Social Control of Sexuality

1. Sex as a Business Sexual Coercion Gender and Gender Differences Laws and Social Control of Sex Sex Education Ethics and Religion Social Control of Sexuality

2. Ethics and Religion Ethics: • A system of moral principles, a way of deciding what is right and wrong. • Hedonism - belief that the goal of human life is pursuit of pleasure, avoidance of pain and fulfillment of physical needs and desires. • Asceticism - an approach to life emphasizing discipline and impulse control.

3. Ethics and Religion • Legalism - following a moral law or set of principles. • Situationism - based on human experience, and in matters of sexual morality, tends to focus on relationships rather than rules. • Few ethical systems are purely hedonistic or ascetic or entirely legalistic or situationist - most lie between these extremes.

4. Ethics and Religion • Classical Greek philosophy - violent passion must be avoided to achieve wisdom and cultivate virtue. • Pederasty - a sexual relationship between an older man and a younger one.

5. Ethics and Religion • Judaism - sex seen as a deep and intimate part of a relationship between two people. • Hebrew scriptures see sexual behavior as an aspect of national and religious loyalty.

6. Ethics and Religion • Fertility cult • A form of nature-based religion • Fertility of the soil is encouraged through various forms of ritual magic • Often includes ritual sexual intercourse

7. Ethics and Religion Christianity: • Dualism - idea that the body and spirit are unalterably separate and opposed to each other. • The goal of life is to become purely spiritual by transcending the physical and material side of life. • Serious Christians revolted against the corrupt and worldly church of the Roman Empire and began to practice forms of self-denial that included celibacy.

8. Ethics and Religion Christianity: • Jesus urged his followers to strive for ethical perfection, and he spoke against: • Pride • Hypocrisy • Injustice • Misuse of wealth • It is difficult, however, to derive a sexual ethic from the Gospels alone.

9. Ethics and Religion Christianity: • St. Thomas Aquinas - the basic source of Catholic moral theology. • Protestants - renewed emphasis on individual conscience and ethical decision-making. • Puritanism - emphasized the doctrine of “original sin” and the “total depravity” of fallen humanity.

10. Ethics and Religion Christianity: • Many scholars see the absoluteness of scriptural norms as: • conditioned by the time and culture in which they were written. • not necessarily binding today. • The religious community also has been influenced by the behavioral sciences • Suggest that sexuality is much more complex than had been thought.

11. Ethics and Religion Humanism: • A philosophical system which: • Denies a divine origin for morality • Holds that ethical judgments must be made on the basis of human experience and human reason

12. Ethics and Religion Islam: • Classical Islam values sexuality very positively: • Muhammad saw intercourse in marriage as the highest good in human life. • Islam sanctions polygamy and concubinage. • Sex outside marriage or concubinage is viewed as a sin. • Islamic law encourages contraception.

13. Ethics and Religion Hinduism: • Varied approaches to sexuality: • The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana is a masterpiece of erotic hedonism. • The ways of Dharma and Moksha can be as rigorously ascetic as anything in Christianity.

14. Ethics and Religion Buddhism: • Therevada - includes strict nonindulgence of desires that bring joy. • Mahayana - ethics are more active and directed toward love of others. • Tantric Buddhism - teaches that sexual desire can be overcome while engaging in intercourse.

15. Ethics and Religion • Moralism - there are clearly and objectively defined standards of right and wrong and a society has a right to insist that its member conform to them, at least outwardly. • Pluralism - truth is to be discovered in the clash of differing opinions and convictions.

16. Ethics and Religion Sex outside marriage: • Fornication - sex before marriage. • Adultery (extramarital sex) - sex by persons married to others. • Has always been regarded as a grave matter in the Judeo-Christian tradition. • Many contemporary ethicists argue for a more humane approach to those involved.

17. Ethics and Religion Contraception: • Roman Catholics and Orthodox Jews oppose any “artificial” means of contraception. • Other Jews and most Protestants favor responsible family planning by married couples. • Most ethicists suggest that sexually active unmarried persons ought to be using birth control.

18. Ethics and Religion Abortion: • One of the most convulsive debates of our time. • Pro-life or antiabortion position - leadership clearly comes from the Roman Catholic Church.

19. Ethics and Religion Abortion: • Pro-choice position - takes at least 2 forms: • Absolute - pregnancy is solely the concern of a woman. • Modified - suggests there may be many situations in which abortion is the least bad choice. • Therapeutic abortion - termination of pregnancy when life or mental health of the woman is threatened or in cases of trauma, such as incest or rape.

20. Ethics and Religion Homosexuality: • Religious community has been engaged in vigorous debate on the subject of homosexuality. • Rejectionism- opposes any sexual acts between persons of the same gender. • Modified rejection or qualified acceptance - regards homosexual orientation as morally neutral but rejects homosexual acts.

21. Ethics and Religion Homosexuality: • A revisionist view of the Bible and church tradition favors full acceptance of lesbian and gay persons. • In 2003, amid much controversy, the Episcopal church approved the consecration of an openly gay priest as bishop. • Several mainline Protestant groups are actively debating and studying the question of same-sex unions.

22. Ethics and Religion AIDS: • Has raised a host of complex and difficult ethical issues for individuals, religious communities, and society as a whole. • Religious responses range from declaring AIDS to be God’s punishment on sinners to actively organizing to minister to persons with AIDS.

23. Ethics and Religion Cloning: • Somatic cell nuclear transfer - the technique for cloning • Involves substituting the genetic material from an adult’s cell for the nucleus in an egg. • Therapeutic cloning - creating tissues or cells that are genetically identical to those of a patient, to treat a disease.