Professional Documents
Culture Documents
in a selsh morality, or with utilitarianism to seek maximization of happiness for everyone. Some religions derive a normative sexual ethics from their texts or teachings, and these range from nihilistic utilitarianism to more
complex, xed systems for determining right and wrong.
Many practical questions arise regarding human sexuality, such as whether sexual norms should be enforced by
law, given social approval, or changed. Answers to these
questions can be considered on a scale from social liberalism to social conservatism. Considerable controversy
continues over which system of ethics or morality best
Ethical dilemmas which involve sex can often appear in promotes human happiness, and which, if any, is inhersituations where there is a signicant power dierence or ently right.
where there is a pre-existing professional relationship between the participants, when there is an age dierence, or
where consent is partial or uncertain. Sexual ethics can 2 Flirting
also include the ethics of procreation.
Main article: Flirting
The terms ethics and morality are often used interchangeably, but sometimes ethics is reserved for interpersonal
interactions and morality is used to cover both interpersonal and inherent questions.[1]
However, not all approaches to applied ethics agree that
there is an inherent morality:
Moral nihilism is the meta-ethical view that nothing
is inherently right or wrong, and that all value judgments are either human constructs, or meaningless.
3 Consent
EXTRAMARITAL SEX
3.2
Age of consent
Marriage
Furthermore, the institution of marriage brings up the issue of premarital sex wherein people who may choose to
at some point in their lives marry, engage in sexual activity with partners who they may or may not marry. Various
cultures have dierent attitudes about the ethics of such
behavior, some condemning it while others view it to be
normal and acceptable.
5 Premarital sex
Main article: Premarital sex
Premarital sex is sexual activity between two people who
are not married to each other. Usually, both parties are
unmarried. This might be objected to on religious or
moral grounds, while individual views within a given society can vary greatly.[19][20]
6 Extramarital sex
Main article: Extramarital sex
3
to in law or religion as adultery. Others call it indelity work women are able to extract psychological and nanor cheating.
cial power over men which is a justied correction of the
In contrast, there are some cultures, groups or individ- power unbalance inherent in a patriarchal society. Some
ual relationships in which extramarital sex is an accepted feminists regard sex work as simply a form of labor which
norm. In todays western cultures some people prac- is neither morally good or bad, but subject to the same
tice "polyamory", otherwise known as responsible non- diculties of other labor forms.
monogamy, or "open marriage". The ethical practice of If sex work is accepted as unethical, there is then disthis necessitates honest dialogue and consent of all those pute over which parties of the contract are responsible for
involved.
the ethical or legal breech. Traditionally, in many societies, the legal and ethical burden of guilt has been placed
largely on the sex worker rather than consumers. In recent
decades, in some countries, such as Sweden, Norway and
7 Individuals and societies
Iceland, the legal burden of prostitution has been moved
solely to the consumer.
See also: Abuse of power, Sexual harassment, Incest and
Pedophilia
Most societies disapprove of a person in a position of
power to engage in sexual activity with a subordinate.
This is often considered unethical simply as a breach of
trust. When the person takes advantage of a position of
power in the workplace, this may constitute sexual harassment, because subordinates may be unable to give proper
consent to a sexual advance because of a fear of repercussions.
9 Homosexuality
See also: Homosexuality and Sodomy
In ancient Athens, sexual attraction between men was the
norm with writers as Plato and Aristophanes writing extensive treatises on the benets of homosexual love. In
the Levant, however, persons who committed homosexual acts were stoned to death at the same period in history
that Socrates dallied with young Alcibiades. As presented
by Plato in his Symposium, Socrates did not dally with
young Alcibiades, and instead treated him as his father or
brother would when they spent the night sharing a blanket.
And in Xenophons Symposium Socrates strongly speaks
against men kissing each other, saying that doing so will
make them slavish, i.e., risk something that seems akin to
an addiction to homosexual acts.
Child-parent incest is also seen as an abuse of a position of trust and power, in addition to the inability of a
child to give consent. Incest between adults may not involve this lack of consent, and is therefore less clearcut
for most observers. Many professional organizations have
rules forbidding sexual relations between members and
their clients. Examples in many countries include psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, doctors, and lawyers.
In addition, laws exist against this kind of abuse of power
by priests, preachers, teachers, religious counselors, and
Most modern secular ethicists since the heyday of Utilicoaches.
tarianism, e.g. T.M. Scanlon and Bernard Williams, have
constructed systems of ethics whereby homosexuality is
a matter of individual choice and where ethical questions
8 Sex work
have been answered by an appeal to non-interference in
activities involving consenting adults. However, ScanVarious sexual acts are traded for money or other goods lons system, notably, goes in a slightly dierent direction
across the world. Ethical positions on sex work may de- from this, and requires that no person who meets certain
pend on the type of sex act traded and the conditions in criteria could rationally reject a principle that either sancwhich it is traded, there are for example additional ethical tions or condemns a certain act. Under Scanlons system it
concerns over the abrogation of autonomy in the situation is dicult to see how one would construct a principle conof tracked sex workers.
demning homosexuality outright, although certain acts,
Sex work has been a particularity divisive issue within such as homosexual rape, would still be fairly straightforfeminism. Some feminists may regard sex work as an ex- ward cases of unethical behavior.
ample of societal oppression of the sex workers by the The human rights of homosexuals are still contested in
patriarchy. The ethical argument underlying this position most parts of the world.
is that despite the apparent consent of the sex worker, the
choice to engage in sex work is often not an autonomous
choice, because of economic, familial or societal pressures. Sex work may also be seen as an objectication 10 Religion
of women. An opposing view held by other feminists
such as Wendy McElroy is that sex work is a means of See also: Religion and sexuality
empowering women, the argument here being that in sex
14 NOTES
Many cultures consider ethics to be intertwined with religious faith. Along with all those activities listed above,
some acts that might be considered ethical or unethical
from a religious standpoint:
Contraception
Religious views on birth control
Christian views on contraception
Jewish views on contraception
Masturbation
Promiscuity
various Paraphilias
10.1
Paraphilia
Covert incest
Religion and sexuality
Catholicism and sexuality
Sexual objectication
Swinging lifestyle
14 Notes
[1] See usage note on wiktionary:ethics.
[2] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-25927595
[3] Friedman, Jaclyn; Jessica Valenti (2008). Yes Means Yes!
Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without
Rape. Seal Press. ISBN 1-58005-257-6.
[4] Corinna, Heather. What Is Feminist Sex Education?".
Scarleteen. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
[5] Corinna, Heather (2010-05-11). How Can Sex Ed Prevent Rape?". Scarleteen. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
11
Public health
12
Public decency
[6] http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2014/
06/16/mistrial-declared-bodenweiser-trial/10629535/
[7] Human Rights Voices Pakistan, August 21, 2008.
Eyeontheun.org.
[8] Home. AIDSPortal.
[9] Iran. Travel.state.gov.
[10] United Nations Human Rights Website Treaty Bodies
Database Document Summary Record Kuwait. Unhchr.ch.
[11] Culture of Maldives history, people, clothing, women,
beliefs, food, customs, family, social. Everyculture.com.
[12] Fakim, Nora (9 August 2012). BBC News Morocco:
Should pre-marital sex be legal?". BBC.
[13] Legislation of Interpol member states on sexual oences
against children Oman (PDF). Interpol. Archived from
the original (PDF) on 15 December 2007.
[14] 2010 Human Rights Report: Mauritania. State.gov. 8
April 2011.
[16] Judd, Terri (10 July 2008). Briton faces jail for sex on
Dubai beach Middle East World. The Independent.
13
See also
15
Further reading
16
16
16.1
Sexual ethics Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_ethics?oldid=661289178 Contributors: Patrick, Michael Hardy, Jason Quinn,
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