What is legal... what is not
**** Please note this page is under review. References to UK legislation known as
'section 28' have become incorrect due to the repeal of that law and so have been removed.
This interferes with some of the logical structure of the page so the text will be
re-written in due course.****
Society insists, by the process of the law, that each person's rights are respected,
and it is by the democratic establishment of law that each of us grants such rights
to each other as seems to be appropriate to the society in which we live.
We need to be quite clear that the law concerns itself with ACTIONS and not with
STATUS - in other words it is about what people DO rather than what they ARE.
If we examine 'STATUS' we will find that it consists of three distinct parts - what
we are inherently, - what we become inadvertently, - and what we claim to be part
of our structure. Our skin color, eye color, height etc are all examples of things
which are part of our genetic make up - things that normally remain unchangeable.
Examples of inadvertent changes are many - if we are unfortunate enough to lose
a limb through having an accident there is an accidental change in our status. We
may wish to declare to others that we try to adhere to a certain philosophy or
other - by saying 'I am an atheist' we are simply informing people of a part of
our structure which cannot be viewed directly, but this is something we have
decided is part of our status.
Becoming a balloon fetishist is normally a completely accidental process and is
therefore something that has become part of us inadvertently, and since this is
a part of our STATUS the law has no comment to make - being a balloon fetishist
is perfectly legal.
What anyone does alone in private is no concern of the law, although some parents or
responsible guardians may question the activities of minors in their charge particularly
where fetishism is thought to be happening - there are aspects of fetishism which
can be detrimental to development, and eventually, lifestyle, so a wise parent will
at least seek to moderate fetishistic activity.
Having a fetish is abnormal, and it is a status with more disadvantages than
advantages, therefore it would not be right to PROMOTE fetishistic activity -
whether its promotion could be considered illegal is another matter entirely.
Personal sexual involvement of any kind with a
minor under the age of consent, is illegal whatever kind of sexuality is involved,
and the encouragement of any abnormal sexuality amongst this age group should be
considered illegal whether any precisely worded statute is in place or not.
It would be illegal to try to persuade a person into fetishistic activity against
their stated will in the same way that it is illegal to attempt to do anything to
anyone against their will. It is quite normal however for people to try different
things to enhance sexual satisfaction and the use of balloons is not uncommon.
Where a person is a balloon fetishist it is quite normal for their partner to
try to please by the use of balloons in an appropriate way.
Balloon fetishists should have equality with other people, but current lack of
understanding of the condition, and a reticence to force the issues on the part
of fetishists themselves, allows various aspects of peoples rights to go
unaddressed. Balloon fetishists are rightly wary of telling the world about their
relatively unusual desires and activities to avoid the possibility of ridicule,
and they have an absolute right to this privacy - it would be illegal for
anyone to tell any third party about a sexual proclivity that a person preferred
to remain hidden - the offense in the UK would be 'Acting in a manner calculated
to cause offense'
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