THE DAY SEDUCTION BECAME ILLEGAL ~ April 22, 1886

Beautiful couple woman and man in medieval clothes in the room

On this day in 1886, seduction become illegal. An Ohio law was established to prevent male instructors from having consensual sex with women of all ages. Virginia passed a law making it illegal for a man to coerce a chaste woman into having sex with the promise of marriage. I like the wording of Georgia’s law which made it unlawful for men “to seduce a virtuous unmarried female and induce her to yield to his lustful embraces, and allow him to have carnal knowledge of her.”
In the state of Michigan, a man had his conviction of three counts of seduction overthrown because it was determined the woman was no longer virtuous after the first encounter. And secondly, the woman’s claim that they had sex in a buggy was rule “medically impossible.”
Today’s sexually charged climate: Only when we hear about someone like Bill O’Reilly being sued for multiple counts of sexual harassment does it get our attention; however, it is far more common than reported. It is interesting that many companies do nothing to address the problem until they are sued or the charges become public knowledge. Many times, women stay silent about the abuse fearing they will not be believed or fearing termination of their employment.

No excuse for abuse. Real men respect women!

Source of information obtained from History.com/This Day in History