# Has sex ever been illegal in any society throughout history? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506 "2007-12-10T18:35:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/1 "2007-12-10T18:35:38Z")
Throughout history, has sex ever been illegal for any society? Granted, there have been societies that have had strong puritanical tendencies, there still are, but has there ever been any to go so ridiculously far as making the act completely illegal, even if married? ---
**Author:** ![aptronym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@aptronym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aptronym)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/2 "2007-12-10T18:36:30Z")
Do religious cults count as societies? ---
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/3 "2007-12-10T18:39:54Z")
If it’s a large enough cult, then sure. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/4 "2007-12-10T18:40:20Z")
How would such a law benefit anyone? If the law could somehow be enforced then the society would eventually die out. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/5 "2007-12-10T18:42:05Z")
The Shakers enforced celibacy but didn’t make laws about it, I don’t think. Their goal was to convert others to…Shakerism?..not make new little Shakers. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/6 "2007-12-10T18:43:14Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] If it’s a large enough cult, then sure. [/QUOTE] In that case, [the Shakers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers) forbade sex even among married couples. And yes, they’ve largely died out because of it. ETA: Darn it, should have previewed first. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/7 "2007-12-10T18:44:09Z")
Well, the Shakers demanded celebacy for everyone, and some of the Shaker communities ( they lived communally) had several hundred people. Here’s a series of articles about the Shaker community of Union Village, Ohio, which in 1819, had 600 people, which made it about the same size as the largest town in the area. [http://lanepl.org/Blount/JBCOLS/documents/2948ADB4E8C1C42910A7C58B4199C42798972F6D.html](http://lanepl.org/Blount/JBCOLS/documents/2948ADB4E8C1C42910A7C58B4199C42798972F6D.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/8 "2007-12-10T18:50:12Z")
A society that enforces a “no sex” law and has no intercourse (ha!) with the outside world is on a quick road to extinction. Lin Carter used the idea for a throwaway gag in **Callipygia**. The Shakers, by contrast, accepted converts and took in orphans as Church members./ I’ve been told that a major part of their decline was due to changes in adoption laws in the 20th century. The Shakers almost disappeared. They weren’t even accepting new members for a long time, but in the past 20 years they’ve apparently changed their minds, and their numbers got a slight boost. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/9 "2007-12-10T18:57:03Z")
Sodomy has been illegal in all manner of societies throughout history, including chunks of the United States until a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/10 "2007-12-10T19:05:20Z")
Er…maybe I was wrong. They did make laws? I thought it was more along the lines of everyone who wants to be a Shaker probably wants to be celibate anyway because they believe…I guess I found it hard to believe the Shakers could really lay down the law. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/11 "2007-12-10T19:27:32Z")
[QUOTE=Risha] In that case, [the Shakers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers) forbade sex even among married couples. [/QUOTE] I like the way the article discusses the ‘oral tradition of the Shakers’. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/12 "2007-12-10T19:32:25Z")
[QUOTE=Chez Guevara] I like the way the article discusses the ‘oral tradition of the Shakers’. [/QUOTE] OMG, you’re so filthy! (My mind went there too.) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/13 "2007-12-10T23:12:51Z")
You do realize that a joke that bad requires you to throw a Shaker over your left shoulder. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Grey\_Tama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@Grey\_Tama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey_Tama)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/14 "2007-12-11T11:25:06Z")
In Greece, the Mount Athos [Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos) would probably qualify. (Women are not allowed to enter the region at all) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/15 "2007-12-11T11:39:39Z")
[QUOTE=Grey Tama] In Greece, the Mount Athos [Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Athos) would probably qualify. (Women are not allowed to enter the region at all) [/QUOTE] No women? No problem. We’re talking about the _Greeks_ here. Hey, I can say these things, I’m 1/4 Greek. And 3/4 heterosexual. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/16 "2007-12-11T13:53:54Z")
Weren’t there medieval/Renaissance religious republics (Anabaptist?) in certain German cities that enforced celibacy? Or am I misremembering something else entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/17 "2007-12-14T21:42:37Z")
[QUOTE=dolphinboy] How would such a law benefit anyone? If the law could somehow be enforced then the society would eventually die out. [/QUOTE] I knew someone was going to ask that… the tribe would simply capture pregnant women from another group. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/18 "2007-12-15T06:55:07Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Weren’t there medieval/Renaissance religious republics (Anabaptist?) in certain German cities that enforced celibacy? Or am I misremembering something else entirely. [/QUOTE] Sure. They satisfied their sexual urges by pissing on each other. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/19 "2007-12-15T07:03:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Sure. They satisfied their sexual urges by pissing on each other. Oh. So they were politicians? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2007, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506/20 "2007-12-15T07:04:35Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] No women? No problem. We’re talking about the _Greeks_ here. Hey, I can say these things, I’m 1/4 Greek. And 3/4 heterosexual. [/QUOTE] Well, there _is_ a reason why the Greeks march first at the Olympics. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-sex-ever-been-illegal-in-any-society-throughout-history/429506.md?page=2)