It’s no secret that the world is a horrible place where different atrocities happen. If cannibalism, necrophilia, bestiality, incest, mutilation, rape, castration, continue to occur in our day, surely, we’d think, they must be the criminal acts of disturbed individuals.
In reality, each of these horrific acts is legal, even now, in various parts of the world. You might be surprised by what people can get away with in some countries.
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is technically legal throughout the United States and several other countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom. However, to indulge one’s appetite for human flesh, a cannibal would first have to find a corpse for his meal, since murder is illegal.
Necrophilia
Committing sex acts on the dead, or necrophilia, is likely to strike most people as horrific, but in some US states, it’s not illegal. As late as 2015, “adultery, sodomy, blasphemy, and the act of displaying an albino in public for hire” were illegal in Massachusetts but Necrophilia is not.
Bestiality
Within the last eight years, Denmark, Sweden, and a few US states have outlawed bestiality, or sex between people and animals. In some other countries, the act remains legal. In Germany, “erotic zoos” cater to the bizarre fetish, although intimate relations between humans and animals aren’t restricted to these “bestiality brothels.” A farmer became suspicious when his sheep avoided human contact, so he installed cameras. Men were photographed trespassing on his property to have sex with his flock.
The practice is also legal in Hungary, Finland, Mexico, and the states of Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. In Alabama, 2014 legislation would have outlawed the act, but the governor vetoed it.
Incest
Although sex between consenting siblings has been outlawed in most countries, it has been decriminalized in France, Spain, and Portugal. The laws in these nations forbid the prosecution of parents, grandparents, and siblings, provided they’re of legal age and consented to the act.
Decriminalization of incest has also been considered in Romania. “Not everything that is immoral has to be illegal,” said Valerian Cioclei, a legal expert at Romania’s Justice Ministry. In the US, incest is against the law in all 50 states and Washington, DC, but some states do not penalize the crime.
Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM), defined as the partial or complete injury or removal of external female genitalia, is performed on many girls between the ages of four and 14. Not only is the procedure without medical benefit, but it can also cause a multitude of serious chronic complications.
Although FGM is illegal in Australia, Canada, the US, nine European nations, and 18 African countries, it’s widely practiced in 28 African nations and a few Asian countries. As many as 140 million women are estimated to have undergone FGM, and three million more girls and women are subjected to the procedure each year.
Rape
In India, a husband is allowed to rape his wife. A Delhi judge ruled that laws against forced sex don’t apply in marriage. The case the judge decided involved a 21-year-old woman who claimed she’d signed marriage documents after she’d been drugged. Then, while she was intoxicated, she was forced to have sex with her “husband.” Her account was found to be inconsistent, and there was “a lack of evidence,” but the judge ruled that, despite the use of force involved, the sex did not constitute rape, and her “husband” was not culpable of any crime.
Marital rape is also legal in Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. In 2016, Indian legislation proposed to specify that “marriage should not be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts,” but the change to the nation’s sexual assault laws was rejected.
Castration
In some situations, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Montana, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin allow the punishment of sex offenders by means of chemical or surgical castration. In chemical castration, the offenders receive an artificial female hormone that reduces testosterone to “pre-puberty” levels. In California, such treatment is required for repeat offenders, and in Louisiana, it’s a condition for a reduced or suspended sentence. In California, Georgia, Louisiana, Montana, and Wisconsin, castration laws apply only in the case of sex offenses against minors.
Lapidation
The Islamic penal code prescribes the manner of execution by stoning, or lapidation. Men are buried in sand up to their waists, women up to just above their breasts. A group of executioners then slays the victim with rocks and stones. Those among the condemned who escape from the holes in which they’re buried can be set free, but it’s much more difficult for women to accomplish such a feat because they’re buried more deeply than men.
To ensure the execution is neither too short nor too long, the law also specifies the size of the stones to be used. Today, stoning as a means of judicial punishment continues in Iran, parts of Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
