Should Adultery be Illegal

1
Should Adultery be Illegal?

• Alaina Cominskie
• Colleen DuBrey
• Jenna Eagle
• Claire Fultz
• Cordt Withum

2
What is Adultery?

• The definition of adultery used in church and
  law
• - Sexual intercourse by a married person with
  someone other than ones spouse.
• What is same-sex adultery?
• - When a married man or woman has sex with a
  member of the same-sex.
• Does this definition apply to same-sex adultery?
• - Not necessarily.
• - Sexual intercourse is defined as
  heterosexual intercourse involving penetration
  of the womans vagina by the mans penis.
• - Therefore, some states have expanded their
  definition of adultery to include sodomy and
  homosexual relations.

3
Cultural Derivatives of Adultery

• The term adultery has been derived from many
  different cultures.
• - American to adulterate is defined as to
  despoil, dilute, poison, pollute, or
  debase.
• - Latin adulterium (from ad alter) meaning
  different.
• - French advoultre and avoutire meaning move
  away quickly or jump away from.
• - English adultus meaning grown.

4
Adultery

• Adultery seems to be universal
• Attitudes toward adultery vary widely between
  cultures
• Under ancient Hindu law adultery couldnt
  dissolve the marriage act.
• In modern Hindu code however, adultery can be
  grounds for divorce.

5
How is adultery viewed in other cultures?

• On the subject of sex and adultery, the Europeans
  have been laughing at us for centuries.
• - When de Tocqueville toured America 150 years
  ago, he concluded "Although the travelers who
  have visited North America differ on many points,
  they all agree in remarking that morals are far
  more strict there than elsewhere."

6
How is adultery viewed in other cultures?

• Take a second to recall the Clinton and
  Lewinsky upheaval
• The French, especially, were falling to the
  ground with laughter because of how this episode
  was handled by Americans.
• - Recall in 1996, when Prime Minister Francois
  Mitterand died. At his funeral, in the front
  row, were his widow, Danielle, and his longtime
  mistress, Anne Pingeot, and their daughter,
  Mazarine Pingeot.

7
Our Definition of Adultery

• Taking into account heterosexuals, homosexuals,
  and cross-cultures, our group defines adultery
  as
• -Sexual relations by a married person with
  someone other than ones spouse which then breaks
  the conscious agreement of matrimony.
• Sexual intercourse ? Sexual relations
• Sexual relations are not limited to sexual
  intercourse and includes all direct contact
  intended for arousal outside of matrimony.
• Matrimony includes legal marriages as well as
  common-law marriages.
• - But does not include engaged, cohabiting, or
  simply dating couples.

8
How prevalent is adultery?

• Half of all marriages end in divorce.
• Out of that 50, half end because of adultery.
• Therefore, you have a 63 chance that either you
  or your spouse will commit adultery.
• The Kinsey report in 1948 and 1953 reported that
  50 of males and 26 of females had engaged in
  extramarital affairs
• More current research shows that 21 of males and
  11 of females report having had extramarital
  affairs, giving you a 30 chance that one or both
  of you will have an affair.

9
Adultery Historically

• Adultery is not new, has been occurring for
  centuries.
• Past cultures each developed their own way of
  viewing it.
• These ranged from acceptance to death.
• Some of these ideas have transcended time while
  others have been rejected.

10
Ancient Egypt

• There were different customs among nobility,
  common people, and slaves. Nobility had a wide
  range of marital customs and practically all
  sexual behaviors including adultery were either
  accepted or condemned depending on the time
  period and the ruling class. This was similar
  with the common people, only there was a more
  strict regime in marriage, and a variety of
  punishments for those who broke the laws. What
  was acceptable among slaves and concubines was
  dependent upon their owners. Although Egypt has
  similarities to other civilizations, they also
  had unique sexual imagery and customs.

11
India

• In India, there is a caste system, in which
  people are born into a hierarchical caste or
  class of people. Castes are fixed and only
  through marriage can one change castes. Within
  different castes, different sexual customs are
  tolerated. India, as a whole, has various sexual
  'behaviors' such as adultery
• Males are not punished for adultery in India

12
China

• Ch'in Dynasty - 221 BC to 24 AD
• Sex was only for procreation and to provide a
  sacred family line.
• Men were allowed to see concubines and there was
  an entire set of Confucianist rules for
  concubines, such as grooming rules.
• A man's concubine was not allowed to stay in bed
  after the sex act if his wife was not present
• Interestingly, if the concubine was age 50, the
  man was supposed to have sex with his concubine
  every five days.
• During this time period, there were many sadistic
  relationship among the Ch'in dynasty families and
  many incestuous relationships between close kin
  members of the dynasty

13
Greek Society

• Wives constantly had to compete sexually for
  their own husbands with prostitutes and slaves in
  their own homes.
• There was a lot of violence against women.
• Some wives were killed by their husbands.
• Often women were forced into marriage at a young
  age, these wives tended to die more frequently
  (except in Sparta, where marriage age was 18).
• Young girls were taught that dying in childbirth
  was martyrdom.

14
Roman

• The Husband would not sleep with his new bride on
  the wedding night, but would arrange to sleep
  with another woman.
• The Roman state wanted fertility among mothers
• Widows were not allowed to remarry
• Husbands went out of their way to keep their own
  wives locked up like slaves, they deprived their
  wives of a life outside of the home

15
Roman

• The legal age for marriage in Ancient Rome for a
  woman was age 12, whether she had reached puberty
  or not
• Virginity was highly valued upon marriage
• Roman men were allowed to engage in adultery, but
  their wives were not.
• Female sexuality was entirely defined in their
  patriarchal value sex with wives for legitimate
  children and procreation of mans children, sex
  with prostitutes, concubines and slaves for a
  mans sexual leisure.

16
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• Adultery is viewed very differently not only
  across time but also across cultures.

17
The Extremes

• Adultery and Hammurabis code
• If a mans wife committed adultery it was up to
  the husband on whether or not to take action.
• Punishment for adultery was death by drowning.
• These standards were not applied to men.
• According to the Torah adultery is an act against
  G-d, and is therefore punished by death.

18
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• In the Mosaic Law, adultery is carnal intercourse
  of a wife with a man who was not her lawful
  husband.
• Intercourse of a married man with a single woman
  did not constitute adultery, but fornication.

19
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• Western Societies
• In western Europe and North America, adultery was
  traditionally grounds for divorce.
• Western notions of egalitarianism and modern
  expectations of mutual emotional support in
  marriage, resulted in unprecedented pressure for
  equal marital rights for women in traditional
  African and Southeast Asian societies.
• In many eastern European countries, adultery does
  not in itself constitute a ground for divorce
• No-fault divorces are now permitted in United
  States
• Reduced importance of adultery as an element in
  divorce proceedings in most American states.

20
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• In ancient Grecian and Roman law, female spouses
  could be killed for adultery.
• Men were not severely punished, if punished at
  all.
• No such thing as the crime of adultery on the
  part of a husband towards his wife and Roman
  husband often took advantage of his legal
  immunity.
• Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions did not
  view adultery equally between the genders.

21
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• Islamic law, or Shari'ah, men and women equally
  liable
• death by stoning
• (Arabic zina' properly, any extramarital sexual
  intercourse)
• In some parts of Africa seducer is punished with
  the loss of one or both hands.
• The seducer is seen as one who has perpetrated a
  robbery upon the husband.
• Adulterous wife is made to endure bodily
  mutilation.

22
Adultery Cross-Culturally

• Traditional Senufo and Bambara tribes of West
  Africa kill the adulterous female spouse and her
  companion.
• Among the Kaka in Cameroon a man may have sexual
  relations with the wives of certain relatives
  without consequence.
• Wife lending has long been a part of Eskimo
  hospitality.
• Nonincestuous extramarital relations are
  permitted by many South Sea island cultures
• Among certain Pueblo Indian societies adultery is
  tolerated if kept secret.

23
Adultery Laws

• Twenty-Six States still have anti-adultery laws
  on the books
• Punishment varies greatly among the states
• Can be a misdemeanor or a felony
• Adultery is still a felony in Mass., Michigan,
  Oklahoma, and Idaho.
• Laws vary considerably
• Some define adultery as intercourse outside
  marriage, others include living with someone
  else, to lewdly and lasciviously associating
  with someone other than ones spouse.
• Laws Have Changed Significantly

24
Adultery Laws

• In 1948 ONLY Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and
  Tennessee did NOT have adultery laws.
• Of those with adultery laws, only 5 had
  punishments that did not include possible jail
  time.
• Most states also had punishments for fornication
  and seduction.
• All states but Vermont, New Hampshire, and DC had
  Sodomy laws.

25
Adultery Laws

• Who is Punished?
• All but seven states punish BOTH people.
• Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, North Dakota, and
  Utah only punish the married person.
• DOUBLE STANDARDS
• In DC and Michigan when a married man sleeps with
  an unmarried woman, only the man is guilty, but
  when a married woman sleeps with an unmarried
  man, they are both guilty.

26
Adultery Laws

• Adultery is illegal and still prosecuted in the
  Military.
• Last year the Air Force alone prosecuted 67
  soldiers for Adultery
• Have a double standard High ranking male
  officers can get away with it but low ranking
  males and female officers can not.
• Prosecute ambiguously on purpose. Visits to
  prostitutes are not reasons for court-martial,
  but long-term affairs and affairs between
  soldiers are considered dangerous and deserving
  of punishment (Foer, 2005).

27
Adultery Laws

• Adultery as a breach of contract
• Marriage is a contract and adultery violates that
  contract.
• Traditional marriages do not have a written
  contract.
• Only very recently are people actually creating
  marriage contracts and prenuptial agreements
  that have stipulations about adultery.
• These are civil contracts and are not regulated
  by the law

28
Adultery and Faith

• Catholic Church does not recognize divorce they
  only recognize annulments which mean the marriage
  was never valid.
• If someone has gotten a divorce and remarried,
  they are committing adultery in the eyes of the
  church.
• Last year the church started granting annulments
  because of adultery for the first time citing
  that if the partner had known the adultery would
  take place they wouldnt have married the person
  in the first place.
• This has serious consequences for children of
  these marriages when the church claims the
  marriage was not legitimate.

29
Monogamy-One marriage

• Biological or Social Construct

30
Forms of Sexuality

• Humans are biologically programmed to enjoy
  sexual interactions
• Asexual
• Lifelong Monogamy
• Serial Monogamy
• Polygamy

31
Biological Argument

• Monogamy is very unnatural in the animal world
• In the past, 95 of birds were thought to be
  monogamist but more recent research has proven
  otherwise.
• The Prairie Vole

32
Insel and Youngs Vole experiment

• Prairie Voles are lifelong monogamist.
• Meadow Voles are Polygamist
• Burrow differences
• Vasopressin Receptors in brain synapses
• Meadow Voles can be monogamist
• No research has proved applicable to primates or
  humans

33
Social Construct Polygamy Argument

• Child rearing much easier in large group
  (economically and emotionally)
• Commune- social power of a group

34
Social Construct Monogamy Argument

• Provides profound affection between partners that
  is an invaluable sanctuary from societal
  pressures (McMurtry 1974)
• Provides loving environment for child rearing
  (McMurtry 1974)
• Communal Diseases, STDs and AIDs are biological
  punishment for opposing the norm

35
Monogamy as a Social Construct

• Child rearing is only a fraction of marriage span
• Marriage is a societal pressure that separates
  power of group
• Stops large groups with similar ideas from
  obtaining societal power.
• Marriage promotes economic support to social
  system
• Communal diseases, STDs and AIDs can be
  contracted by monogamous persons

36
Monogamy as a Social ConstructPrivate Property

• Marriage vows and taking husbands surname
• Control of lineage and inheritance
• Sexual control over spouse
• Breaking of contract (adultery) requires monetary
  reimbursement

37
Final Arguments

• If monogamy is the biological norm and polygamy
  is biological fluke then through evolution
  polygamy would disappear
• If monogamy was natural then there would be no
  need for its rigorous cultural prescriptions by
  everything from severe criminal law to ubiquitous
  housing regulations (McMurtry 1974).

38
Should Adultery Be Illegal?NO

• Humans have not been proven to be monogamous
• There is overwhelming evidence that monogamy and
  marriage are social constructs
• In a diverse society adultery should not be a
  crime because it is viewed very differently
  cross-culturally.
• Therefore, adultery is a moral issue and should
  not be a law punishable by the state.

39
Resources

• Decrow, K. (1997). Our cheatin' hearts America's
  sexual hang-ups. Retrieved February 21, 2005
  from the World Wide Web http//newtimes.rway.com/
  1997/062597/decrow.htm
• Kinsey Institute, The (1996). Data from Alfred
  Kinseys studies. Retrieved February 28, 2005
  from the World Wide Web http//www.indiana.edu/k
  insey/research/ak-data.htmlextramaritalcoitus
• Fisher, H.E. (1992). Anatomy of love The natural
  history of monogamy, adultery, and divorce. New
  York W.W. Norton Company
• Lawson, A. (1988). Adultery An analysis of love
  and betrayal. Boston Harper Collins Publishers