Forum 8: Ethics and Morality in Human Sexuality

This week we are discussing the topic of ethics and morality when it comes to human sexuality. With that in mind, please choose one of these three topics: Prostitution, Sex Trafficking, or Pornography which many consider a moral issue.

Read the required reading: Ethical Decision Making and then apply the Ethical Problem Solving Model to your topic answering the 5 questions. Please see the model outlined below.

Ethical Problem Solving Model
Answer the five questions when trying to resolve a moral issue:

• What benefits and what harms will each course of action produce, and which alternative will lead to the best overall consequences?
• What moral rights do the affected parties have, and which course of action best respects those rights?
• Which course of action treats everyone the same, except where there is a morally justifiable reason not to, and does not show favoritism or discrimination?
• Which course of action advances the common good?
• Which course of action develops moral virtues?

Classmate #1:

For my topic this week I decided to discuss the morality of pornography.

For pornography there are a few different approaches one can go into. The first being weather porn is legal or illegal. If porn is legal it can be broken down into what types of porn should be legal, what would be the legal age for actors, who this porn should be available to, etc. I will start by saying in many countries’ porn is legal. More so than countries that porn is illegal. However, even though a lot of these countries have pornography, there are many different rules about what actors can and cannot do. For example, Afghanistan has no laws preventing child pornography. (1) In the US this is seen as absurd, but in Afghanistan it is regular for men to have sex with boys and is cultural tradition. (2) The morality of this though can be viewed by The Rights Approach. In this approach people have the right to truth, privacy, not to be injured, what is agreed upon. This violates the child’s right not to be injured as childhood sexual abuse causes many physical and emotional trauma to the children but care for mental health isn’t well practiced by Afghani people.

Another viewpoint is that people can watch whatever kind of porn they want. This causes an issue for someone who likes animal-human (bestiality) porn. An individual doing a sex act with an animal may say it is their right to love/have sex with who they want as their right. If you were in the animal’s point of view, you have no idea if this is causing harm to the animal either physically or emotionally because we cannot talk to these animals. A little lesser viewpoint is actors that are required, by law, in Los Angeles to wear condoms during porn filming. The actor feels it is the person’s right to have the choice of wearing or not wearing a condom. In Los Angeles they feel they are protecting the actors from STD’s and unplanned pregnancies. I think moral it should be up to the individual to chose what type of protection they want to wear. I also believe it is an individual’s right to watch whatever type of porn they want, and it be completely uncensored, if it doesn’t involve animals or people who cannot speak for themselves (mental retardation, coma, etc.). This would leave the decision up to the individuals and leave them responsible for their choices and actions versus the government having any input.

Works Cited:

1. https://www.icmec.org/press/despite-increase-in-global-child-protection-laws-many-countries-still-do-not-consider-child-pornography-a-crime/

Classmate # 2:

Hello everyone,

This week I will be discussing ethics and morality when it comes to human sexuality. I chose sex trafficking . The below questions are to be answered. What benefits and what harms will each course of action produce, and which alternative will lead to the best overall consequence? What moral rights do the affected parties and which course of action best respect those rights? Which course of action treats everyone the same, except where there is morally justifiable reason not to, and does not show favoritism? Which course of action advances the common good? Which course of action develops moral virtues?

Sex trafficking is illegal around the world. It is very hard once someone is sold into trafficking to recover the victim taken. Although it is illegal around the world each country has its own rules and boundaries. When it comes to morals and ethics the disgusting individuals are going against the principles of god. There are not loving thy neighbors. They aren't following the law and they are also forcing those around us to not feel safe. Im not sure if there is a best overall answer. If the system fails because of circumstances that prevented the justice system from doing its job that's is a situation of morals and ethics. At that point you have to get the victim the help they need to get through all the pain before trying to inflict more pain on themselves. There was a recent news report of a young lady who survived sex trafficking physically but mentally it destroyed her so much that the people around her didn't know how to help or recognize her and the ending result was suicide. Suicide isn't morally right however you never know where someone's mental state is after such devastation. In these situation we hope that all can be careful and this never happens to anyone. We must try and avoid at all cost, by not going places alone and being aware of our surroundings and having the proper preparations.

***Minimum answer to each 150 words***