5 unintended consequences when world governments got involved in sex policies

Social Security seems like a bland policy that has no relation to sexuality or reproduction. But Social Security has affected the way US residents approach family planning.

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Before Social Security was in place, people expected their children to help take care of them in old age. But by rewarding residents the same amount of retirement payment regardless of whether or not they have any children, this incentive for having children has diminished. Economists believe that Social Security helped reduce fertility rates in the US.

In the US and in other countries, organizations that provide abortions also typically advocate for making contraception cheaply and easily accessible. Post-World War II Japan did not take this approach.

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During its post-WWII occupation by US forces, Japan legalized abortion in the late 1940s before many other industrialized countries. But it took another 50 years before the country legalized birth control pills in 1999. Some of the biggest opponents to legalizing oral contraception in Japan were abortion doctors who worried that widespread use of the pill would reduce the number of abortions they perform, which could threaten their livelihoods.

"While in most other countries abortion was still illegal when the pill came on the market, in Japan abortion was legalized before oral contraceptives were invented," wrote Tiana Norgen, a scholar who has researched abortion politics in Japan. "This unusual circumstance led to the creation of groups with a vested interest in abortion, and these groups viewed the pill as a threat to their established practices."

There is a group of demographers and economists who believe that if birth rates don't pick in industrialized countries, there will be a catastrophe because countries with aging populations will have too few young workers to sustain themselves. In an effort to boost birth rates, countries have created holidays and events aimed at getting people to make babies. Russia has been particularly active on this front.

According to Jonathan Last, a journalist who has written about demography, one holiday Russia created was "Family Contact Day" where workers were encouraged to leave the office to go home and bang. Another holiday was "Give Birth to a Patriot Day" where women who birthed children nine months after the holiday were eligible to win prizes like TVs and SUVs.

In the 1980s and 1990s, phone sex companies were locked in a legal battle against US lawmakers who were trying to regulate them. Instead of risking getting fined, some phone sex firms began operating in other countries.

Legal analyst Fred Lane estimates that in 1993 the island São Tomé brought in $5.2 million worth of sex calls made by Americans being redirected to operators in São Tomé. The island's government used its share from these proceeds to revamp its telecom infrastructure.

Ross Benes is the author of "Sex Weird-o-Pedia: The Ultimate Book of Shocking, Scandalous, and Incredibly Bizarre Sex Facts." His previous book "Turned On: A Mind-Blowing Investigation into How Sex Has Shaped Our World" explored how sex indirectly influences economics, politics, and religion. You can reach him at rossbenes@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @RossBenes.