Certainly ethics have a role in this subject, though ethics did not seem high on the list of considerations on this thread when I first saw it. A famous comedic celebrity is prominent in the news with frequent and increasing allegations that decades ago he repeatedly used Quaalude's as a date rape drug to induce an unconscious or helpless state with various women who otherwise would have been less than likely to have engaged in sexual activity with him.
He has now spent a fortune to repair his previously scintillating reputation as a role model for generations of young people of his ethnic extraction. To date he has escaped imprisonment, but his conviction in the court of public opinion is not likely to be overturned.
His actions were likely compulsive and irrational. Mentally ill, antisocial and criminal. Thousands of less famous men without his advantages are jailed for years, then semi-released on parole, and are permanently required to register as sex offenders. Unlike parole, this requirement does not expire. He will very possibly avoid these technical requirements, but for practical purposes, reporters will remind us of his violations until his release from his now untenable, perhaps even unbearable life.
Quaalude's have not been legally available for years. Other date-rape drugs are still legal, and are often used criminally.
Now we are talking about pheromones that do not make the victim unconscious but can certainly make her more receptive than she might otherwise have been. They can be used undetectably. What is our responsibility? In the absence of legal issues, does anyone here even care? I doubt it.
