# If I have a 3-way with a mother and daughter, could I be committing a crime? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610 "2006-07-30T22:09:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/21 "2006-07-31T03:14:09Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] You don’t think she’s had _THAT_ lifted, too? Yikes. [/QUOTE] And you thought that was her mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/22 "2006-07-31T03:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] And you thought that was her mouth? [/QUOTE] :eek: And I was wondering what the hell it was I saw in her… ---
**Author:** ![Rumpleforskin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5e9695/32.png) [@Rumpleforskin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumpleforskin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/23 "2006-07-31T06:24:35Z")
Not sure about the law but I have a strong suspicion that you would go to Hell for doing this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Phrontist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phrontist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phrontist)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/24 "2006-07-31T12:36:45Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] But I will throw in another caveat – no butts. I don’t sodomize either of them. So we can take that off the table as far as my legal liability goes. [/QUOTE] Actually, in a lot of cases “sodomy” is defined simply as “sexual activity that is non-procreative”, which would mean that oral sex falls into this category as well. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/25 "2006-07-31T13:25:54Z")
Wait a sec. **Is** incest illegal, or are we all just assuming it is? Obviously and truly, incestuous \*marriage \*is illegal (although different states have different definitions of “incest” for marriage), but is incestuous \*sex \*between consenting adults illegal in all states and nations? I tried googling an answer, but besides sex sites, I only found one actual cite that incestual sex is illegal: Maryland’s Model Penal Code Sec 230.2, apparently forbids incestual sex. What about the rest of us? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/26 "2006-07-31T13:42:10Z")
Would it change anything if I were to substitute Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/27 "2006-07-31T13:47:35Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Would it change anything if I were to substitute Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson? 😛 [/QUOTE] How about just Kate Hudson, twice? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/28 "2006-07-31T13:47:49Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Would it change anything if I were to substitute Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson? 😛 [/QUOTE] Yes. I’d request that you surreptitously cut Goldie Hawn’s bangs for her while Kate is blowing you. She seems to have neglected them for the past 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/29 "2006-07-31T13:50:47Z")
Cut her bangs, eh? Can’t I do it the other way around? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/30 "2006-07-31T14:28:03Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] Nowhere. Um, _Lawrence v. Texas_ (2003) anyone? [/QUOTE] If Lawrence is really supportive of legalizing three-ways it would lower its helpfulness in the fight to support gay marriage, since one of the arguments is that gay marriage would inevitably lead to polygamy. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/31 "2006-07-31T14:40:20Z")
Lawrence doesn’t say anything about three-ways as far as I know, just sodomy laws. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/32 "2006-07-31T14:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=Phrontist] Actually, in a lot of cases “sodomy” is defined simply as “sexual activity that is non-procreative”, which would mean that oral sex falls into this category as well. [/QUOTE] Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/33 "2006-07-31T14:52:03Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] And you thought that was her mouth? [/QUOTE] Let’s put it this way: after she takes a leak, she has to dab her chin. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/34 "2006-07-31T15:13:16Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] Cut her bangs, eh? Can’t I do it the other way around? [/QUOTE] Heh. It’s thoughts like the OP’s that make the classic “twin” fantasy more oogy than groovy for me. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/35 "2006-07-31T15:21:19Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] If Lawrence is really supportive of legalizing three-ways it would lower its helpfulness in the fight to support gay marriage, since one of the arguments is that gay marriage would inevitably lead to polygamy. [/QUOTE] Um, what? What are you talking about? Look at my post again. Concentrate on the part I quoted. Read the words it says. See? I was addressing the legality of two women having sex. Nothing about the legalities of threesomes. If you had read the thread, you would see that it makes perfect sense in context. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/36 "2006-07-31T16:01:10Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Lawrence doesn’t say anything about three-ways as far as I know, just sodomy laws. [/QUOTE] True, but since it was suggested that the act of two women having sex was possibly illegal in the US, Lawrence is the correct case to cite that it’s not. Except, like, in prison or the Army (the military reg is still an open question under Lawrence). As to the OP, I can’t speak for how US jurisdictions would interpret it but many states (including Wisconsin) make it illegal to have sex “in public,” with “in public” being defined as (paraphrasing) where someone else can see you or where it’s reasonable to believe that someone else could see you. See the various threads we’ve had on such topics as having sex in parked cars. I seem to recall reading a few years ago that some places in England were enforcing their version of the public sex laws to bust people having group sex while in their own homes or otherwise sequestered. One would hope that under Lawrence such an action involving non-related people would be unconstitutional in the US but one never knows. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/37 "2006-07-31T16:24:48Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Heh. It’s thoughts like the OP’s that make the classic “twin” fantasy more oogy than groovy for me. [/QUOTE] Sometime I need to start a thread asking straight men to explain that to me, because they all seem to have that fantasy and I simply don’t understand it at all . . . ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/38 "2006-07-31T18:20:13Z")
Incest statutes apply only when one of the partners is a minor. It’s perfectly legal, AFAIK, to have sex with a relative, even a close one, when all persons involved are adults. Of course, they would not be allowed to marry if they so desired (although first cousins are allowed to marry in some states, and, in fact, in most of the rest of the world). However… In your hypothetical example, if it were to become known to the local DA that a mother and daughter were having sex either with each other or with a third party, my guess is that he would be inclined to urge Social Services to look into the fitness of the mother as a parent to any other minor children she might have. My WAG is that such a situation could get _really_ ugly… ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/39 "2006-07-31T19:08:51Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Wait a sec. **Is** incest illegal, or are we all just assuming it is? Obviously and truly, incestuous \*marriage \*is illegal (although different states have different definitions of “incest” for marriage), but is incestuous \*sex \*between consenting adults illegal in all states and nations? I tried googling an answer, but besides sex sites, I only found one actual cite that incestual sex is illegal: Maryland’s Model Penal Code Sec 230.2, apparently forbids incestual sex. What about the rest of us? [/QUOTE] I’m inclined to agree with you- if both the mother and the daughter are of age, no one’s committed a crime here. And you might check Maryland’s definition of _sex_- I was unable to google it up, but it just might not include lesbian sex. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610/40 "2006-07-31T19:24:10Z")
[QUOTE=appleciders] I’m inclined to agree with you- if both the mother and the daughter are of age, no one’s committed a crime here. And you might check Maryland’s definition of _sex_- I was unable to google it up, but it just might not include lesbian sex. [/QUOTE] For what it’s worth, Wikipedia claims that [adult incest is illegal in most of the industrialized world](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest#Consensual_adult_incest_2) and strongly implies that it is in most of the United States. I’m not sure about the specific laws of different states; I don’t even really know how to look that up. Anyone got the dirt? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-have-a-3-way-with-a-mother-and-daughter-could-i-be-committing-a-crime/366610.md?page=3)