Can you take away someone's sexual rights because they have a low IQ?
Friday, March 4, 2011 at 12:49PM Wank Off Wednesday
Have you heard of this? Cognitive impairment has always presented an ethical dilemma in the world of consensual sexual activity. If you're drunk are you cognitively able to give consent? Does it matter if you consented to drinking alcohol? Are people living with Alzheimer's Disease able to consent to sexual activity? Are people with development disabilities able to take responsibility for their sexual actions? This article describes a court case where the outcome was definitively clear. NO. People with cognitive impairment are NOT able to make choices about their own sexual lives. How does this make you feel?
We present the article. A man living in a group home was in a consensual homosexual relationship with another man that he lives with. His sex drive was seen as "vigorous"- and the court decided that he didn't have adequate awareness of what he was doing to be able to participate in consensual sexual activity.
Questions! Do you think this is because his sexual activity was homosexual? Do you think the court acted with his best interest in mind? What do you think? We'd like to get conversations started on this blog that challenge, question, and celebrate sexuality in all the places we find it.
Ready? Hope so!
Love!
Donkey