HUMAN SEXUALITY

OUTLINE  Historical analyses show little evidence of universal sexual

I. Sex for Procreation behavior and customs
II. Historical Perspectives
III. Perspectives A. PREHISTORIC SEXUALITY
IV. Distinction and Clarification of Concepts  Female idolatry
V. Sex, a Natural and Supernatural Desire for Intimacy  Phallic worship
VI. Human Creative Sexuality  penis viewed as symbol of power
VII. Responsible Parenthood  Phallic symbols
VIII. Sexuality in Clinical Practice  Incest taboo
IX. Four principles of Responsible Parenthood  The prohibition against intercourse and reproduction among
close blood relatives.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES  Present in some form in all human societies

Note: If no learning objectives were given during the lecture, either
use the ones in the handout given or delete this portion altogether
I. SEX FOR PROCREATION
 Reproduction is the only “legitimate” and “moral” reason for
sex.
 “Sex” becomes synonymous with penile-vaginal intercourse.
If you heard someone say “I had sex last night,” what
specific behaviors would you think happened?
A. HOW IMPORTANT IS SEX IN YOUR LIFE?
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
B. ANCIENT HEBREWS
 Emphasized procreative function of sex
 Same-sex sexual relations was strongly condemned.
 Adultery was not allowed, at least for women.
 Polygamy, the practice of having two or more spouses
(wives) at the same time, was permitted.
 However, most Hebrews were monogamous.
 Sex strengthened marriage and solidified family
 Minimum frequency of relations within marriage
legislated
 Women considered property of men
C. ANCIENT GREEKS
 Valued family life
 Admired male body of muscle and health
 Gods viewed as sexually adventurous
 Viewed men and women as bisexual.
 Male-male sex was considered normal as long as it did not
interfere with the family.
 Pederasty, or love of boys, by older men was condoned as
long as the boy was not prepubescent.
 Prostitution was very popular.
 Courtesans: prostitutes, usually the mistress of a noble or
wealthy man
 Concubines: a secondary wife, usually of lower status

D. ANCIENT ROMANS
 Elite practiced sexual excesses, such as orgies, bestiality, and
sadism
 Sexual terms still in use have Roman cultural roots:
 Fellatio
 Cunnilingus
 Fornication
 The family was seen as the source of integrity of the Roman
empire and male-male sexual behavior was met with
B. WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS disapproval.
 Women considered husbands’ property
THINKING?
1. Penile-vaginal intercourse is primary source of satisfaction
2. Sexual response and orgasm are supposed to occur
E. EARLY CHRISTIANS
during  If celibacy was not possible, sex was restricted to marriage
penetration. and was for procreation and not for pleasure.
3. Places tremendous and unrealistic expectations on coitus  Masturbation, prostitution, same-sex sexual relations, oral-
itself. genital contact, and anal intercourse were strictly forbidden
4. Devalues non-intercourse sexual intimacy (ex. ‘What do and viewed as sinful.
 Divorce was outlawed.
they do during sex?’)
II. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
 Allows consideration of trends in sexual behaviors and F. ISLAM
attitudes  The Islamic tradition values marriage and sexual fulfillment in
marriage only.

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 Only men may have more than one spouse
 Social interactions between men and women restricted
G. INDIA
 Hinduism views sex as a religious duty
 Sexual fulfillment can lead to reincarnation at a higher level.
 Kama Sutra
H. FAR EAST
 Ancient history promoted sexual activity (Taoism) but with
Confucianism came stricter sexual attitudes.
 Sexual conservatism with communist rule (1949)
 Lack of basic information about sexuality
 Sex outside of marriage and frequent sex within marriage
discouraged.
 Almost no STDS
I. THE MIDDLE AGES
 Conflicting views of women:
 Sinful, as Eve
 Saintly, as Mary – this view elevated women’s status
 The Protestant Reformation
 Priests allowed to marry and rear children.
 Sex not just for procreation.
J. VICTORIAN ERA
 Women’s place was in the home and fields
 Sexuality was repressed
 Not discussed in public
 Women thought to have no sexual feelings
 Men thought to be drained of healthy & vitality by sex
 Despite these prohibitions, prostitution was quite common.
 Pornography
III. PERSPECTIVES
A. BIOLOGICAL
 Studies role of genes, hormones, the nervous system, and other
biological factors in sexuality
 Mechanisms of arousal and reproduction
B. EVOLUTIONARY
 Evolution: the development of a species to its present state
 Natural selection
 The evolutionary process by which adaptive traits enable
members of a species to survive to reproductive age and
transmit these traits to future generations
 Evolutionary psychologists suggest that there is a genetic basis
to social behavior, including human sexual behavior.
C. CROSS-SPECIES
 Places human behavior in a broader context by comparing it to
nonhuman sexual behavior
 Nonhuman analogues of sexual behavior include male-male
and female-female sexual behavior, oral genital contact, oral-
oral behavior, foreplay, and the use of a variety of coital
positions.
 The sexual behaviors of animals “higher up” on the evolutionary
ladder are controlled less by instinct compared to those “lower”
on the ladder.

K. FOUNDATIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY D. SOCIOLOGICAL

OF SEXUALITY
 Began during the Victorian Era
 Sexologists gained credence:
 Havelock Ellis – sexual inversion
 Richard von Krafft-Ebing – sexual psychopathy
 Sigmund freud – psychoanalysis and obsession with
sexall his theories are sex-based
 Alfred Kinsey – father of sexual revolution
L. SEXUAL REVOLUTION
 During the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s sexual attitudes and
behaviors became more liberal
 Forces that brought about the revolution include
 The Vietnam War
 The fear of the nuclear bomb
 The birth-control pill
 The mass media
 Discussion and portrayals of sexuality accepted &
commonplace
 Gay activism
 Arose during the sexual revolution
 AIDS education, prevention, and treatment
 Sex search
 Sexually explicit questionnaires
 Masters & Johnson laboratory research
 Recent trends:
 More teens sexually active
 Teens are becoming sexually active at younger ages
 Female sexuality is accepted
 Sex is discussed openly in a common place
 Examine effect of culture on sexual behavior and attitudes
 Behaviors that vary include polygamy and frequency of
intercourse
 Attitudes that vary include those on masturbation
 Kissing is almost universal
 Social institutions affect behaviors and attitude
E. PSYCHOLOGICAL
 Psychoanalytic Perspective (Sigmund Freud)
 Psychoanalysis focuses on biological, instinctual drives
(sexual and aggressive) that society attempts to control; the
unconscious mind; and the conflicting personality structures
of the id, ego, superego.
 The ego protects itself from anxiety due to inner conflict by
using defense mechanisms e.g. repression.
 Practices dream analysis
 Erogenous zones: Parts of the body, including but not limited
to the sex organs that are responsive to sexual stimulation.
 Children progress through stages of psychosexual
development, each focused on different erogenous zones and
conflicts.
 Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
 Fixation, or arrested development, is possible at each stage.
IV. DISTINCTION AND CLARIFICATION OF
CONCEPTS

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 Distinction of concepts will help clarify some mental – sets or
paradigms that confound everyone no end.
Table X. Concepts defined by Manlangit (2010)
Concepts Definition
Sex  Refers to ‘specific’ nature and implies two
possibilities (man and woman).
Sexuality  An attribute of man’s nature as having a
capacity to act in a manner that
distinctly belongs either to a man or
woman.
Gender  Understood under the field of linguistics
and culture and includes three varieties:
masculine, feminine and neuter
 Sex → biological
 Gender → sexual orientation
Genitality  Refers to the physical attribute of the
reproductive structure.
Sensuality  Quality or state that indicates a devotion
to pleasure of the sense and appetite.
V. SEX, A NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL DESIRE
FOR INTIMACY
 A natural attribute that a man and a woman can engage like
eating, drinking to cope with the certainty of death or biological
extinction.
 It extends to the psychological and even spiritual domain of
man which can elevate the couple’s relationship to high levels of
intimacy under right conditions, timing, feeling, mutuality and
above all love.
 On a profane level, sexual love involves the elements of
romance, desire and concupiscence (e.g. Kamasutra).
 The desire of men and women for each other though
belonging to their lower instinct is consummated through all
possible avenues of communication from the bodily to the
emotional and spiritual dimensions.
 Under auspices of passion men and women become attracted
to each other, thus making sexual love a uniting factor that can
bind a human relationship to mutual and creative collaboration.
 Leading to self-surrender.
 Intimacy of both sense and spirit
 Gives the body, mind and spirit a high level of ecstasy and
intimacy that only man, and woman can understand and feel.
 Not sexual orgasm but intimate spiritual union
 Described as divine and transcendental
VI. HUMAN CREATIVE SEXUALITY
1. Subsumes the understanding of the nature and
functions of human sexuality and the ethical
consequence attendant to its use.
A. PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN CREATIVE SEXUALITY
Sexuality is Human
2. It belongs to both sense and spirit, not only to instinct
and sentiment.
3. Nurtured by the richness of human attributes,
enlightened by higher truth and values.
Sexuality is Total
4. Form of integral personal friendship.
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5. Man and woman or husband and wife generously share
everything, without undue reservations or selfish
motivations.
6. Includes whatever potentialities that are expected to
occur like motherhood or fatherhood.
Sexuality is Faithful and Exclusive
7. Genuine sexuality is meant to endure a lasting
relationship until death that binds a man and woman
since it is meant to serve a higher purpose beyond the
sexual satisfaction of the persons engaging in it.
8. The locus and place of sexuality is a stable union
between man and woman consummated in marriage
and never in a perverted union between same sexes
B. PERSONALIZED SEXUALITY
9. Practice according to nature and purpose to be use at
will and according to their whims and caprice
C. DEHUMANIZING IN SEXUALITY
10. Using others as a means for one's end
11. If sexuality is understood outside the context of the
spiritual nature of man, it ends up inhuman
12. What is inhuman is infra-natural, something lower than –
what is simply animal
13. When sexuality is isolated from spirituality, one sees the
other person as “a sexual object” instead of as “a
beloved person”
14. A purely carnal union deprived of the spirit, humiliates
and reduces persons to the condition of “things” that
have meaning only for as long as they satisfy or give
pleasure → lust
15. It is important to remind those who consider sex as the
highest expression of love between two persons that in
the relationship between man and woman, “sexual
submission can be love transferred to the corporeal
sphere, it however, is not always a ‘proof’ of love,
although often it is demanded as such.”
Destructive views and Perverted Practices of the Gift
of Sexuality
16. Gay Marriage
1. The union (legal or illegal) of 2 persons of the same
sex to live in same semblance of domestic life
2. Ethically this union is a testament to the perverted
understanding of what sexuality and union of sexes
ill about
3. It is the very height of a convoluted mind and
arrogant behavior and is every inch contradictory to
the common sense
17. Casual or one-night stands
1. Casual since it is done by way of current agreement
and in a hurried and temporary manner without the
intention of establishing a long relationship
2. Done for the purpose of temporary sexual
satisfaction
18. Prostitution
1. Sex service for free
2. Giving sexual gratification to anyone who pay for
sexual favors
19. Surrogate motherhood
 20. Artificial birth control (ABC) or Contraceptive Method  Sex education must cultivate first and foremost the mental
development of the person including their attitude and not only
The Kinsey Grand Scheme their skills in doing at the sexual act
21. Encourage gay activist movements, and establish  Sex education program therefore must include values since
homosexuality as a normal sexual orientation sexuality is deeply value-laden subject matter
22. Promote widespread promiscuity to create a sexual
anarchy With Values Without Values
23. Attack religion to undermine Judeo-Christian concept of
 Genuine sexuality  Sensuality
sin and eliminate the distinction between right and wrong  Responsible  Exercise mutual
24. Legalize aberrant sex acts to eliminate punishment for complementation of both pleasurable genitality
sex crimes sexes  Lust
25. Exploit childhood rebellion to alienate children from  Well-formed conscience  Permissiveness
parents. Separate children from the protective traditional  Socially responsible act  Pornography and
family structure  Noble gift and act of Commercialization
26. Redefine family to break the model of a nuclear family, generosity  Licentiousness
 Selflessness  Reproductive anatomy
with a mother and father
 Sacredness of sexuality
27. Sexual revolution is designed to:
1. Break down sexual inhibitions
Change in the Language Instituted by Sex Educators
2. Invalidate sexual taboos
Fornication “cohabitation”
3. Undermine sexual value Contraception “responsible family planning”
Abortion “women’s rights”
D. HUMANIZING SEXUALITY Euthanasia “death with dignity”
Pornography “sexual explicit material”
28. If it is taken as a form of personal commitment and Promiscuity “serial monogamy”
responsibility, a challenge to one's fidelity to love. Sexual Perversions “alternative lifestyles”
29. It is humanizing if it enables one to realize oneself as it Sodomites, Homosexuals “gay people”
brings the other to fulfilment Adultery “flexible monogamy”
30. Both attain mutual self-realization and unitive self- Partner in Adultery “significant other”
fulfillment. Bestiality “interspecies love”
Sado-masochism “exchange of power”
Child Molestation “intergenerational love”
The Purpose of Sex Modesty, Chastity “sexual hang-ups”
Self-discipline “unhealthy repression”
31. The sexual instinct or tendency: Moral irresponsibility “freed up”
1. Innate
2. Theological (ordained towards an end → The Media and Sexuality
procreation)
3. Transcends psychologically (ordained towards
 Television; News, advice and education programs, increased
another person away from self) does not need
intelligence but is regulated by the latter access to sexual material, cable and music videos
32. Man is sexual  Advertising
1. Though always present, sexuality is not everything  Magazines
33. Sex is an objective reality in accord with God’s plan  The Internet
for man; therefore, it is good in itself
1. Sex life ought to be regulated morally according to
Natural Law VII. RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD
2. 1st principle of sexual life: Marriage is the only
natural way willed by God wherein sexual life 4 PRINCIPAL VALUES OF HUMAN SEXUALITY
may be exercised morally  Pleasure
34. Sexuality is the biological vehicle for self-giving  Love
between man and woman
 Reproduction
1. Human love involves all the dimensions of being →
affective and spiritual  Symbolism
2. Today the tendency is to dissociate love from sex
3. “Love” is used as a simple requisite to practice
sex ACCORDING TO HUMAN VITAE
35. The sexual instinct is ordained essentially to the  The meaning of responsible parenthood is primarily influenced
propagation of the species, to the transmission of life by the level of knowledge of the biological process in
1. Therefore, the unitive and procreative aspect of
reproduction
sexual love must not be separated
 Knowledge of this mechanisms must not lead them to
SEX EDUCATION: WITH OR WITHOUT VALUES interfere with the cycle
 It ought to move them to respect these natural processes
 Worldwide there has been a clamour for sex education not only because they are not dealing simply with biological laws but
for adults but more so for minor and small children of “biological laws which involves the person”
 Sex education can benefit the learners when they are done in a  If we examine the innate desires and emotions of man,
way that leads to maturity, responsibility and not malice responsible parenthood expresses the dominion which reason
and will must exert over them

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  When the respect for sexual is replaced by the egoistic,
superficial search for pleasure, the moral life of the individual
and marriage end catastrophically
 If we consider the relevant physical, economic, psychological,
and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by
those who prudently and generously decide to have a large
family or by those who, for serious reasons and with due
respect for the moral law, choose not to have children for the
time being or even for an indeterminate period

 2 important problems are presented on the decision to

limit the number of children:
 The existence of a serious motive for avoiding the birth of
another child
 Respect for the moral law while searching for the most
adequate means of avoiding the birth

VIII. SEXUALITY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

 Social
 Psychological
 Physical
 Maternal and child care
 Teen pregnancy
 STIS
 Access to healthcare
 Subjective experience
 Health provider attitude
 History taking

WHO: sexual health, human rights and law

 Enabling frameworks
 Human rights
 Information
 Discrimination
 Crime and violence

Barriers of Sexual Health Care

 a survey of Iranian-American physician in California USABMC
health services research 15 July 2016
 Includes:
 Embarrassment
 Cultural and religious
 Lack of time
 Financial constraint

IX. FOUR PRINCIPLES OF RESPONSIBLE

PARENTHOOD

1. Provide basic needs

2. Provide a secure home
3. Provide education
4. Family planning

REFERENCES
Med Ethics 3 2020 Trans 1.03: Human Sexuality

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