Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are considered sufficiently unacceptable and harmful to society to be regarded as criminal.
As a general rule, the law in many countries often intervenes in sexual activity involving young or adolescent children below the legal age of consent, non-consensual deliberate displays or illicit watching of sexual activity, sex with close relatives (incest), harm to animals, acts involving the deceased (necrophilia).
Intervention may also arise when there is harassment, nuisance, fear, injury, or assault of a sexual nature, or serious risk of abuse of certain professional relationships.
Adultery is a crime in many Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,[4] Afghanistan,[5][6][7] Iran,[7] Kuwait,[8] Maldives,[9] Morocco,[10] Oman,[11] Mauritania,[12] United Arab Emirates,[13][14] Qatar,[15] Sudan,[16] and Yemen.
[18] With the practices often being performed to exert control over the sexual behavior of girls and women or as a perceived aesthetic improvement to the appearance of their genitalia.
One author argued that use of particular language devices and rhetoric in the legislation surrounding these laws manipulates the viewer to automatically deem such sexual acts to be immoral and criminal.
While quantitative research has not proven a link between the continued criminalization of sodomy and Christianity, there are many Protestant denominations, as well as the Catholic Church, that oppose the practice of homosexuality.
While one might expect that the decriminalization of sodomy laws would support the mobilization of lesbian and gay rights, this is not necessarily the case, as there is debate on whether or a direct link exists between the two.
In legislation regarding sodomy, there is typically no explicit statements given in the support of gay and lesbian rights since the reforms generally the result of a large emendation to penal code.
[25] In studying the changes of sodomy statutes, Frank et al. (2009) found that between 1945 and 2005, "90 percent of all modifications involved liberalization in some way" of non-heterosexual acts.
In January 2014, Nigeria expanded their criminalization of homosexuality by passing legislation to enforce more severe penalties including a ban against same-sex marriage and participation in any gay organizations.
This led US judges to deny parents' custody of their children, student groups were not granted recognition by university officials, and many legislators were opposed to civil rights bills that included sexual orientation.
An amendment was made to Russian legislation in 2013 that emphasizes the protection of children from information that could be deemed as damaging to their mental health and development.
436-FZ, "propaganda" of non-traditional sexual relationships among minors was classified as harmful, and while the law does not criminalize homosexuality directly, it has created a hostile environment for LGBT activism.