"Sex raises no special moral issues at all. Decisions about sex may involve considerations of honesty, concern for others, prudence and so on, but there is nothing special about sex in this respect, for the same could be said of decisions about driving a car. (In fact the moral issues raised by driving a car, both from an environmental and from a safety point of view, are much more serious than those raised by having sex.) Accordingly this book contains no discussion of sexual morality."
This is from the introductory pages of Practical Ethics (Amazon US)
, (Amazon UK) by the influential contemporary moral philosopher Peter Singer, a Leftist utilitarian with whose views, I hasten to add, I agree on other major issues, such as animal liberation and equality.
I used to believe that sex had nothing to do with ethics, long before I read Peter Singer.
I now think that I was wrong and Peter Singer still is.
The effects of the “sexual revolution” promoted by the 60s “liberation movements” have been:
1) increase in the number of single mothers and illegitimate births, with the social consequences of increases in welfare dependency, unemployment rate and crime rate, put simply a growth in the phenomenon that sociologist Charles Murray calls “the underclass”. I refer you to his books Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950-1980 (Amazon US) , (Amazon UK)
; The Underclass Revisited (AEI Studies in Social Welfare Policy) (Amazon US)
, (Amazon UK) ; In Our Hands : A Plan To Replace The Welfare State (Amazon US)
, (Amazon UK) , because these connections are well documented there, socially and statistically.2) increase in child molestation, children's sexual abuse and paedophilia. In a world where everyone seems to be enjoying “sexual freedom”, no wonder paedophiles will be feeling that they are the only ones excluded from the party.
3) increase in teenage sex
4) increase in teenage pregnancy
5) increase in sexual transmitted diseases among children and teenagers
6) large increase in sexual trasnsmitted diseases among adults
7) creation and perpetuation of the AIDS epidemic.
How’s that for the consequences of something that should raise no ethical question, from the viewpoint of a consequentialist philosopher like utilitarian Singer?
A writer who has intelligently explored this subject is Tammy Bruce, author of The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values (Amazon US)
(Amazon UK) .Tammy Bruce is an unusual writer, in that she is a lesbian feminist, actually a former activist and leader in both gay and women’s movements in the USA, who denounces what she calls the Left Elite of which she was part before leaving in disgust.
She puts in direct connection the Left’s agenda and the homosexual and feminists movements with the repercussions of sexual freedom I listed above, of which she holds Leftists responsible.
The biggest cause of single motherhood in the US is Drug Prohibition which has put 30% of Black Males in the criminal justice system.
ReplyDeleteConservatives seem to avoid looking at the side effects of their attempts to impose "morality". Instead of bringing people to morality one at a time they attempt to to avoid the effort by passing laws. The thing is you can't do just one thing. Or put another way: there will be side effects.
What is the advantage of bringing people to morality one at a time? Individuals can adjust for the side effects. Laws are not nearly so flexible. Morality is not a physics problem where you can isolate a system and deal only with the effects you are interested in.
The Wall Street Journal had a front page article surveying young people. Most had lost their virginity by the age of 16. When a girl gets her first period at 12 or 13, her mother is wise to put her on the pill immediately. Boys her age, her peers, expect sex. This change in morality and behavior is the second sexual revolution. The first brought in the pill, out-of-home work for most women, women having no children or delaying child-bearing until their thirties and vastly increased single motherhood for middle-class women, moving them to welfare and homelessness.
ReplyDeleteThe first sexual revolution, in the 1960's, destroyed my middle-class family. My mother earned her teaching credential and M.A. in Special Education, and started working when I was ten. Everyone wanted a piece of the action - her income - and she ended up running off with a bum, a gigolo who had never worked and who leeched off her for the rest of their lives. My brother and I had no mother and were raised by our alcoholic father. Both of us have severe mental and emotional problems. The scenario may have been different if Mom hadn't left. I bet similar goings-on, and related ones, affected many of my peers.
Single mothers cannot protect their daughters. Many are too busy working to care. Family structure is altered. I can't say this is the end of the world, but, like my boyfriend says, you can't cheat Mother Nature. She's "The Man."