Legislators probably deserve their sex-scandal infamy when you consider some of the dumb laws either put on or left on the books. And I’m not simply referring to age-old sodomy laws. (Though they aren’t merely legal antiques - time and resources are spent defending them in the Supreme Court: Bowers v. Hardwick upheld Georgia laws, Lawrence v. Texas overturned Texas laws). More recently, states like Alabama have passed laws outlawing the sale of sex toys (passed in 1998, upheld 2004), which in discussion focused on dildos. (An similar Texas law was passed in 1976. Was it more or less progressive for also specifying that artificial vaginas were also deemed illicit?).

It’s said that nothing takes the fun out of sex like talking about it. I suppose by extension, litigating about it must be that much less pleasurable. Which isn’t to say that those laws aren’t kind of funny. That’s the point of L. Gabrielle Penabaz’s Sex Crimes Cabaret, which returns to New Orleans after a sold-out fall run in the New Orleans Fringe Festival. Penabaz details what you can and can’t do where (geographically and anatomically) and addresses other issues of taboo. The show is coupled with several other short pieces by local artists. The run is from Thursday to Saturday (9 p.m. March 12-14, plus a midnight show on Saturday) at Marigny Theatre.