Philosophy of sex is an aspect of applied philosophy involved with the study of sex and love. It includes both the ethics of phenomena such as prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, sexual identity, the age of consent and homosexuality, and the conceptual analysis of more universal questions such as what sex is, along with matters of sexuality and sexual identity and the ontological status of gender. Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include Alan Soble, Judith Butler and Raja Halwani.
Facts
Central QuestionWhat are sexual desire, sexual activity and sexual pleasure, and which of the three, if any, is conceptually prior to the others? 1 Key DebateWhether sexual desire objectifies by its very nature, so that no partner can be treated as an end and never merely as a means, the Kantian view, or whether objectification is instead a contingent failure of particular acts and attitudes rather than a feature inherent to sexual desire itself. 1 Disputed
Key DebateWhether consent is sufficient, on its own, to make a sexual act morally permissible, or whether some acts remain wrong even when actually consented to; the necessity of consent is widely assumed, but that assumption itself has been challenged. 1 Connections
Associated With
Foucault's multi-volume The History of Sexuality (from 1976) is the single most cited modern text in the philosophy of sex, reframing sexuality as a historically constructed discourse.
Nagel's 1969 essay "Sexual Perversion" is a foundational analytic-tradition text asking what, philosophically, distinguishes ordinary from perverted sexual desire.
Sources
1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford University, Center for the Study of Language and Informationentry: Sex and Sexuality, Introduction
The philosophy of sex and sexuality includes conceptual issues about what sexual desire, sexual activity, and sexual pleasure are, and which of the three has conceptual priority.
entry: Sex and Sexuality, consent section
Despite disagreement about the sufficiency of consent, the necessity of consent is typically taken for granted by philosophers.
entry: Sex and Sexuality, objectification section, on the Kantian view
The Kantian view is that sexual desire objectifies by its nature and makes it impossible for the sexual partners to satisfy the Categorical Imperative.
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