Hiya,

I see mostly technical questions here, but I'm
having a dilemma that I need input on.

As a list owner I've never been in the business of
verifying anything about the people who subscribe
to my discussion list.  Since 1990, my basic philosophy
has been that if someone can keep their behavior
consistant with our list guidelines
http://www.topchoice.com/~psyche/lists/sex-l.html
(e.g. be respectful towards others, no flaming, no
condoning nonconsentual stuff, etc), and wants to stay,
then they are welcome.  but the net is a different place
these days... it's not just college students, staff, etc.
anymore...  Recently there been some concern expressed that
since we talk about sexuality and relationships, that members
could be risking legal problems by posting to the list because
there are legal minors present.
I've also been checking out laws related to sexuality
and in some places in the US anything except for
intercourse (and yes the type of intercourse was
specified in the law) between 2 opposite sex legally
adult married people is against the law.  Does that
mean that talking about or condoning illegal activities
(such as oral sex, etc) is also against the law?  or
posting text based depictions of said activities?
This is making me crazy because given that we have
subscribers from probably over 50 countries, are we
supposed to cater to the most restrictive laws?
That's a bit outrageous if you ask me... might as
well just shut the list down if it boils down to
that.
I've taken the stance that sexuality is a natural
part of life and should be something we talk about
openly and honestly, but it's beginning to look like
I'm risking being thrown in jail for taking such
a stance given the sex-negative climate we live in.
I really don't want to go to jail folks...
Anyone have an ideas on this dilemma??

Are there any effective ways of keeping minors from
subscribing?

and does anyone have a good legal feel for whether
a disclaimer that people should be of legal age
or have their parents permission would protect list
members from legal problems that could arise from
minors being present on a list where sexuality is
discussed?

Out for now,
Betty
http://www.topchoice.com/psyche/