I trust I'm not treading on the toes of my fellow blogger, who has professional experience in these matters, but I was angry when I read an article in the Telegraph this morning. 'Court bans man with low IQ from having sex' states the headline.
The Court of Protection, that little-known authority whose proceedings are secret, has judged, on a 41-year-old man with an IQ of 48, that he 'should not be allowed to have sex with anyone on the grounds that he did not have the mental capacity to understand the health risks associated with his actions'. Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Court of Protection judges have the power to make life and death decisions for people deemed to lack the intelligence to make them for themselves.
The man named as Alan, had been in a sexual relationship with a man with whom he lived and told officials "It would make me feel happy" for it to continue. However, his local council disagreed and decided his 'vigorous sex drive' was inappropriate because of his IQ and he did not understand what he was doing.
Alan lived in a home provided by the council and was also accused of making lewd gestures at children in a dentists' surgery and on a bus, although no police action was taken.
In June 2009 the local authority began court proceedings to restrict his contact with his friend on the grounds that he lacked mental capacity and an interim order was made to that effect. "Since then Alan has been subjected to close supervision to prevent any further sexual activity on his part," except when he is alone in his bedroom.
So masturbating doesn't carry health risks according to the judge. I have a retired nursing friend who worked in A & E most of her career and she would firmly contradict that statement. She could keep anyone enthralled for hours with her accounts of the amusing and more serious cases of male masturbation she treated in her days in the front line.
More seriously, surely if Alan was told he must use condoms that was all that was needed, but to deny him a sex life is appalling. By all accounts he wasn't putting himself or the other person involved at any risk and the judge had obvious difficulty finding a reason to enforce this order.
The judge said it requires an understanding and awareness of the 'mechanics of the act'. How many people, stoned out of their minds on a Friday or Saturday night, have a clue about the mechanics of the act? But, because they have a higher IQ than Alan, they're exempt - for now. It won't be long though before this becomes commonplace.
It wasn't so long ago a bonny girl was stopped, by Fife social services, from marrying her boyfriend because they judged her 'too stupid' to understand the vows. They didn't give up there though. When she was breast feeding her three day old son Ben in the maternity ward, they came and took the child into care because they 'feared she lacked the intelligence to be a good mother'. Of course this case was child kidnapping wrapped up in lies. Fortunately their story has a happy ending but it's not always so.
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