human sexuality

1. Case
Julian and Julie are couple in their 30’s. As a young married
couple, they engage in foreplays when making love by doing
acts such as cunnilingus and fellatio.
They enjoy them as part of their sexual rituals. Julie is a
religious person who spends time for mass and prayer everyday.

2. Julie, however mentioned the foreplays to another religious
friend who was asked about her opinion on it. Her friend was
shocked about it to the point of being scandalized. She told Julie
to stop it as engaging in them is against sexual morality and
decency.
Julie worried about her sexual practice. Later, she did not
want to do it with her husband who later was furious about the
sudden change in her sexual behaviour.

3. Guide questions
1) What is ethical or unethical in foreplays?
2) Was the lady friend ethically correct in her view about sexual
foreplay?
3) What can be done ethically with regard to sexual foreplay?

4. HUMAN SEXUALITY
and
RESPONSIBLE PARENTHOOD
Ma. Cecilia C. Cuaresma-Cruz, MD, FPAFP, MPH
Medical Ethics 3 – EAC-School of Medicine

5. Discussion question
If you heard someone say “I had sex last night,” what specific
behaviors would you think happened?
In other words, what does it mean to “have sex” specifically?

6. 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?

7. What are the consequences of this thinking?
1) Penile-vaginal intercourse is primary source of satisfaction
2) Sexual response and orgasm are supposed to occur during
penetration
3) Places tremendous and unrealistic expectations on coitus itself
4) Devalues non-intercourse sexual intimacy (ex. ‘What do they do
during sex?’)

8. How Important is Sex in Your Life?
Global Perspectives

10. Historical perspective
 Allows consideration of trends in sexual behaviors and
attitudes

 Historical analyses show little evidence of universal sexual
behaviors and customs.

11. Prehistoric Sexuality
 Female idolatry
 Phallic worship
 penis viewed as symbol of power
 Phallic symbols
 Incest taboo
 The prohibition against intercourse and reproduction among
close blood relatives
 Present in some form in all human societies

12. The 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

13. The 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

14. 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
disapproval.
 Women considered husbands’ property

15. Early Christians
 If celibacy was not possible, sex was restricted to marriage
and was for procreation and not for pleasure.
 Masturbation, prostitution, same-sex sexual relations, oral-
genital contact, and anal intercourse were strictly forbidden
and viewed as sinful.
 Divorce was outlawed.

16. Islam
The Islamic tradition values marriage and sexual
fulfillment in marriage only
Only men may have more than one spouse
Social interactions between men and women restricted

17. India
 Hinduism views sex as a religious duty
 Sexual fulfillment can lead to reincarnation at a higher level
 Kama Sutra

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. Foundations of the
Scientific Study of Sexuality
 Began during the Victorian Era
 Sexologists gained credence:
 Havelock Ellis
 Richard von Krafft-Ebing
 Sigmund Freud
 Alfred Kinsey

22. 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

23.  Gay activism
 Arose during the sexual revolution
 AIDS education, prevention, and treatment
 Sex research
 Sexually explicit questionnaires
 Masters & Johnson laboratory research

24.  Recent trends:
 More teens sexually active
 Teens are becoming sexually active at
younger ages
 Female sexuality is accepted
 Sex is discussed openly
 Pornography commonplace

25. Biological perspective
 Studies role of genes, hormones, the nervous system,
and other biological factors in sexuality
 Mechanisms of arousal and reproduction

26. Evolutionary Perspective
 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.

27. Cross-Species Perspective
 Places human behavior in a broader context by comparing it to
non-human 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.

28. Sociological perspective
 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 attitudes

29. Psychological perspective
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

30.  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.

31. Distinction and Clarification of Concepts
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
Manlangit, 2010

32. 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
Manlangit, 2010

33. SEX, a Natural
and Supernatural Desire for Intimacy
1. A natural attribute that a man and a woman can engage like
eating, drinking to cope with the certainty of death or
biological extinction
2. 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

34. 3. On a profane level , sexual love involves the elements of
romance, desire and concupiscence (ex. 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

35. 4. 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

36. 5. 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

37.  Human Creative Sexuality
 Subsumes the understanding of the nature and functions
of human sexuality and the ethical consequence
attendant to its use
 Personalized Sexuality
 Practice according to nature and purpose to be use at will
and according to their whims and caprice

38. Principle of Human Creative Sexuality
1. Sexuality is Human
 It belongs to both sense and spirit, not only to
instinct and sentiment
 Nurtured by the richness of human attributes,
enlightened by higher truth and values

39. 2. Sexuality is Total
 Form of integral personal friendship
 Man and woman or husband and wife generously share
everything, without undue reservations or selfish
motivations
 Includes whatever potentialities that are expected to
occur like motherhood or fatherhood

40. 3. Sexuality is Faithful and Exclusive
 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.
 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

41. Dehumanizing in Sexuality
 Using others as a means for one's end
 If sexuality is understood outside the context of the spiritual
nature of man, it ends up inhuman
 What is inhuman is infra natural, something lower than what is
simply animal
 When sexuality is isolated from spirituality, one sees the other
person as “a sexual object” instead of as “a beloved person”

42.  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

43.  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.”

44. Sex Education
With or Without Values
 Worldwide there has been a clamor for sex education not only
for adults but more so for minor and small children
 Question: “What is the appropriate age by the which sex
education can be initiated?”
 Age 7?
 Age of reason?

45.  Sex education can benefit the learners when they are done in a
way that leads to maturity, responsibility and not malice
 Sex education must cultivate first and foremost the mental
development of the person including their attitude and not only
their skills in doing at the sexual act
 Sex education program therefore must include values since
sexuality is deeply value-laden subject matter

46. With Values
 Genuine Sexuality
 Responsible complementation of
both sexes
 Well-formed conscience
 Socially Responsible act
 Noble gift and act of generosity
 Selflessness
 Sacredness of sexuality
Without Values
 Sensuality
 Exercise mutual pleasurable
genitality
 Lust
 Permissiveness
 Pornography and
Commercialization
 Licentiousness
 Reproductive anatomy

47. Change in the Language
Instituted by Sex Educators
Fornication “cohabitation”
Contraception “responsible family planning”
Abortion “women’s right”
Euthanasia “death with dignity”
Pornography “sexually explicit material”
Promiscuity “serial monogamy”
Sexual perversions “alternative lifestyles”
Sodomites, homosexuals “gay” people
Adultery “flexible monogamy”

48. Partner in adultery “significant other”
Bestiality “interspecies love”
Sado-masochism “exchange of power”
Child molestation “intergenerational love”
Modesty, chastity “sexual hang-ups”
Self-discipline “unhealthy repression”
Moral irresponsibility “ freed up”

49. The Media and Sexuality
Television; News, advice and education programs,
increased access to sexual material, cable and music videos
Advertising
Magazines
The Internet

50. Where the personal is political?
 We face controversies about social policies, laws
and ethics in almost every area related to human
sexuality.

51. Example
 Should public schools provide abstinence-only or
comprehensive sex education?
 Should same sex couples be able to legally marry?
 Should health insurance be required to cover costs for
contraception?

52.  Should teens obtain contraceptive services without
parental consent?
 Should a person’s HIV status be part of the public
record?
 Should prostitution be legal?

53. Humanizing Sexuality
 If it is taken as a form of personal commitment and
responsibility, a challenge to one's fidelity to love
 It is humanizing if it enables one to realize oneself as it brings
the other to fulfilment
 Both attain mutual self-realization and unitive self-fulfilment

54. The Purpose of Sex:
 Unitive and Procreative

55. Essential Elements of Human Sexuality
a) The sexual instinct or tendency:
 Inate
 Theological (ordained towards an end  procreation)
 Transcends psychologically (ordained towards another
person away from self) does not need intelligence but is
regulated by the latter

56. b) Man is sexual
Though always present, sexuality is not everything
c) Sex is an objective reality in accord with God’s plan for man;
therefore, it is good in itself
Sex life ought to be regulated morally according to Natural Law
1st principle of sexual life: Marriage is the only natural way willed
by God wherein sexual life may be exercised morally

57. d) Sexuality is the biological vehicle for self-giving
between man and woman
 Human love involves all the dimensions of being
 affective and spiritual
 Today the tendency is to dissociate love from sex
 “Love” is used as a simple requisite to practice sex

58. e) The sexual instinct is ordained essentially to the propagation of
the species, to the transmission of life
 Therefore, the unitive and procreative aspect of sexual love
must not be separated

59. SEX IS
WHAT
YOU ARE,
NOT
WHAT
YOU DO!

60. LOVE,
not sex is
the BIG
DEAL!

61.  Sex is a TOTAL &
UNCONDITIONAL self-
giving between a married
couple.

62. Sex as God’s gift is a
3 in 1 power...
1. Pleasure-giving
2. Love giving (unitive)
3. Life giving
(Pro-creative)

64. 4 Principal Values of Human sexuality
 Pleasure
 Love
 Reproduction
 Symbolism

65. According to Humanae Vitae
a) The meaning of responsible parenthood is primarily
influenced by the level of knowledge of the biological
process in reproduction
 Knowledge of this mechanisms must not lead them to
interfere with the cycle
 It ought to move them to respect these natural processes
because they are not dealing simply with biological laws
but of “biological laws which involves the person”

66. b) If we examine the innate desires and emotions of
man, responsible parenthood expresses the dominion
which reason and will must exert over them
- when the respect for sexual is replaced by the
egoistic, superficial search for pleasure, the moral life
of the individual and marriage end catastrophically

67. c) 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

68.  2 important problems are presented on the
decision to limit the number of children:
1) The existence of a serious motive for avoiding the
birth of another child
2) Respect for the moral law while searching for the
most adequate means of avoiding the birth