Sexual ethics Flashcards
Sexual ethics - Premarital and extramarital sex
> In ethics, premarital and extramarital sex raise questions around cohabitation (living in sin) and consensual sexual intercourse between people who are married to one another (the sin of fornication).
They relate to questions of divorce, adultery, and remarriage, in that the Catholic Church believes marriage is indissoluble, so sex with someone other than your spouse after a divorce is considered to be adultery and fornication.
Sexual ethics - Premarital sex
> Sex before marriage.
It can happen on a casual basis, as part of a short relationship or as part of a longer relationship.
Sex before marriage and cohabitation has grown steadily. In the 1960s, fewer than 1 in 20 UK couples cohabited, but that has increased to more than half of all couples today.
The introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s has been credited with driving this social change
Historically Anglo Saxon England saw people betrothed and then married (meaning they lived with each other and had sex while betrothed).
Betrothal would ordinarily lead to marriage. In eighteenth-century England, half of brides were pregnant at their marriage ceremony, with sexual relations beginning after the betrothal but before the marriage.
Sexual ethics - Extramarital sex
> Sexualrelationships where one or both of the sexual partners os married to someone else
Christian teaching is firmly against this - forbidden in the 10 commandments
Catholics - sex is exclusively for married couples - marriage is indissoluble, so sex with someone other than your spouse after a divorce is considered to be adultery and fornication.
Sexual ethics - Premarital and extramarital sex: NML
> Absolutist view
Catholic teaching relies heavily on NML
Reproduction is a primary precept - should be the main aim of sexual activity
Premarital and extramarital sex are wrong because they are not consistent with the flourishing of human society in bringing up children in stable families
Contraception is prohibited by Catholicism
Gives clear rules around premarital and extramarital sex
Emphasises importance of sanctity of marriage and reproduction (beneficial for stability of society)
Sexual ethics - Premarital and extramarital sex: Situation ethics
> Followers don’t think there should be rules guiding premarital or extramarital sex
Each situation should be considered in the context of its own circumstances, and the most loving course of action should be determined and followed
Relativist view of morality
Fletcher used sexual ethics to illustrate his view that there should not be absolute rules
Sexual ethics - Premarital and extramarital sex: Kantian ethics
> Absolutist view of ethics
People should not treat others as a means to an ends (no exploitative or non-consensual sexual relations)
In the kingdom of ends, the commitment of marriage would be respected
Universability would prevent so much sexual freedom that society was undermined
Importance of promise-keeping and truth-telling which suggests secret extramarital sex would be unethical
Sexual ethics - Premarital and extramarital sex: Utilitarianism
> PEople should be free to act how they want as long as it doesn’t harm others. This could be used to defend premarital and extramarital sex
Although it could be argued that this does harm
Mill argued that marriage can sometimes reduce women to the status of slaves. He was not against marriage but in favour of gender equality
Mill tried to make contraception avaliable to the poor at a time when Christian Church opposed contraception
Sexual ethics - Homosexuality
> Sexual attraction between those of the same sex
Traditionally considered a sin
Still many instances of anti-homosexual attacks and discrimination but also much more public acceptance
‘You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination’
There is debate about what these texts mean and if they should be considered to be applicable and enforceable in the present day
Different denominations have varying views about homosexuality
Sexual ethics - Homosexuality: NML
> Homosexual acts are wrong because they can’t bring forth new life
Catholic church has traditionally seen homosexuality as a sin but some more modern catholics take a more liberal approach to homosexuality
In 2016, Pope Francis stated that there are no grounds for considering same-sex partnership to be similar to God’s plan for marriage and family life
Criticised because there are many heterosexual instances in which new life cannot be bought forth, older couples, people with fertlity issues etc
