Sexual values

1
Sexual values

• Standards, norms, and labels
• American sub-cultural values
• The roots of morality
• Sex education

2
Quiz

• Compare and contrast the view of human sexuality
  expressed by St. Paul in I Corinthians 5 - 7 with
  that of St. Augustine in the Confessions. (See
  links on course calendarthe Readings link above
  the Shalit book link)

3
Standards, Norms, and Labels

• Standards are socially-constructed scripts of
  what people ought to believe, feel, and do.
• Norms describe what actually happens, but they
  are often used to categorize and judge.
• Labels are initially names for phenomena, but
  they may come to be pejorative and are often
  politically charged.

4
Are they talking about norms?

• Winslow and Winslow (1974) made what has come to
  be a popular assertion. Talking about people
  labeled deviant in a society, they argue that to
  the person labeled deviant, those doing the
  labeling may appear deviant. They conclude, his
  norms are no less valid than ours (p. 17).
• What should they have said?

5
Standards

• The heterosexual standard
• The coital standard
• The orgasmic standard
• The two-person standard
• The romantic standard
• The safe-sex standard
• Other standards? Shalits immodesty standard?

6
Norms

• Cultural norms and norming practices
• Statistical norms
• Expert norms
• Moral norms
• Relativistic norms
• Other norms?

7
Labels

• Descriptive labels
• Definitional distinctions in labeling
• Labeling practices
• Labeling behaviors vs. labeling people
• Labeling as dehumanization
• Who should choose the labels?

8
American sub-cultural values

• NHSLS cluster analysis
• Traditional 30.6
• Relational 44.3 (close to half)
• Recreational 25.1
• Men more likely than women to be in recreational
  group
• Older cohorts and conservative Protestants more
  traditional younger cohorts, mainline
  Protestants, and Catholics more relational

9
NHSLS results

• Beliefs and attitudes
• Traditional Premarital, teenage, extramarital,
  and same-gender sex are wrong, and abortion
  should be restricted
• Relational Extramarital and same-gender sex are
  wrong, may restrict abortion
• Recreational Sex and love need not be connected.
  One-third of this 25.1 are pro-life, and
  two-thirds are libertarian.

10
NHSLS results

• Behaviors
• Traditional Fewer partners and less thinking
  about sex
• Recreational More... partners, thinking about
  sex, masturbation, oral sex, anal sex,
  same-gender sex
• But the frequency of sexual activity was similar
  in all three groups
• What other groupings are possible?

11
Sexual Values and virtues

• Western values vs. other cultures
• Values or virtues?
• Gertrude Himmelfarb (1990s) on Nietzsche (1880s)
  the so-called death of God means the death of
  morality and of truth
• Aristotles cardinal virtues of wisdom, justice,
  temperance, and courage
• Associated virtues were prudence, magnanimity,
  munificence, liberality, and gentleness

12
Sexual virtues in history

• Our Jewish heritage
• Early Christian views Jesus to Augustine
• The medieval church Sacralizing strictures
• The reformers and the Puritans
• Methodism and moral reform in the 18th century
• The Victorians (1837 1901) and secularization
• Contemporary Christianity and relativism

13
Philosophical Positions

• Subjectivism
• Legalism Natural law and covenant
• Legalism Hedonism and asceticism
• Relativism Situation ethics
• Narrow-band positions
• Broad-band positions

14
Sex education

• Knowledge-based approaches
• Comprehensive sexuality education
• Values clarification
• Decision-making skills
• Communication skills
• Abstinence promotion
• HIV/AIDS education

15
Sex and disability

• Developmental disabilities
• Simplified sex education
• Normalization
• Disabilities in vision and hearing
• Special challenges for sex education
• Mental disorders
• Asexuality and hypersexuality
• Physical disorders and disabilities

16
Reference

• Winslow, R.W. Winslow, V. Deviant reality
  Alternative world views. Boston Allyn Bacon.

17
Puritan purity devices
18
Lifetime occurrence of oral sex Men (NHSLS data,
1991)
19
Lifetime occurrence of oral sex Women (NHSLS
data, 1991-93)