Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Culture

Sex Crime, Only a Quarter-Century After Prediction

Matt Welch | 3.24.2010 9:47 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Remember Caroline Cartwright, the English housewife who was arrested in 2009 for "excessively noisy sex" in her own home, as memorialized at Reason by Brendan O'Neill? She's been arrested again. The unsympathetic Daily Telegraph has the story:

Mrs Cartwright avoided jail in January when a judge at Newcastle Crown Court handed her a suspended prison sentence after she was caught breaching a four-year Asbo which bans her from having loud sex sessions.

But two months after her court case Caroline, of Hall Road, Washington, is said to be at it again and has been arrested by police and hauled before magistrates.

The 49-year-old has now been thrown back into a bail hostel to keep her and husband Steve apart while the courts decide what to do next. […]

"This is just ridiculous. It was just for 10 minutes at around 10.15am on a Sunday morning," said Mrs Cartwright . "You couldn't hear that much because the bed is downstairs in the dining room and not in the bedroom. […]

"They said they believed I had breached the Asbo again because two neighbours said they heard us. It was only 10 minutes, not like the two hour sessions we used to have.["]

She added: "This is causing stress on our marriage. We aren't doing it as much as we used to because it's not exactly relaxing knowing that everyone is listening for you to make a noise. We aren't even sleeping together every night because I have been in a hostel for so long that I've got used to sleeping alone."

Link via Roger Ebert's Twitter feed.?

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: "Liu's approach flouts the Constitution's very purpose"

Matt Welch is an editor at large at Reason.

CultureNanny StateWorldSexEngland
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (116)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Kyle Jordan Prime   15 years ago

    What the fuck can you say to this!? Honestly? It's beyond words.

  2. John   15 years ago

    I can't get to twitter and if I couldn't I would follow Ebert. But let me guess, the fascist bastard thinks this is just great?

    1. Matt Welch   15 years ago

      He didn't comment on it, though I'd be surprised if he would approve. He has written a few things recently about evolving sexual mores, where it is clear his sympathy is with freedom, not repression.

      1. Warty   15 years ago

        I gather that his sympathies are not with Sarah Palin.

    2. affenkopf   15 years ago

      Anyone I don't agree with = facist

      John, you have alle the subtlety of an anti Bush protester.

    3. Abdul   15 years ago

      Ebert's totally down for freeky deeky stuff. Don't forget, he married a black chick way back before miscegenation was made all trendy by the Ted Danson/Whoopi Goldberg hype.

      1. Zeb   15 years ago

        And he wrote "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls".

    4. Mo   15 years ago

      Do you really think the co-creator of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls would go along with this?

  3. Seward   15 years ago

    You know, I can see something similar happening in the U.S. if liberals get their way and Americans are forced, or coerced or cajoled to live in more dense urban environments.

    1. affenkopf   15 years ago

      Suburban sprawl itself is a result of government intervention: http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2.....nceptions/

      1. Seward   15 years ago

        Yes, the long history of suburbs and exurbs going back to at least classical Greece is all the result of government intervention. Bramwell's argument is just beyond stupid in other words. Sprawl is a revealed choice that has occurred throughout human history in every society that one can think of; Aztecs, Romans, Chinese, Thais, etc.

        1. creech   15 years ago

          Except where it is promoted by zoning restrictions that mandate lot sizes, uses, etc.

        2. Mo   15 years ago

          That's the exact opposite of human history. Most of the trends in human history have led to increased, rather than decreased, urbanization.

        3. Zeb   15 years ago

          I really don't think that anything from classical history is in any way comparable to modern suburbs and sprawl as made possible by automobiles and mass transit. Yes, people have always moved out of cities, particularly when there is a lot of wealth being created, but really not comparable to what has happened in the past 80 years or so.

  4. Chinny Chin Chin   15 years ago

    "You couldn't hear that much because the bed is downstairs in the dining room and not in the bedroom."

    Since she continues to refer to the room as the "dining room", I am led to believe that they still eat dinner in that room. Perhaps they still entertain guests in that room.

    To that I can only say, "Eeeeew."

    1. To that I can only say   15 years ago

      When is dinner?

  5. P Brooks   15 years ago

    Remember, Citizen; it is your sacred duty to spend your every waking hour with your ear pressed to the wall, in order to monitor the sexual behaviour of your neighbours. For your Queen and Country.

    ps- isn't this the same country which whines about their citizens getting tossed in a Dubai slammer for fucking on a beach?

    1. zoltan   15 years ago

      Didn't that lady get jailed for premarital sex, not for where she was having sex?

    2. Ska   15 years ago

      Didn't they used to fuck in front of the court to prove they were trying to conceive?

      1. Jonas   15 years ago

        Trial by Congress, is that what you mean?

        http://everything2.com/title/Trial+by+congress

  6. Jeff   15 years ago

    Ugh. I'd ban her from having sex, too.

    1. Nancy Pelosi's Husband   15 years ago

      Hell, I'd hit that.

      1. Jeff   15 years ago

        Your standards are, shall we say, questionable.

        1. Nancy Pelosi's Husband   15 years ago

          Please. I'm desperate.

          1. Nancy Pelosi's Gavel   15 years ago

            You're cheating on me you cad!

  7. P Brooks   15 years ago

    Unwholesome sex is now banned; it's on page 1962, para 3(c) in Obamacare. Thank you for your co-operation.

  8. Maxwell   15 years ago

    In America this woman would quickly become a celebrity. She'd be on Oprah, The View, and Tyra Banks every day offering women sex advice.

    1. zoltan   15 years ago

      Is there something wrong with that? Obviously she's having enjoyable sex, why not spread the word how?

  9. Lorenzo   15 years ago

    She has a face made for a reach around.

    1. JW   15 years ago

      She?

  10. 2yellowdogs   15 years ago

    This is ridiculous, of course, but why does she think her, um, activity will be any less audible when they do it in the dining room? Maybe give the basement a try?

  11. skr   15 years ago

    The sex instinct will be eradicated. Procreation will be an annual formality like the renewal of a ration card. We shall abolish the orgasm.

    1. Nancy Pelosi   15 years ago

      Nonsense. Gays will continue to enjoy the right to have as much sex as they want. And you get to pay for their clap treatments.

    2. O'Brien   15 years ago

      You've got potential, brother.

    3. Andrew S.   15 years ago

      Nah. Ever seen "Demolition Man"? It will turn into something like that.

  12. Almanian   15 years ago

    Jesus Christ, was this really necessary? I couldn't tear myself away.

    Although I'm better, now that I've gouged my eyes out with a fork.

    1. Almanian   15 years ago

      ...although the visions of those two bangin' on the kitchen table just before guests arrive is seared into my brain forever. The horror, the horror...

      1. Hank Hill   15 years ago

        I'm blind! I'm blind!

        1. Eric Burdon   15 years ago

          But I see from behind my eyes.

        2. Ted S.   15 years ago

          You obviously didn't learn from your mother about doing "it" too much.

  13. Warty   15 years ago

    That dude's stache is pretty bitchin', I must admit.

    1. Eric Burdon   15 years ago

      Imagine him and Stossel in some hot guy-on-guy action!

      1. Farting a Rainbow   15 years ago

        I'll take things the real Eric Burdon wouldn't say for $500, Wink.

  14. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

    I can see her telling her husband--in her best Dolph Lundgren voice--"I will break you" before sex.

  15. yet another dave   15 years ago

    Jeez Steve do what the rest of us do and just shove her panties in her mouth, hers appear to quite substantial...
    On the other hand what the hell is wrong with her neighbors

    1. toxic   15 years ago

      Man, people are too hard on the neighbors. Two hours of listening to that woman wail and scream to the beat of the headstand hitting the wall would drive anyone crazy. You want to scream as loud as you wanna when you bang? Get some sound proofing or get a residence without a shared wall. Your right to bang with abandon ends when you make me listen to it on my property for two hours at a time god knows how many times a week.

      After years of that, I would probably be oiling my fucking gun and cutting their tires.

      1. JW   15 years ago

        my fucking gun

        Is this the gun?

        NSFW, natch.

        1. Does it fire   15 years ago

          blanks?

      2. Farting a Rainbow   15 years ago

        "Your right to bang with abandon ends when you make me listen to it on my property for two hours at a time god knows how many times a week."

        I'm fine with what they do as long as I don't have to smell their second-hand post-coital cigarette smoke.

    2. plutosdad   15 years ago

      The original complaint was because they were shouting and screaming at 3am for hours, and refused to be quiet when the neighbors asked.

      But this is ridiculous, i think at this point it's the same as any neighbor dispute, they just hate each other and want to make the other people miserable until they leave.

  16. Xeones   15 years ago

    On the other hand what the hell is wrong with her neighbors

    They live in Britain.

  17. Lamar   15 years ago

    Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy, I like him just fine. But he's a mouth breather.

  18. alwsdad   15 years ago

    Sheesh, comment threads at Hit and Run sure have gone down hill since the Democrats won. Every topic, no matter how unrelated, brings out the "Nancy Pelosi is ugly" and the "Liberals are fascists" crew. Someone please provide some evidence that the Democrats want to jail people for loud sex. Or that the people in England who passed this insane regulation (or whatever it is that is being enforced here) were liberals in any sense. (Roger Ebert, of course, has published book after book calling for jail time for people having loud sex.)

  19. alwsdad   15 years ago

    Sheesh, comment threads at Hit and Run sure have gone down hill since the Democrats won. Every topic, no matter how unrelated, brings out the "Nancy Pelosi is ugly" and the "Liberals are fascists" crew. Someone please provide some evidence that the Democrats want to jail people for loud sex. Or that the people in England who passed this insane regulation (or whatever it is that is being enforced here) were liberals in any sense. (Roger Ebert, of course, has published book after book calling for jail time for people having loud sex.)

    1. huh   15 years ago

      Please be quiet while the adults are talking.

      1. Zeb   15 years ago

        Yeah, nothing more grown up than making stupid jokes about public figures and calling everything you disagree with "fascist".
        Shit is bad enough in reality. We don't need to make shit up.

    2. It looks like   15 years ago

      They are going through the stages of grief. Isn't bitching one of them?

    3. Pro Libertate   15 years ago

      Well, this is the correlation. There is no significant conservative or libertarian power in the UK. Not in the American sense. Therefore, it's the leftists that are really responsible for most laws. As a result, the situation in the UK, which is a textbook case of the failures of socialism and neo-socialism, is a warning sign of what could happen here, in a political system and culture with substantial parallels to the UK.

      1. dbcooper   15 years ago

        Conservatives are coming back though bud. Even if nice but dim Dave is the face of the party.

    4. R C Dean   15 years ago

      Someone please provide some evidence that the Democrats want to jail people for loud sex.

      England is ruled by leftists.

      Leftists passed the ASBO laws that have been used to outlaw loud sex.

      The US is ruled by leftists.

      Q.E.D.

      1. TrickyVic   15 years ago

        England is ruled by leftists.

        The US is ruled by leftists.

        Therefore, we wil become like England?

        Is the U.S. Constitution really that worthless?

        1. JW   15 years ago

          E) All of the above.

        2. Lord Jubjub   15 years ago

          You have to ask?

        3. Zeb   15 years ago

          If you really believe that the situation is that bad, why even bother caring or thinking about it? Some parts of the constitution are still fairly intact and the notion of due process seems to be doing OK. Not perfect, but still pretty far from anything like ASBOs.

          1. R C Dean   15 years ago

            Some parts of the constitution are still fairly intact and the notion of due process seems to be doing OK.

            Stick around, Zeb. Or google up some Radley Balko stories. I think you'll find your faith in the continued vitality of the Constitution and due process is not entirely reality-based.

            1. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

              They are so cute when they are naive aren't they RC? I have ruined several of my friends by continuously pointing out abuses. Now they call me up at random times to yell at me cause they read some shit about bad cops, or new fire truck purchases in a district with no fires since the 70s etc. I love it.

              Ohh I wish I had chosed the BLUE pill!

            2. Zeb   15 years ago

              Well then why fucking bother? Or why aren't you out there killing as many government people as you can? If it is already that far gone, what good can voting for the right people (or against the wrong ones) or doing anythign politically do?
              I read plenty of Balko (that is what brought me to Reason in the first place) and I am very concerned about these things, but the Constitution is not completely dead yet. So stop the condescending bullshit. I know what is going on here. I just choose to hold out some hope for a constitutional return to some sanity. The SC has got a few things right lately. Not many, but a few.
              The other options I see are either bloody revolution, which will probably be very bad for everyone, or slow decline to totalitarianism which few or no people do anything serious to stop.

              1. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

                Dude, chill, this is a blog. Most people on here including RC have ACTUALLY DONE THINGS to increase liberty in our lifetimes. We are a little depressed. It sucks. We don't seem to be winning even when we win. Without a little light hearted humor one will go FUCKING INSANE!!!! SO, in order to keep us all from just exiting the linear realm we make flippant comments, oversimplify, and read SugarFree stories (disturbing like a trainwreck). Is all lost? No. Is the vast majority of it lost? Yes. Does this mean the I or anyone else who gives a shit no longer going to play? No. So, go have a coke and a smile and...

                There is trouble at the airpot!

                Whats that?

                The big place where they land all the planes but that is not important right now!

              2. Almanian   15 years ago

                I believe Zeb needs to DRINK

      2. Zeb   15 years ago

        I don't think that counts as evidence. You leave a number of assumptions unstated which are much less clearly true than the stated ones.

    5. Zeb   15 years ago

      Thank you. I'm glad someone else is thinking this.

    6. Chinny Chin Chin   15 years ago

      Do you pine for the days when every topic, no matter how unrelated, brought out the "George Bush is stupid" and the "Conservatives are fascists" crew?

      1. Zeb   15 years ago

        It might be nice to do without either of those irritating commend themes.

        1. Chris   15 years ago

          If only people weren't so enthralled with pointing fingers at the enemy of the day (whoever that may be), we could actually get something fucking accomplished.

          I agree that the demotard witch hunt comments are annoying as balls, as if republinuts haven't done their fair share of stifling freedom at every turn. We forget too soon the glory days of 2001-2009 when apparently being gay was the worst possible thing for freedom ever, and The Patriot Act was all the rage. Yes ObamaCare sucks ass. Yes we have just taken another step towards socialism, but neither of those facts makes republinuts right.

          Neither are our friend, and aligning ourselves with either the republinuts or demotards is counter-productive.

  20. dbcooper   15 years ago

    Dudes, living in england is like being stuck in a cronenberg film some times.

    1. Episiarch   15 years ago

      Which one? eXistenZ? After looking at limey teeth, I can see that.

      1. dbcooper   15 years ago

        Nice work lads.

        It's more a horror of (double chin) flesh thing at midnight on the tube in the harsh lighting with alcohol dilated eyes.

        Kind of naked lunch meets videodrome crossed with the brood.

    2. SugarFree   15 years ago

      Maybe you should express your rage by giving monstrous birth to a band of murderous midgets.

      1. Episiarch   15 years ago

        He could always get in a motorcycle accident and get an experimental skin graft. What could go wrong?

        1. SugarFree   15 years ago

          I always thought Penis Fang would be a great name for Warty's band.

          1. Episiarch   15 years ago

            I thought it was already called GWAR.

  21. ?   15 years ago

    Sheesh, Nancy Pelosi is ugly.

  22. The Other Kevin   15 years ago

    Let us not forget, less than 100 years ago the British Empire ruled the world, and the sun never set on it. Now they are obsessed with listening to each other have sex.

  23. mick travis   15 years ago

    A geordie having loud sex should be illegal

  24. Tim   15 years ago

    ?"Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her. He knew the reason. It was because of the atmosphere of hockey-fields and cold baths and community hikes and general clean-mindedness which she managed to carry about her. He disliked nearly all woman, and especially the young and pretty ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy."
    - George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 1

    1. Jeff   15 years ago

      I bet slogans aren't all they swallowed. Wink, wink!

    2. zoltan   15 years ago

      Guess P.J. O'Rourke was wrong.

  25. TrickyVic   15 years ago

    How did George Orwell know England would adopt Anti-Social Behavior Ordinances (ASBO)?

  26. Warty   15 years ago

    Orwell's blog today:

    24.3.40
    Nice spring weather most of the day. Blackthorn just budding. Catkins & female flowers on the hawthorn. Found some frogs mating. In most places they have already spawned & some of the spawn is beginning to develop. Brought a few bits home. A primrose out in the garden (also polyanthi) but could find none in the woods, though Mrs Nicholls, whom we met, had found a very few, also violets. Anemones not out.

    18 eggs.

    Orwell was boring.

    1. Episiarch   15 years ago

      God damn it's so boring in England. I've been there, and guess what? It's so fucking boring there.

      1. Warty   15 years ago

        Well, there were some frogs fucking. That's kind of not boring.

        1. Episiarch   15 years ago

          French people have sex all the time, it's not that interesting.

    2. Zeb   15 years ago

      Sounds like a good day to me. Boring is good. Excitement and doing things only leads to stuff like shitty health care laws.

  27. TrickyVic   15 years ago

    ""Orwell was boring.""

    Is that an official release from the Ministry of Information?

    1. ok,   15 years ago

      funny

    2. Farting a Rainbow   15 years ago

      Borewell

  28. Lou Dahmler   15 years ago

    LOL, isnt she kinda scary looking? I mean really.

    Lou
    http://www.privacy-online.eu.tc

    1. Abdul   15 years ago

      Speaking of Orwell, the anonymity bot's comment scored close enough to relevant to make me think his intelligence may have reached tele-screen levels.

      1. he   15 years ago

        bores me

  29. Farting a Rainbow   15 years ago

    Back in the *)'s I lived in a third floor appartment. On the second floor (Apt #204; the things we remember!) had a woman living there who had sex with her boyfriend every night at about 10:45 pm. And boy was she loud! Especially in the summer when the windows were open. She'd start out softly, then slowly build to intense screams. People would come out on their balconies to listen.

    That was so hot.

    1. WoodyUS   15 years ago

      We had this issue in college, paper thin walls and all. We solved it by waiting for one climaxed, and the noise fell off, then we (being a large crowd by then) would applaud loudly. This would include cat calls, and complimenting one or both of them, usually by name, all loudly enough for most of the dorm to hear. Usually it was embarasing enough to prevent a second occurence. 🙂

      1. Not normal comment name   15 years ago

        For me, there was a neighbor who moved in and they started having really loud sex and the headboard would bang the wall. After one night of this my girlfriend said to me "know what? They want to play this game then fine." And from that point on any time they had sex loudly we would have sex but she would make it a point to go longer and louder. Best three months of my sex life ever...and by the end of it I was IN SHAPE!!! We call that positive incentive.

        1. Dead Hand of Paul Harvey   15 years ago

          That girlfriend became Mrs. Gillespie, and now you know the rest of the story.

          1. When your that damn clever   15 years ago

            it is a crime not to put your name,
            Dead Hand.:-)

  30. Farting a Rainbow   15 years ago

    80's not *)'s

    1. Zeb   15 years ago

      Oh, I thought you were trying to disguise your age.

  31. The Libertarian Guy   15 years ago

    Watch this filter over across the pond somehow. Republicans would love this kind of legislation.

    1. Pendulum   15 years ago

      Bipartisanship in action

    2. Pendulum   15 years ago

      Bipartisanship in action

    3. Pendulum   15 years ago

      Bipartisanship in action

    4. Charles   15 years ago

      Bipartisanship in action.

    5. Clich? Bandit   15 years ago

      Tripple post in action.

  32. The Reoublican Heretic   15 years ago

    Trackback: http://republicanheretic.wordp.....mes-in-uk/

  33. Lamar   15 years ago

    This is a back alley attempt to ban huge cocks.

    1. marlok   15 years ago

      partial girth abortion

  34. Feminization phone sex   15 years ago

    That's the exact opposite of human history. Most of the trends in human history have led to increased, rather than decreased, urbanization. It's an interesting article.
    Thanks for this blog!

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

Trump's Prescription Price Controls Would Lead to Fewer New Drugs

Joe Lancaster | 5.22.2025 12:55 PM

Congress Is Giving Energy Lobbyists a 3-Year Window to Keep Up to $2 Trillion in Subsidies

Jeff Luse | 5.22.2025 11:47 AM

A Giant Pile of Money Won't Fix Democrats' Joe Rogan Problem

Robby Soave | 5.22.2025 10:30 AM

Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed

Liz Wolfe | 5.22.2025 9:38 AM

Trump's FTC Chair Is Continuing To Push Lina Khan's Antitrust
Ideology

Jack Nicastro | From the June 2025 issue

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!