Adolescent and Child Development

The Morality of Human Sexuality a common dimension of meaning & in the process
we at the same time actualize ourselves as
Meaning of sex to the individual persons whose dignity is deepened & heightened
by the personalizing element of sexual
- Sexual meaning permeates our bodily presence to experience.
one another & make us more aware of our - God has made the sharing of ourselves the law of
individual existence. our being, so that it is in loving others that we best
- Through sexual meaning we realized that we are love ourselves. (Merton:19)
alone, and separate, powerless & ignorant,
hopeless & weak, empty & homeless, inadequate Pain of unrequited love.
& incomplete.
- Loving another simply in order to satisfy ones
- Sexual meaning makes us realize the need for
sexual desire always ends with the pain of
some measure of fulfillment that only the other
unrequited love.
can give.
- This is why mere genital satisfaction or self-
- Hence, sexual meaning is a call, a meaningful stimulation (regardless of how often & how many
invitation to be with the other (Luijpen 1960:214- times) still leaves a person unhappily alone,
231) helplessly shallow, & personally barren, depleted,
& empty.
Mutual experience of each others worth. - Mutual self-fulfillment is free. It cannot be forced,
bought or bribed. In a manner of speaking, it does
- In this mutual experience exists the humanizing not consist in abduction, rape, seduction,
value of sexual love. kidnapping, commercialization, or a lie-down-or-
- In the sex-love duality both mutually realize be-laid-off modus operandi.
themselves as persons, as 1s with dignity &
Affirmation of situated freedom.
freedom.
- I need you in order to be me, as you need me in
- Every individual has his/her own right to sexthis
order to be you we therefore realize that the is an extension of ones freedom of happiness (of
meaning of our lives is related to the presence of which sexual love, to some people, is the climactic
others. dramatization).
- Furthermore, my right to sex involves a
An appeal for mutual care.
corresponding duty in others to respect it, in
proportion to my duty to respect their own right
- From the standpoint of sexual love we can
to sex.
understand ourselves & life much better if we are
- The state has the right to limit the human right to
free from our egoism & self-centeredness.
sex for the sake of the common good. It has the
- The trust which true love shows, however- the
duty to suppress obscenity, public scandal, vice,
defenselessness it displays is itself an appeal for
immorality, & sexual abuses, in order to protect
mutual care & protection for each other.
its citizens from these evils & their disastrous &
devastating consequences.
Sharing each others being.
Moral discipline.
- In human sexuality, we find a mutual sharing of
selves, mutual self-realization.
- Discipline is necessary & there can be no
- Life becomes more meaningful if and when we
discipline without restraint (Leclerca 1954:51-75).
share it with someone we love.
This restraint is necessary to safeguard &
- In this way, human sexuality becomes the
guarantee ones freedom of sex.
language of love & it is considered as one of the
- Constraint here is demanded for the sake of
deepest forms of human communication.
freedom itself. it is meant to eliminate license
- As the medium of mutual self-fulfillment &
or false freedom, i.e., the freedom to do whatever
mutual self-revelation, human sexuality means a
I want, anytime I want, anywhere I want, & with
giving, a giving of the best, a giving of self. it is
whomever I want (Fransen: 68-69). It is directive,
a life of giving & a giving of life.
not restrictive, of human liberty.
- Freedom to engage in sex does not mean the
Self-discovery as persons.
Freudian complete sexual freedom i.e., an
unlimited access to any woman or man whom
- Sexual meaning makes us aware that we are
one might find sexually desirable (Fromm 1966:
persons, human beings, and not objects or things.
72).
- Only a persona man or a womanis able to
respond to my appeal, she is one with whom I
Ones inhumanity to another.
experience mutual self-giving & self-revelation.
Thus I also become better aware of myself as a
- If & when sex becomes a degradation of ones
person responding to her appeal (Johann 1963).
dignity.
- An appeal of love radiating from another person
- Whenever sexuality is no longer sustained by a
enables me to discover a new me, who I really am.
deep concern for human dignity & integrity.
I see myself better in the other. The other is the
- Sexual Alienation sex alienates us from our
mirror of the real me.
desire to become authentically human.
Making each be truly himself/herself.
Commitment & responsibility.
- Responsible sexual love wills the others self-
- This commitment consists of care, concern, &
realization, destiny & happiness.
responsibility. (Fromm 1976: 28; 1966: 38)
- Reciprocal love demands that as I make the other
- This responsibility is not an external imposition
be, she likewise make me be. We mutually create
Adolescent and Child Development
but an essential ingredient of true caring for the
other (Mayeroff 1965: 462-474).
Safeguarding the others value.
- I respond to my beloveds needs, to her security,
to her well-being.
- I am obligated to protect her from any harm that
may break down her self-growth & happiness
(Luijpen:214-231)
- As I am responsible for my beloveds self-growth,
she is also responsible for my self-respect.
Responsibility to and for one another.
- In relation to human sexuality always points to
personhood (pagkatao), to helping the other
realize her selfhood, to really becoming herself.
- Respect here means the ability to see a person as
he/she is, to be aware of his/her unique
individuality. It also implies the absence of
exploitation (sexploitation) & subjugation.
- Sexual responsibility with respect, denotes
humane concern for the uniqueness of my
beloved as a person, a human being.
Humanizing & dehumanizing
Humanizing if it enables me to realize
myself as much as it brings the other to
fulfillment. Both of us attain mutual self-
realization & unitive self-fulfillment.
Dehumanizing if and when it destroys a
persons honor & becomes a degradation of the
other. (Sexuality) consists of using the other as a
means for my own end.
Types of sexual deviation.
Refers to any form of sexual
activity which a given social group
regards as unnatural & abnormal
1. Homosexuality this refers to sexual relations
between individuals of the same sex.
Lesbianism homosexuality among women
Pederasty homosexuality among men which
denotes homosexual anal intercourse.
2. Transvestism also called transvestitism, cross
dressing or eonism,
- The compulsive obsessive need of an
individual, almost always male, to wear
clothes worn by the opposite sex.
- Psychological condition that can be
treated & cured (Ellis:220-221)
3. Transsexualism is a kind of sexual deviation in
which an individual (either male or female) has an
obsessive-compulsive desire to belong to the
opposite sex.(Harry Benjamin)
4. Exhibitionist this sexual deviation refers to an
individuals obsessive-compulsive inclination to
obtain sexual gratification by public exposure of
his/her body sex organs.
5. Sadism- this is a form of sexual abnormality in
which sexual gratification depends largely on the
infliction of pain upon others (i.e., sex partners)
6. Masochism named after Leopold von Sacher-
Masoch (1835-95), an Australian novelist who
described condition, masochism is a type of
sexual aberration in which sexual gratification
depends largely on undergoing physical pain or
humiliation.
7. Necrophilia from the Greek nekros corpse &
philos love necrophilia means love of corpses or
cadavers.
Necrophilliac is aroused by the sight
of a human corpse & tries to have sex
relations with it.
8. Necrosadism a sexual abnormality in which an
individual experiences sexual stimulation &
orgasm by mutilating corpses.
A necrosadist enjoys cutting up cadavers in order
to arouse himself sexually to orgasm (Ellis:223).
9. Sex murder what distinguishes a sex murderer
from the immediately preceding 2 types of sexual
neurosis is that the former kills his partner solely
in order to enhance his own arousal & sexual
satisfaction.
10. Fetishism another form sexual aberration in
which an individual becomes sexually aroused by
the mere sight of a womans underwear (bra or
panty), hair, a shoe, a blouse, girdle, etc.
11. Pedophilia an abnormal condition in which a
male is obsessively-compulsively attracted to
boys. A pedophile enjoys engaging in homosexual
acts with young boys.
12. Sexual attachment to children broader than
pedophilia, sexual obsession with children
includes both lesbian & heterosexual fixations as
well as interest of men in boys.
13. Gerontophilia from Greek gerontos old folks &
philos love means love of older persons.
14. Mixoscopia or voyeurism all normal individuals
derive some sexual excitement from viewing
members of the other sex, especially when these
others are in the nude.
15. Pygmalionism is a rare sexual deviation in which
individuals are obsessively & exclusively attracted
to & aroused sexually by statues especially
statues of nude women.
16. Bestiality from the Latin bestialis beast,
bestiality refers to sexual intercourse between a
human being & an animal of a different species
Prepared & Reported by: Jonnavee Biraquit
LET-Law