamb appreciates that one!)
In Lebanon, men are legally allowed to have sex with
animals, but the animals must be female. Having
sexual relations with a male animal is punishable by
death. (OK, like THAT makes sense. )
In Bahrain, a male doctor may legally examine a
woman’s genitals, but is forbidden from looking
directly at them during the examination.
He may only see their reflection in a mirror.
Muslims are banned from looking at the genitals of a
corpse. This also applies to undertakers; the sex
organs of the deceased must be covered with a brick
or piece of wood at all times. (…a brick???)
There are men in Guam whose full-time job is to
travel the countryside and deflower young virgins,
who pay them for the privilege of having sex for the
first time. Reason: under Guam law, it is expressly
forbidden for virgins to marry. (now let’s just
think for a minute…is there any job anywhere else
in the world that even comes close to this?)
In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to
kill her adulterous husband, but may only do so with
her bare hands. (the husband’s lover, on the other
hand, may be killed in any manner desired.)
Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England -
but only in tropical fish stores.
(Why, of course!!)
In Cali, Colombia, a woman may only have sex with
her husband, and the first time this happens her
mother must be in the room to witness the act. (I
shudder at the thought)
In Santa Cruz, Bolivia it is illegal for a man to
have sex with a woman and her daughter at the same
time. (…we have to presume this was a big enough
problem that they had to pass this law…?)
In Maryland, it is illegal to sell condoms from
vending machines with one exception: prophylactics
may be dispensed from a vending machine only “in
places where alcoholic beverages are sold for
consumption on the premises.” (Is this a great
country or what?)\*
* * *
**\>^,^\<**
“Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…”
OpalCat’s site: [http://opalcat.com](http://opalcat.com)
The Teeming Millions Homepage: [fathom.org/teemingmillions](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions)
---
### Author:  [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/2 "1999-10-05T01:02:00Z")
btw, the parenthetical statements were added by the person who sent the mail, not by me 🙂
* * *
**\>^,^\<**
“Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…”
OpalCat’s site: [http://opalcat.com](http://opalcat.com)
The Teeming Millions Homepage: [fathom.org/teemingmillions](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions)
---
### Author:  [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/3 "1999-10-05T01:43:00Z")
According to the Maryland State Courts website, it is a crime to “sell or offer for sale a **nonlatex** condom by means of a vending machine or other automatic device.” (Bolding is mine.) This is the only condom-related criminal statute I could find for that state.
* * *
Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.
---
### Author:  [@Inky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/4 "1999-10-05T01:47:00Z")
Wow! All I get are ads for Viagra.
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### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/5 "1999-10-05T02:05:00Z")
There’s no “countryside” in Guam, it’s a tiny chunk of suburbia in the middle of the ocean and the majority of the inhabitants are US Govt. employees, armed forces etc.
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### Author:  [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/6 "1999-10-05T02:14:00Z")
Here’s a good site on Chinese law, including Hong Kong and Taiwan: [http://www.qis.net/chinalaw](http://www.qis.net/chinalaw)
I’ve just skimmed a bunch of it, and as far as I can tell, there is no exception which permits murder of an adulterous spouse. Adultery is grounds for divorce, but I can’t find mention of any explicit punishment.
* * *
Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank.
---
### Author:  [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/7 "1999-10-05T02:16:00Z")
Incidentally, I’ve also came across any number of humor sites containing the same list as the OP, parenthetical comments and all. Many _claim_ that these are all real laws, but I haven’t found any that cite a believable source.
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### Author:  [@timmar68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/timmar68)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/8 "1999-10-05T03:29:00Z")
I used to live on Guam. That law is news to me!
* * *
MaryAnn
Sometimes life is so great you just gotta muss up your hair and quack like a duck!
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### Author:  [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/9 "1999-10-05T04:40:00Z")
Guam law cannot be so different from law in the rest of the U.S. If (male) prostitution were legal there, it would be common knowledge.
The rest of the “laws” sound made up as well, but I’ll leave it to others to debunk them. I can kind of believe the one about covering up dead people’s private bits with something, but no, not a brick.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/10 "1999-10-05T05:24:00Z")
Guam is a major American military station. Do you think anyone could make a living having sex with young women on an island with hundreds of sailors willing to provide the service _gratis_?
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### Author:  [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)
#### Post date: [October 5, 1999, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debunk-verify-these-please/3720/11 "1999-10-05T22:13:00Z")
I asked an Islamic friend about the first four items. She did not address them specifically, but offered the following general theories:
=========================================
I am sorry, I couldn’t help but laughed at these “laws”. 🙂
Two things that I can offer you:
1. Translating text directly from Arabic into English is awfully difficult. I
believe you also know that this happens also on Bible when scholars tried to
do the translation from hebrew(?) to latin or greek or whatever.
Mistranslations do happen.
2. Some people/society/country do stuff based on their"old culture and then
claimed that it was based on their (new) religion. I believe this happens not
only to islamic countries.
=========================================
If these laws, or anything remotely like them, do exist, they are certainly not a universally accepted part of Islam.