Sexuality

This article traces public debates about sexual practices that have found their way into recent philosophical and other academic publications. It examines the ideals and standards some ethicists have proposed for guiding our sexual lives, even those lived away from the public spotlight. Many debates about sex concern sexual practices that transgress long-standing sexual mores, practices such as extramarital sex, same-sex sex, and paid sex. Debates about transgressive sexual acts often focus on whether the traditional social barriers against them are rationally defensible. Other debates about sex concern sexual practices that involve harm, coercion, or social subordination, such as rape, pornography, harassment, and 'unsafe' sex.