Sexuality is often looked down upon by mainstream society. Embedded into culture and tradition, sex itself has been made to be seen as a taboo of sorts. Prostitution was made illegal; pornography was made evil. Rooted deep within the teachings of the most common religious morality systems, sex and sexuality is often paired with punishments. Those who explore their sexuality is often shamed, and labeled with words that can ostracize such persons from society. Kant’s view of sexuality almost destroys his credibility as a philosopher by providing unclear and unreasonable points of sexuality and objectification, yet he remains keen on trying to prove that sex, outside of marriage, is the worst possible sin. However, there are those who believe that expressing sexuality is power, and is exercising autonomy. Many existentialists see sexuality as a means of self-expression, and to not be comfortable with sexuality shows that the person inhabits the morality of the sheep.
The application of morality begins at a young age for many people. Many children take on the morality of their parents through the daily events that influence their development. In many ways, parental sexuality means fidelity, and the ability to stay monogamous in order to properly raise a child in a complete family unit. This in turn expresses sexual fidelity as a form of morality, and without sexual fidelity, there will be painfully undesirable consequences. Along with the family unit being an influential aspect of sexuality, religion, particularly Catholicism, claim that sexual activity is solely justified by the reason of procreation. Freud also perceived sexuality as the dark and evil part of the human being, when allowed to freely express sexuality, the person i...
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...dual discovering their own sexuality, the degree of self-expression versus self-detention would vary greatly. As it seems, the general trend in the perception of sexuality becomes more accepting, those who do not believe in sexuality beyond procreation continue to exert influence, and to some degree, act as the superego, to the ever growing trend.
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Homosexuality existed since ancient times, for example in Ancient Greece, where it was evident through many literary and artistic works claiming that “pederasty” which means homoerotic relations between adult men and adolescent boys were very common. The adult male was called “Erastes” which means the “older lover” who was usually the role mode...
I decided to focus my paper on the first volume, the most mentioned and most known, which is a deep analysis of the last two centuries of history of sexuality, particularly oriented in finding out why and how sexuality is an object of discussion. Foucault is not interested in sexuality itself, but he is interested in how it has become an object of knowledge. Why, in the past few centuries, have we increasingly come to see our identity as bound with our sexuality?
Most religions of the world address moral issues that arise from people's sexuality within the human interactions. “Sex and religion- two of the most powerful, passionate, and poetic aspects of human existence”( “Manning and Zuckerman pg. 1“). There are many distinct religious beliefs about the complexion of sexuality and the appropriateness of various sexual behaviors. “Some religious (or aspects within them) can be described as comparatively “sex positive”. By “sex positive“, we mean that sensual, erotic activity involving the consensual pursuit and / or actualization of gratifying bodily pleasure is understood as natural and acceptable , even holy. Conversely, some religions (or aspects within them) can be described as “sex negative”, that is, sensual, erotic activity involving the consensual pursuit and / or actualization of gratifying bodily pleasure is understood as unnatural and unacceptable, even sinful” ( “Manning and Zuckerman pg. 2“).
...am Victorian society, sexual liberalism transformed the ways in which people arranged their private lives. Shifting from a Victorian environment of production, separate sexual spheres, and the relegation of any illicit extramarital sex to an underworld of vice, the modern era found itself in a new landscape of consumerism, modernism and inverted sexual stereotypes. Sexuality was now being discussed, systemized, controlled, and made an object of scientific study and popular discourse. Late nineteenth-century views on "natural" gender and sexuality, with their attendant stereotypes about proper gender roles and proper desires, lingered long into the twentieth century and continue, somewhat fitfully, to inform the world in which we live. It is against this cultural and political horizon that an understanding of sexuality in the modern era needs to be contextualized.
The proper expression of human sexuality is a abiding question for the world of sexual ethics. There has never been a society that has not reflected upon and prescribed rules and regulations for this powerful and yet mysterious dimension of personhood; and there has seemingly never been a social order in which sexuality has not breached the boundaries established for it. On the surface scripture and much of the Christian response to sexuality appears to be establishing rules and regulations which attempt to limit sexual behavior until the ‘appropriate’ time or stage in ones life. Though this is a narrow understanding of sexual ethics– instead the goal of sexual ethics should be in the importance of how we relate ourselves and desires to others. Specifically, the relation between God : Humanity, and Humanity : Humanity.
Unlike sex, the history of sexuality is dependant upon society and limited by its language in order to be defined and understood.
“There must be integrity between body and life. You must not do with your body what you’re not willing to do with your whole life” (Keller). Keller is directly talking about our individual sexual morality and how or how not it should be perceived in a social context. Most people think sexual dilemmas of it in a broader spectrum, not directly related to one’s morality, by saying “this act isn’t right” where others may simply say “why not”. Yet, what justifies an act for one person and condemns it for another? More importantly on what grounds do they condone their actions? Sexual morality can be described as: a communal and personal benchmarks for which we model are social relationships, as it pertains to all and every segment of engaging in sexual activities. This is not a limitless definition; it ranges from contact with one’s self or another, the context in which the act was preformed, and in some cases the place where it was performed. It can even be as controversial as what type of physical contact is considered sexual. All these guidelines must be met by our own standards to justify the sexual acts we partake in.
In today’s culture, sex has become a topic that is vastly open and common. The dynamic of sex has been continuously growing over the past years and now most people are open to casual dating, hooking up, friends with benefit and more. As culture of sex is rapidly changing, we must stop and consider the implications and the moral aspect of sexual openness that’s so common today. Philosopher Immanuel Kant has written about sexual impulse and the implications of it in his work: Duties Toward Body with Respect to Sexual Impulse. This essay will discuss the main arguments of Kant’s article and the explanation of why would morality of sex argument only is effective in view of God.
In Sigmund Freud’s “Sexual Morality and Modern Nervousness”, contained in Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the writer presents separate roles for men and women as it relates to sexuality, even referring to a “double code of morality” (22) for the genders. In his paper the former often takes the role of the subject while the former becomes the object. In fact, women are described as the “true sexual guardians of the race” glorified, it seems, instead of truly studied. However, in one particular section of the essay, Freud turns his focus onto the female sexuality. In specific he references the various factors that, in his eyes, can influence the female sexual formation. The primary influences being that of the society, primarily the institution of marriage, and that of the family, which would include both a woman’s parents and children. After discussing these elements, Freud then
Stewart, Robert C. "Shattering the Myths about Sexual Morality." Evolutionary Metaphysics - Science, Philosophy, Politics, Religion. 2005. Web. 21 Feb. 2010. .
The Bible is often referred to by Christians as God’s basic instructions for life, and with good reason. The Bible is full of God’s design for all aspects of human life, from growing up, to marriage and parenthood. The aspect of human sexuality is laid out within scripture as well. In their book, The Gift of Sex (2003), Clifford and Joyce Penner describe sex at great lengths, leaving no related subject in human sexuality untouched by their research. At the forefront of their book, the design of sex by God is explored in depth. The Penner’s make it clear that God designed sex not just for procreation, but for pleasure (Penner & Penner, 2003, p. 27). Understanding this as biblical truth, it is arguably of great importance that parents not shy
These three articles give the modern reader a sense of what sexuality was in Ancient Rome. These articles reinforce that sexuality is important in human societies. They show that how you did or did not do sexual activity was very important and under scrutiny like in Western societies today. Though these articles are using limited resources to make conclusions, they do their best to help the reader make sense of sexual Roman society.
Paedophilia is a concept which has changed throughout the eras the beliefs and attitudes towards paedophilia is something that is seen as a very difficult subject. Social standards are extremely influential when it comes to deciding what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour for a society and over time especially within the western world this is one of the things that have crossed boundaries and become a topic of debate for a variety of cultures. Paedophilia is considered to be an abnormal or unnatural attraction towards children. Throughout this essay there will be an attempt to discuss the constructions that surround the notion of paedophilia with focus on the social and psychological aspects. Firstly it is important to understand the history of paedophilia to be able to fully explore the explanations which we will be presented later on in this essay. Dating back to as far as the Roman and Greek eras where relationships between children and adults were accepted and portrayed as forms of mentorship. Up until the age of enlightenment, there was little more known than the naturalistic approach to maturity and sexuality. La Fontaine, (1990) states a paedophile is generally defined as a person who gains sexual gratification from contact with pre-pubescent children, this is a supported definition from various academics. According to the ICD-10 manual, Paedophilia is ‘a sexual preference for children, boys, girls or both usually of pre-pubertal or early pubertal age’. A person 16 years of age or older meets the definition if they have a persistent or predominant sexual preference for prepubescent children at least five years younger than themselves. Alter...
Similarly discourses of sexuality relate to sex as a moral discourse. Sex became immoral when it was single woman that performed it, and as explained by Fischer (2011, p. 39), “[s]exual behavior is only moral within the institution of heterosexual, monogamous marriage.” For sex to become acceptable it had to be between a heterosexual married couples. This thereby regulates sex as only being acceptable when certain types of people perform it, not actually focusing on the sex act being taken place. For Focault (1990 as cited in Ibid),
Most of the dominant religions in the world today are preaching the suppression of the sexual urge or the channeling of that urge into socially acceptable forms. For example, Roman Catholics used to be very sexually explicit and open people. After a man who, in his youth, was sexually explicit converted to Catholicism and pledged selibacy for himself; he became a priest by the name of St Augustus. St. Augustus arose the birth of moral laws in Christianity when the first law he brought into public light was that there would be no fornication unless it was for strictly procreational reasons. In any case, this moral law led to making adultary illegal, just as it is by today's standards.