Monday, 29 March 2010 08:54

On the beach, in the back seat of a car, at the top of a mountain, in a tent, on a boat, in a swimming pool, at the office or in a public restroom.  These are all places that people claim to have had sex.  Although “dogging”, engaging in sexual acts in public places is long considered taboo, many people enjoy the thrill of getting it on in interesting places with the risk of having people nearby catch you.  But where do you draw the line and how far can couples take public sex without breaking the law?

 

 

People engage in public sex because it is taboo and doing something bad adds excitement while others claim they do it because it gives them a rush of being somewhere they could get caught.  Although it is not openly encouraged many sex and marriage therapists, dating and lifestyle websites and magazines encourage engaging in public sex. They state that it is a great way to keep passion alive and improve sex in marriage and relationships. One example of an article that promotes public sex is AskMen’s article titled, 'Public Sex Positions' which dictates the best fit sex positions depending on the environment, such as “Lumberjack” or “Pitch a tent”.  Others are not so open and feel that it is just wrong, illegal and unnecessary.

What does the law say?
The Sexual Offences Act (2003) defines what's acceptable when it comes to sexual practices and states that it is an offense to intentionally expose oneself in public in the hope that it'll cause alarm or distress.  It is also illegal to seek sexual gratification by observing, recording or broadcasting another person doing a private act such as undressing or having sex, designed to protect people from being watched without knowledge or consent. However, there is no specific legislation that states specific legalities of public sex but rather just extreme social indecencies such as public nudity.  Yet everyone living in a certain culture understands that there are certain informal social norms that people abide to in order to not be ostracized within a society or judged inappropriately by others.  But we cannot deny the sex that is all around us daily.  Marketing in our society thrives upon sex to sell everything from perfume to alcohol.  By touching upon this physical human need they are able to induce emotion such as desire and need.  That is why even restaurants are getting into the industry.

 

Sex in public restrooms

Liberty Village’s Mildred's Temple Kitchen recently launched a Valentine’s Day campaign that invited customers to have sex in its unisex bathrooms.  They proposed one of its modern bathrooms become one of the "101 places to have sex before you die”. Toronto Public Health said as long as there was no sex in the kitchen and the restaurant kept its washrooms clean and sanitized, it was acceptable. Customers brought their own condoms and they hired a maid to tidy the washrooms for the weekend. Mildred’s promotional campaign opposed social conventions and received extreme reactions from both the curious and the angry.  With a full house, Mildred was able to pull in the adventurous, risqué crowd leaving the more conservative with their noses turned upwards.  Making such a bold statement Mildred definitely separated itself as a radical.  But whether being open about public sex is liberating or unsuitable continues to be quite subjective.

 

Ensuring sexual freedom is of utmost importance yet following proper social behaviors must also be abide to some level.  In order for both public sex doers and those against public sex can live in harmony with each other one must establish the limits of their liberty when choosing to engage in public sex, without imposing on others but still taking the risk.  The law has left loopholes so that people are able to leave their homes and engage in public sex, yet there is still a social stigma to keeping one’s s sexual escapades somewhat private and not imposing on other people.  Whether public sex is daring or dirty is still up for debate but there will always those few who are breaking down boundaries and baring new naked opportunities for sex beyond the bedroom and Mildred's Temple Kitchen restaurant is one of them.

 

Written By Caitlin McAuliffe