I wish I could say that talking about masturbation was an unusual topic for this Presidential election cycle. But topics of discussion in the GOP three-ring nomination circus have been cringeworthily terrible.
For Ted Cruz, wacky and bizarrely regressive statements have always been a touchstone of his rhetoric. And this is not the first time the “sex toy” question has come up (ha!) for him in his political career. When he was solicitor general in Texas in aught-eight, he defended a law making it illegal (with up to two years in jail!) to sell the so-called “obscene devices.”
Being that it was Texas, there was of course a lot of talk about the Constitution. Cruz’s arguments were basically the legalese equivalent of, “If it’s sex and it ain’t specifically defended in the Constitution, we must ban it!” Which is a problem, because the Constitution doesn’t contain a lot of sex-talk.
This is a verbatim quote from his brief:
“There is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals for non-medical purposes unrelated to procreation or outside of an interpersonal relationship.”
No, you are not having a stroke. Cruz is indeed arguing that folks who sell sexy stuff should go to jail because the founding fathers didn’t discuss non-reproductive genital stimulation in the Constitution. I don’t know about you, but if I were setting up a new country, what people do with their own genitals by themselves would not be high on my list of things to make rules about.
So, since it’s on record, it’s fair game that Cruz be asked about it during his GOP nominee campaign. But when he was asked about it, he acted like it was nutz that he was being questioned on it:
“Look, of course not, it’s a ridiculous question, and of course not… What people do in their own private time with themselves is their own business and it’s none of government’s business.”
‘Cuz OF COURSE what people do by themselves (and with themselves) is none of the government’s business. Although, unfortunately, Ted Cruz has not been consistent in that position.
Featured image by Jamelle Bouie, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.
