# How can sex between consenting adults be a felony in Texas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 2, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209 "2006-06-02T21:56:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/21 "2006-06-06T02:13:39Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > So no, I wasn’t making some sort of half-assed attempt at arguing the law violates some clause I’m not familiar with- I was simply applying what appeared to me, to be a logical inconsistency, namely that any argument against an 18yo student sleeping with his or her slighty older teacher should also be valid against an 18yo employee sleeping with his or her slightly older boss- yet that’s not illegal, and an adult student screwing his teacher is. Ah, but you see, to that effect the point **Bricker** is making (in lawyerese) is that a subjective sense of “logical consistency” is _ **not** _ enough when trying to figure out how come The Law is the way it is: specific jurisdictionally applicable legal doctrines _have_ to be invoked. How can there be such laws? Because the constitutional system allows them to be, is the answer. Whether it seems logically consistent to me or you, whoever holds the majority in the legislature has the last word. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/22 "2006-06-06T02:26:01Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Wow…just wow. And FYI: [http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/04/24/the-latest-buzz-on-sex-toys/](http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/04/24/the-latest-buzz-on-sex-toys/) > [@](#): > > While the respective state laws may vary a bit, **it’s basically illegal to sell sex toys in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama**. They are currently trying to outlaw them in South Carolina and Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/23 "2006-06-06T03:18:11Z")
A further note on the sex toy issue: most of the laws pertain to _selling_ sex toys; possession is still legal _for the moment_. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/24 "2006-06-06T13:42:40Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > I guess you could make an argument that it’s unconstitutional based on _Lawrence_, which says that consensual sex between adults is protected under a privacy right. It would be a weak argument, because unlike _Lawrence_, this carried the potential of coercion because of the unequal power relationship, but if you were going to make the argument that it’s unconstitutional, _Lawrence_ and the privacy cases leading up to it is what you’d probably want to use. Would that make boss/secretary sex illegal? I find this pretty astonishing! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/25 "2006-06-06T13:45:22Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Would that make boss/secretary sex illegal? I find this pretty astonishing! I think the “unequal power” aspect comes into play when said power is delineated by legal statute, such as inmate/guard, student/teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/26 "2006-06-06T14:19:59Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Would that make boss/secretary sex illegal? I find this pretty astonishing! 1. This wouldn’t make boss/secretary sex illegal. 2. It MIGHT mean that if a state chooses to make boss/secretary sex illegal, the Constitution does not forbid the law. The Constitution is not Holy Writ, a source of wisom from which we must draw our every guidance. We are perfectly free to pass laws that augment the protections the Constitution provides, and we are prefectly free to pass laws in areas where the Constitution is silent. The Constitution does not forbid unwise laws, foolish laws, or stupid laws. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/27 "2006-06-07T06:44:25Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > because unlike _Lawrence_, this carried the potential of coercion because of the unequal power relationship I guess it should be illegal for rich people to have sexual relationships with poor people. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/28 "2006-06-07T15:16:34Z")
How can sex between consenting adults be a felony in \*\*Texas? \*\* That answered it’s own question. It’s _Texas._ :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [June 7, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/29 "2006-06-07T15:29:51Z")
**Malienation** writes: > [@](#): > > A further note on the sex toy issue: most of the laws pertain to selling sex toys; possession is still legal for the moment. I thought Molly Ivins wrote in one of her columns about a legal limit to the number of dildos one could own in Texas. Above that number you were apparently considered a Dealer, but below it, as she put it, “you are a mere fancier”. It was some time ago. Have the laws changed? Who decides how many dildos are too many? And how many are, indeed, too many under Texas llaw? and why that number? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209/30 "2006-06-07T17:37:34Z")
From the Texas Statutes, [§ 43.23](http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/cqcgi?CQ_SESSION_KEY=CNBLEHMGVLIV&CQ_QUERY_HANDLE=124374&CQ_CUR_DOCUMENT=1&CQ_TLO_DOC_TEXT=YES): Obscenity > [@](#): > > A person commits an offense if, knowing its content and character, he wholesale promotes or possesses with intent to wholesale promote any obscene material or obscene device. > > A person who possesses six or more obscene devices or identical or similar obscene articles is presumed to possess them with intent to promote the same. > > “Obscene device” means a device including a dildo or artificial vagina, designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs. Wholesalers are subject to a state felony charge, while others are subject to a Class A misdemeanor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-sex-between-consenting-adults-be-a-felony-in-texas/359209.md?page=1)