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Anal Sex Law in Canada

edited April 2009 in General
While I was chatting on the shoutbox and browsing Canada's Criminal Code, I came up on a rather surprising discovery...

According to Canada's Criminal Code Part 5 (SEXUAL OFFENCES, PUBLIC MORALS AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT) Section 159...
Anal intercourse

159. (1) Every person who engages in an act of anal intercourse is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any act engaged in, in private, between
(a) husband and wife, or

(b) any two persons, each of whom is eighteen years of age or more,

both of whom consent to the act.
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/showdoc/cs/C-46/bo-ga:l_V//en#anchorbo-ga:l_V

Unless I misunderstood the wording, I think it means that Anal Sex is illegal if one of the partner is under 18 or the partner are not married.

This is quite a surprising find. I know these sex laws are put into place to protect minors against pedophiles and predators. However, if one of the partner is under 18 when they performed anal sex, they can still be charged. Meaning, an under 18 teenage couples can be charged with a sexual offense if they performed anal sex. Also, a couple can be charged with sexual offense if one of the partner is under 18.

I am not a lawyer. However, I know a few of our members are sexually active since they were teens (thanks to the virginity thread). Therefore, if you performed anal sex before you were 18, I suggest you keep quite about it and probably destroy all existing record.

Since our age of consent has already been set to 16, I don't understand why it is still illegal to perform anal sex until you are 18. Shouldn't our government catch this legal "loophole" and close this already?

BTW, I also know there is the "husband and wife" wording problem because same-sex marriage is already legal in Canada since 2005, but I want to focus this thread on the age issue.

Comments

  • edited April 2009
    They probably don't change it because it's never enforced. It's most likely just one of those laws that haven't been fully amended for modern times. Those old-timers who originally set the laws probably weren't fans of sodomy.
  • edited April 2009
    Yeah, it's one of the many old laws we have in the criminal code that our lawmakers won't waste time changing and they definitely don't enforce it. As far as I know this law is based on the old timers who hated homosexuality and it was a way to try and prevent it way back when.

    This is one of those laws such as it is illegal to "pretend to practice witchcraft" which is in the same section as using a fake ID. As well, you can get a life sentence in jail for "alarming the queen."
  • edited April 2009
    Student0667;53229 said:
    Unless I misunderstood the wording, I think it means that Anal Sex is illegal if one of the partner is under 18 and the partner are not married.
    u misunderstood, note the 'or'
    if the couple is married, age restriction is not considered as long as it is consented upon
    Student0667 said:

    Exception

    (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any act engaged in, in private, between
    (a) husband and wife, or

    (b) any two persons, each of whom is eighteen years of age or more,

    both of whom consent to the act.
  • edited April 2009
    dunno if i would consider it a loophole per say, just legal definition

    its related to 'the age of protection for exploitive sexual activity' (18)
    which includes sexual activity involving prostitution, pornography; anal sex also falls under that umbrella

    to the best of my understanding, i believe it holds true for blowjobs as well, its 18+ since its under the exploitive sexual activity umbrella too

    basically anything beyond vaginal sex is subject to the exploitive sexual activity inclusion
  • edited April 2009
    imelting;53234 said:
    u misunderstood, note the 'or'
    if the couple is married, age restriction is not considered as long as it is consented upon
    Oh right, how did I miss that? Thanks imelting! I knew there were something wrong with my interpretation. Post's fixed.
  • edited April 2009
    What if both partners are under 18, then what!

    I like how the consenting part is there too. Its like, some girl consents to vaginal sex and gets raped in the butt, but will not testify to being "raped", therefore they charge the guy for anal sex. Sounds flawless to me

    But yah, like jaydub said, not enforced
  • edited April 2009
    DaNoobie;53240 said:
    What if both partners are under 18, then what!
    For the sake of argument, let's just say this law, like JayDub said, is not enforced. But then again, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing anything when I know there is a EXPLICIT law against it. Same reason why I don't go over the speed limit because there are road signs bolted along the road.

    Don't get me wrong, I know our police force have more important things to do than to police what goes on in my bedroom. But then again, a law is a law and if I break it, I can get persecuted. Also, even if the police or the DA (Crown Persecutor) is not willing to persecute me, can the girl's parent still bring me to court?

    BTW, since I want this to be more of an informal discussion than a debate, I am moving this to General Discussion.
  • edited April 2009
    Have you ever jay-walked?
  • edited April 2009
    If the prosecutor wont go ahead with the case, I assume the girls parents can sue you for damages or something. But you wont do time or have a record.

    And randomuser, I have. But I'm badass.
  • edited April 2009
    One thing they will have a hard time with is proving you had the anal sex, when you can just say you didn't. What are they going to do, try and film you walking funny the next day?
  • edited April 2009
    randomuser;53245 said:
    One thing they will have a hard time with is proving you had the anal sex, when you can just say you didn't. What are they going to do, try and film you walking funny the next day?
    Check for anal fissure, or measure the circumference of your butthole and compare.
  • edited April 2009
    "Sir, or Madam, I have a court order to search your asshole"
  • edited April 2009
    I think student was working under the side of the female wanting to persecute the male. If this is the case, I suppose the uh, catcher, would participate, and wont need a court order to have her asshole searched.

    What I wonder though, some couples film themselves doing it. While the relationship was going fine and dandy, nothing will come of it. One of the sex fetishes is rape fantasy where its pretty much a rape roleplay. Even without that, even a submissive/passive female, could potentially claim it wasn't consensual (and pretend to not know of the existence of the camcorder) once the relationship takes a sour turn.

    In a situation like that, where theres a recording of anal sex AND where consent can be questioned, what then? We have the law, evidence, and willing witness.
  • IVTIVT
    edited April 2009
    randomuser;53245 said:
    One thing they will have a hard time with is proving you had the anal sex, when you can just say you didn't. What are they going to do, try and film you walking funny the next day?
    [youtube]9WoQQ-mAQeE[/youtube]
  • edited April 2009
    randomuser;53245 said:
    One thing they will have a hard time with is proving you had the anal sex, when you can just say you didn't.
    Easy, the girl is chatting with her friend, she spills the bean. The friend talks to her parents and unwittingly spills the bean as well. The parents talk and the girl is busted. And besides, I don't think most teens are smart enough to keep their mouth shut about their sexual encounter if police came knocking on their door. Look, I don't even know anal sex is illegal between two unmarried under 18 couple, what makes you think they will?
    DaNoobie;53251 said:
    I think student was working under the side of the female wanting to persecute the male. If this is the case, I suppose the uh, catcher, would participate, and wont need a court order to have her asshole searched.
    Come to think about it, it doesn't matter who's persecuting who. Even if this is consensual, both partners will be persecuted if one of the partner is under 18 because according to Part 5 Section 159...
    159. (1) Every person who engages in an act of anal intercourse is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
    I can see how this could turn out. The girl's overzealous parents will make a plead bargain on behalf of the girl. As a part of the plead bargain, the girl would be sent off to some out-of-control teen bootcamp + 100 hours of community service in order to keep her off the record. As for the guy, he will take all the blame and does time in prison.

    What I am trying to ask is: Is there a way get someone arrested for a sex crimes nobody is interested in enforcing?
  • edited April 2009
    I don't think you understand the evidentiary burden in the legal system student.

    Prosecutors would not persue these cases for that very reason, not to mention the publics reaction.

    Sex crime such as rape, statutory rape between a 16 and 35 year old sure, but anal sex between a 16 and 17 year old noone cares. Even then, a parent telling someone that it happened is not enough proof.

    What if I went around telling people we had sex when I was 17, thats not enough proof to constitute anything.
  • edited April 2009
    ^True. But you may never know that the parents or somebody may set us up, like a variant of DaNoobie's (however unlikely) scenairo.

    What I am trying to say is that as long as Part 5 Section 159 still exists, I feel that I can still be persecuted and I thus don't feel comfortable doing it. What I am suggesting is that the the age for anal intercourse should be lowered to 16, Canada's current age of consent.
  • edited April 2009
    I have a suspicion that Student is currently having anal sex with a 16/17 year old girl.

    And no, I don't think anybody would care to enforce that rule. Now, if somebody REALLY wanted to set up us the bomb, then yeah, there's probably a 1 in a billion chance that somebody may be trying to trick you into having anal sex with a 16 year old girl, tape it, show it to the authorities along with their Canadian criminal code in hand, telling them to charge you for unlawful sodomy. But really....what in the hell would be their motive?
  • edited April 2009
    Magnificent_Bastard;53284 said:
    I have a suspicion that Student is currently having anal sex with a 16/17 year old girl.
    LMAO
  • edited April 2009
    Hilarious. This law was something I noticed way back when I was studying the Criminal Code.

    At back then, there was a huge issue over whether being gay was outlawed entirely since anal sex between unmarried couples were prohibited.

    WHAT MOST PEOPLE DID NOT REALISE at that time was that the exceptions had an "OR", followed by PERSONS OF 18 YEARS OR OLDER.

    Basically just goes to show exactly how our law codes have to be ABSOLUTELY precise--and how they can sometimes be misinterpreted if any regular person skims a law code.

    But anyhow. this law prohibits any gay teenagers from sexual acts at all. It infringes upon the Bill of Human Rights on THREE accounts under discrimination: Discrimination of gender, discrimination of age, and discrimination of sexual orientation.

    Gender in the fact that it allows any lesbians under 18 years of age to engage in sexual activity (no anal required); age in the fact that it discriminates against anyone under 18 years of age; and sexual orientation... well, isn't that obvious?

    Anyhow, there are many Criminal Codes in need of revision--but it's a slow process as several sections of our Criminal Code is always being contested with new cases and new precedents--in a way, Crime enables society to update its laws from time to time.

    It will probably be a few years before this Anal law becomes really out-dated (teenagers these days)--I wouldn't worry much over it.
  • edited April 2009
    You've never heard about that?

    You sound all serious about the law but it's really no big deal. It's not like it's strictly enforced or anything like that. Anal sex is a private matter so how will they know that happens? Check everyone's assholes every now and then? I don't find it concerning. Plus, that law is super old.
  • edited April 2009
    xxk1nky;53340 said:
    You've never heard about that?

    You sound all serious about the law but it's really no big deal. It's not like it's strictly enforced or anything like that. Anal sex is a private matter so how will they know that happens? Check everyone's assholes every now and then? I don't find it concerning. Plus, that law is super old.
    Are you replying to me, or student?
  • edited April 2009
    Student :)
  • edited April 2009
    xxk1nky;53340 said:
    You've never heard about that?

    You sound all serious about the law but it's really no big deal. It's not like it's strictly enforced or anything like that. Anal sex is a private matter so how will they know that happens? Check everyone's assholes every now and then? I don't find it concerning. Plus, that law is super old.
    thats friken funny
    haha that gives a new meaning to a VI
  • edited April 2009
    student takes things way to literally/seriously.

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