sexual ethics question

• Do religious beliefs and practices concerning sex and relationships have a continuing role in the area of sexual ethics?

  • most societies and cultures are influenced by religious systems which for example resulted in the criminalisation of homosexuality and extramarital sex in countries like saudi arabia
  • may ethical values are based on religious ideas - Christianity and the sanctity of life
  • Christian Marriage values
  • However in the UK moved away from the Christian Values as they have made homosexuality legal - but in many places it is still criminalised
  • ethics is also concerned with personal conduct
• Should choices in the area of sexual behaviour be entirely private and personal or should they be subject to societal norms and legislation?

  • sex is never exclusively private - impacts wider society if it produces a child and or extramarital sex
  • Utilitarians - happiness for the majority but this may have caused anti gay rhetoric -- Mill more leniant with higher pleasures being seeked
  • Kantians would want laws to become universalised as categorical imperatives
  • ethical theories offer frameworks but may not be a strong way to decide things
• Are normative ethical theories useful for sexual ethics? situation ethics

  • provides a way of thinking
  • focuses on the individual
  • makes spaces for differences
• Are normative ethical theories useful in what they might say about sexual ethics? natural law

  • places the needs of the community first -- create a good cohesive society
  • precepts allow guidelines to be followed
• Are normative ethical theories useful in what they might say about sexual ethics? kantian ethics

  • offers principles for every aspect of human life - ensure social and legal rules take dignity and freedom at the core
  • act ethically
  • prescribes the principles of particular rules
  • inform personal choices and laws
• Are normative ethical theories useful in what they might say about sexual ethics? utilitarianism

  • free approach - leads to free love ideas
  • societal view of morality
  • can be exploited