2003.001 Sexual Ethics and Criminal Law, Lester ... - Francis Bennion

The Sex Hate Bill? This report sets out some objections to proposals
1.
in Part I (Sexual O€ences) of the Sexual O€ences Bill
contained
by the Government into the House of Lords on 28
introduced
2003. In the main, the Bill extends only to England and
January
The objections presented here are not exhaustive; many
Wales.
could have been put forward. However it has been necessary
more
put together this report in haste, so that it might be available to
to
considering the Bill on second reading. It therefore had to be
peers
The following remarks are based on the fundamental proposition
2.
down in my book The Sex Code: Morals for Moderns 1 that sex
laid
or the happy acceptance of human sexuality, seeking its
positivism
is largely absent from our society ± even though it is
ful®lment,
for human happiness. Directly or indirectly, that absence
essential
sex positivism is the root cause of most of the sex crimes that
of
us. Do the Government acknowledge this, and investigate
trouble
cause with a view to its removal? The answer is no. Instead they
that
My basic objection to the Bill is that much of it is fuelled by public
3. 2 and founded on what might be termed a Victorian
hysteria
view of sex, namely that it is frightening, horrendous, and
spinster's
only for life with one's head beneath the bedclothes desperately
®t
no wicked man will approach. I do not make that complaint
hoping
The essential fuel of the de®ciencies put forward in this
lightly.
is what is called sex negativism ± or even sex hate. One might
report
call this pathetic e€ort the Sex Hate Bill.
plausibly
1 Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1991. Extracts from reviews of the book are set out in
One to this report.
2 Annex
pp. 7, 14-16 below.
See
Introductory
sent for printing only three days after the Bill was introduced.
o€er us this deeply ¯awed Bill.
4. The natureofsexuality Letuspauseforamomentandaskanessential
6