Do age and certain disabilities make a person incapable of consenting to be the subject of erotic photography? That question will be put to the Massachusetts state House with Massachusetts House Bill 1668, a proposed amendment to the state's child pornography law that would make it a serious crime to photograph with "lascivious intent" a person over the age of 60 or a person with a disability who has been declared mentally incompetent.
State Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein says the bill she sponsored was intended to protect vulnerable populations from sexual predators, but some disability advocates and law buffs have criticized the amendments as restricting the sexual freedom of seniors and people with disabilities.
If Mass. HB 1668 is passed, a person violating the new provisions of the law would receive a mandatory minimum sentence of at least ten years in prison or a fine of at least $10,000. This would include spouses photographing one another with "lascivious intent."
Some observers have noted that the specification "declared mentally incompetent" appears only in one portion of the proposal. Says law professor Eugene Volokh, "The law is not limited to people who are mentally handicapped and thus
unable to consent, or who are photographed against their will by their
caretakers (the justification discussed in this story).
The operative provisions cover people over 60 and the disabled whether
or not they are incompetent. One provision, relating to people's being
"deemed incapable of consenting," would cover only "an elder or a
person with a disability adjudicated as incompetent by a court of the
commonwealth," but I don't see how this would stop liability under the
other provisions, since consent is no defense under the other
provisions in any event."
What do you think? Would this bill protect senior citizens and people with disabilities from sexual predators, or does it criminalize normal human sexual behavior?
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Filed under: sexual abuse, exploitation, disabilism, elder abuse, legislation, massachusetts, pornography, senior citizens, disability and sex, sexuality, aging
