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119-528: Since the conspiracy and downfall of Lao Ai, his sexual misdeeds have become a fixture in the traditional moralizing discourse of intellectuals in imperial China , and his very surname and style name , which meant "lustful misdeed" in Old Chinese , has become a byword for "fornicators" in the classical Chinese language . According to Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian , Lao Ai had

238-874: A breach of trust . When the person takes advantage of a position of power in the workplace, this may constitute sexual harassment , because subordinates may be unable to give proper consent to a sexual advance because of a fear of repercussions. Child-parent incest is also seen as an abuse of a position of trust and power, in addition to the inability of a child to give consent . Incest between adults may not involve this lack of consent, and is, therefore, less clear-cut for most observers. Many professional organizations have rules forbidding sexual relations between members and their clients. Examples in many countries include psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, doctors, and lawyers. In addition, laws exist against this kind of abuse of power by priests, preachers, teachers, religious counselors, and coaches. In countries where public health

357-486: A college textbook , although many of Money's ideas have since been challenged. In the late 1980s, gender studies scholar Judith Butler began lecturing regularly on the topic of gender identity, and in 1990, they published Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity , introducing the concept of gender performativity . Butler argues that the traditional view of gender is limiting in that it adheres to

476-453: A guru . These communities have consisted over generations of those who are in abject poverty or who have been rejected by or fled their family of origin. Many work as sex workers for survival. The word "hijra" is a Hindustani word. It has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or " hermaphrodite ", where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition". However, in general hijras are born male, only

595-545: A "dislike and sometimes incapacity for needlework". During the mid-1900s, doctors pushed for corrective therapy on such women and children, which meant that gender behaviors that were not part of the norm would be punished and changed. The aim of this therapy was to push children back to their "correct" gender roles and thereby limit the number of children who became transgender. In 1905, Sigmund Freud presented his theory of psychosexual development in Three Essays on

714-492: A "growing chorus of voices contesting the pathologization of transgender lives and the dominance of medical-scientific narratives about trans experience." As such, in 2019, the World Health Organization removed gender dysphoria from the mental illness chapter and moved it instead to the sexual health chapter, changing the term "Gender Dysphoria" to "Gender Incongruence," thereby removing gender dysphoria as

833-645: A 'cure'." The "Yogyakarta Principles in Action" says "it is important to note that while 'sexual orientation' has been declassified as a mental illness in many countries, 'gender identity' or 'gender identity disorder' often remains in consideration." These Principles influenced the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity . In 2015, gender identity was part of the United States Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges in which marriage

952-505: A 2005 academic paper questioned the classification of gender identity problems as a mental disorder , speculating that certain DSM revisions may have been made on a tit-for-tat basis when certain groups were pushing for the removal of homosexuality as a disorder. This remains controversial, although the vast majority of today's mental health professionals follow and agree with the current DSM classifications. In recent years, however, there has been

1071-473: A child's attitude on gender. A mother's behavior was especially influential on a child's assumptions of the child's own gender. For example, mothers who practiced more traditional behaviors around their children resulted in the son displaying fewer stereotypes of male roles while the daughter displayed more stereotypes of female roles. No correlation was found between a father's behavior and his children's knowledge of stereotypes of their own gender. Fathers who held

1190-430: A child's life. The social learning theory posits that children furthermore develop their gender identity through observing and imitating gender-linked behaviors, and then being rewarded or punished for behaving that way, thus being shaped by the people surrounding them through trying to imitate and follow them. Large-scale twin studies suggest that the development of both transgender and cisgender gender identities

1309-448: A consequence of stating that just as for men, women did not necessarily have to have sex with the intention of reproducing. At the beginning of the 20th century, feminist authors were already theorising about a relationship between a man and a woman as equals (although this has a heterosexual bias) and the idea that relationships should be sincere, that the mark of virtue in a relationship was its sincerity rather than its permanence. Setting

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1428-501: A diagnosis of gender identity disorder can be made, and the disorder is further subdivided into specific diagnoses based on age, for example gender identity disorder in children (for children who experience gender dysphoria). The concept of gender identity appeared in the third edition of the DSM, DSM-III (1980), in the form of two psychiatric diagnoses of gender dysphoria: gender identity disorder of childhood (GIDC), and transsexualism (for adolescents and adults). The 1987 revision of

1547-475: A durable biological element underlying gender identity. Individuals may make choices due to other factors in their lives, but there do not seem to be external forces that genuinely cause individuals to change gender identity. Some studies have investigated whether there is a link between biological variables and transgender or transsexual identity. Several studies have shown that sexually dimorphic brain structures in transsexuals are shifted away from what

1666-543: A giant penis , being of such size that it could be used as an axle for a wooden carriage. This ability drew the attention of Lü Buwei , who was having an affair with Queen Dowager Zhao, mother to King Zheng of Qin (later Qin Shi Huang ), and Lü plotted to make use of Lao's sexual prowess to ingratiate himself with the Queen Dowager. During the formative years of King Zheng's reign, Lü Buwei ended his affair with

1785-407: A girl than Reimer's, and who remained a woman into adulthood. She reported that she had been somewhat tomboyish during childhood, enjoying stereotypically masculine childhood toys and interests, although her childhood friends were girls. While she was bisexual , having had relationships with both men and women, she found women more sexually attractive and they featured more in her fantasies. Her job at

1904-508: A girl. Reimer underwent sex reassignment surgery at seventeen months and grew up as a girl, dressing in girl clothes and surrounded by girl toys. In the early 1970s, Money reported that Reimer's sex reassignment to female was a success, influencing the academic consensus toward the nurture hypothesis, and for the following 30 years, it became standard medical practice to reassign intersex infants and male infants with micropenises to female. After Reimer tried to commit suicide at age 13, he

2023-508: A limit on amount of babies one can have seems like one of the few going theories we have to limit it. However, this brings in major ethical issues on what to do if families happen to go over the limit. Legal and social dress codes are often related to sexuality. In the United States, there are many rules against nudity. An individual cannot be naked even on their own property if the public can see them. These laws are often considered

2142-441: A major role in the behavior of different sexes. The researchers in the lab would inject the pregnant rat with testosterone, which would then find its way to the baby's bloodstream. The females that were born had genitalia that looked like male genitalia. The females in the litter also behaved like male rats and would even try to mount other female rats, proving that biology played a major role in animal behavior. One criticism of

2261-408: A manner that distances the sons from femininity, with Kane stating that "the parental boundary maintenance work evident for sons represents a crucial obstacle limiting boys' options, separating boys from girls, devaluing activities marked as feminine for both boys and girls, and thus bolstering gender inequality and heteronormativity." Many parents form gendered expectations for their child before it

2380-625: A marriage, which is "a relationship that is structured institutionally in ways that promote and, at least legally if not morally, guarantee mutual respect and regard", objectification may be rendered harmless. Furthermore, not all sexual activity is necessarily objectifying here: sexual activity that does not involve sexual desire might treat another person as a mere thing and might thus not be objectifying. However, Kant does not distinguish between male and female sexuality, and his analysis does not consider social hierarchies or asymmetric formations of erotic desire in or outside of marriage. Kant's argument

2499-508: A particularity divisive issue within feminism . Some feminists may regard sex work as an example of societal oppression of the sex workers by the patriarchy . The ethical argument underlying this position is that despite the apparent consent of the sex worker, the choice to engage in sex work is often not an autonomous choice, because of economic, familial or societal pressures. Sex work may also be seen as an objectification of women. An opposing view held by other feminists such as Wendy McElroy

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2618-626: A pathological mental illness. The Yogyakarta Principles , a document on the application of international human rights law , provide in the preamble a definition of gender identity as each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the person's sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other experience of gender, including dress, speech and mannerism. Principle 3 states that "Each person's self-defined [...] gender identity

2737-486: A person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the individual's gender identity. Gender expression typically reflects a person's gender identity, but this is not always the case. While a person may express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances consistent with a particular gender role , such expression may not necessarily reflect their gender identity. The term gender identity

2856-937: A person's gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex characteristics (genitals and secondary sex characteristics ), resulting in individuals dressing and/or behaving in a way which is perceived by others as outside cultural gender norms. These gender expressions may be described as gender variant , transgender, or genderqueer (or non-binary ) (there is an emerging vocabulary for those who defy traditional gender identity), and people who have such expressions may experience gender dysphoria (traditionally called gender identity disorder or GID). Transgender individuals are often greatly affected by language and gender pronouns before, during, and after their transition . In recent decades it has become possible to provide sex reassignment surgery . Some people who experience gender dysphoria seek such medical intervention to have their physiological sex match their gender identity; others retain

2975-426: A principle that either sanctions or condemns a certain act. Under Scanlon's system, it is difficult to see how one would construct a principle condemning homosexuality outright, although certain acts, such as homosexual rape, would still be fairly straightforward cases of unethical behavior. Gender identification Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender . Gender identity can correlate with

3094-432: A result of the new understanding of gender, academic usage of the term sex began to be more restricted to biological aspects, and associated with the choices male and female , while the term gender was associated initially with man or boy , girl or woman . While academic usage of terms man and woman began to diverge at the same time, and become more restricted to concepts related to gender, this distinction

3213-513: A standard for reciprocity in relationships fundamentally changed notions of sexuality from one of duty to one of intimacy. Age of consent is also a key issue in sexual ethics. It is a controversial question of whether or not minors should be allowed to have sex for recreation or engage in sexual activities such as sexting . The debate includes whether or not minors can meaningfully consent to have sex with each other, and whether they can meaningfully consent to have sex with adults. In many places in

3332-710: A third gender. They are anatomically male but dress and behave in a manner considered typically feminine. According to Tamasailau Sua'ali'i ( see references ), fa'afafine in Samoa at least are often physiologically unable to reproduce. Fa'afafine are accepted as a natural gender, and neither looked down upon nor discriminated against. Fa'afafine also reinforce their femininity with the fact that they are only attracted to and receive sexual attention from straight masculine men. They have been and generally still are initially identified in terms of labour preferences, as they perform typically feminine household tasks. The Samoan Prime Minister

3451-472: A tool of one's own interests, a set of bodily parts that are useful tools for one's pleasure, and the powerful urge to secure one's own sexual satisfaction will ensure that instrumentalization (and therefore denial of autonomy and of subjectivity) continues until the sexual act has reached its conclusion. The solution to the overall problem of objectification and sex, on Kant's view, is marriage: Only marriage can make objectification tolerable. Kant argues that in

3570-552: A trend towards less well-defined gender roles and identities, as studies of the parental association ("coding") of toys as masculine, feminine, or neutral indicate that parents increasingly code kitchens and in some cases dolls as neutral rather than exclusively feminine. However, Emily Kane found that many parents still showed negative responses to items, activities, or attributes that were considered feminine, such as domestic skills, nurturance, and empathy. Research has indicated that many parents attempt to define gender for their sons in

3689-419: A violation to the constitution regarding freedom of expression. It is said that common sense needs to be used when deciding whether or not nudity is appropriate. Nevertheless, Hawaii, Texas, New York, Maine, and Ohio allow all women to go topless at all locations that let men be shirtless. In California it is not illegal to hike in the nude, however it is frowned upon. Also in state parks it is legal to sunbathe in

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3808-617: Is accepted as unethical, there is then the dispute over which parties of the contract are responsible for the ethical or legal breach. Traditionally, in many societies, the legal and ethical burden of guilt has been placed largely on the sex worker rather than consumers. In recent decades, some countries such as Sweden, Norway and Iceland have rewritten their laws to outlaw the buying of sexual services but not its sale (although they still retain laws and use enforcement tactics which sex workers say are deleterious to their safety, such as pressuring to have sex workers evicted from their residences ). In

3927-422: Is associated with their birth sex and towards what is associated with their preferred sex. The volume of the central subdivision of the bed nucleus of a stria terminalis or BSTc (a constituent of the basal ganglia of the brain which is affected by prenatal androgens ) of transsexual women has been suggested to be similar to women's and unlike men's, but the relationship between BSTc volume and gender identity

4046-768: Is considered a public concern, there is also the issue of how sex impacts the health of individuals. In such circumstances, where there are health impacts resulting from certain sexual activities, there is the question of whether individuals have an ethical responsibility to the public at large for their behavior. Such concerns might involve the regular periodic testing for sexually transmitted infections , disclosure of infection with sexually transmitted infections, responsibility for taking safer sex precautions, ethics of sex without using contraception, leading to an increased level of unplanned pregnancies and unwanted children, and just what amount of personal care an individual needs to take in order to meet his or her requisite contribution to

4165-479: Is controversial, if not totally unacceptable, or even illegal. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Mauritania, United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Yemen, any form of sexual activity outside marriage is illegal. As the philosopher Michel Foucault has noted, such societies often create spaces or heterotopias outside themselves where sex outside marriage can be practiced. According to his theory, this

4284-656: Is defined by natural law, the Bible and tradition. The unity of a couple in marriage and procreation are key factors in Christian sexual ethics, particularly in the teachings of the Catholic Church. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine were some of the key figures in honing Christian ethics. Augustine underlined fidelity, offspring, and sacrament as the goods of sexual morality. Thomas Aquinas developed Augustine's thought to suggest that these ought to be understood as

4403-431: Is due to genetic factors, with a small potential influence of unique environmental factors. John Money was instrumental in the early research of gender identity, though he used the term gender role . He disagreed with the previous school of thought that gender was determined solely by biology. He argued that infants are born a blank slate and a parent could be able to decide their babies' gender. In Money's opinion, if

4522-435: Is even born, after determining the child's sex through technology such as ultrasound . The child thus is born to a gender-specific name, games, and even ambitions. Once the child's sex is determined, most children are raised to in accordance with it, fitting a male or female gender role defined partly by the parents. When considering the parents' social class, lower-class families typically hold traditional gender roles, where

4641-522: Is exclusive to humans. In a position statement, the Endocrine Society stated: The medical consensus in the late 20th century was that transgender and gender incongruent individuals suffered a mental health disorder termed "gender identity disorder." Gender identity was considered malleable and subject to external influences. Today, however, this attitude is no longer considered valid. Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating

4760-506: Is extremely difficult to change gender identity. Martin and Ruble conceptualize this process of development as three stages: (1) as toddlers and pre-schoolers, children learn about defined characteristics, which are socialized aspects of gender; (2) around the ages of five to seven years, identity is consolidated and becomes rigid; (3) after this "peak of rigidity", fluidity returns and socially defined gender roles relax somewhat. Barbara Newmann breaks it down into four parts: (1) understanding

4879-562: Is integral to their personality and is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom. No one shall be forced to undergo medical procedures, including sex reassignment surgery, sterilisation or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity." Principle 18 states that "Notwithstanding any classifications to the contrary, a person's sexual orientation and gender identity are not, in and of themselves, medical conditions and are not to be treated, cured or suppressed." Relating to this principle,

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4998-417: Is neither determined entirely by childhood rearing nor entirely by biological factors. Several prenatal biological factors, including genes and hormones, may affect gender identity. It has been suggested that gender identity is controlled by prenatal sex steroids , but this is hard to test because there is no way to study gender identity in animals. According to biologist Michael J. Ryan , gender identity

5117-609: Is patron of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association . Translated literally, fa'afafine means "in the manner of a woman." Hijras are officially recognized as third gender in the Indian subcontinent, being considered neither completely male nor female. Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity, as suggested by the Kama Sutra . Many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by

5236-419: Is seen as implausible by most modern thinkers. From a human rights and international law perspective, consent has become a key issue in sexual ethics. Nevertheless, historically, this has not necessarily been the case. Throughout history, a whole range of consensual sexual acts, such as adultery , fornication , interracial or interfaith sex, 'sodomy' (see sodomy laws ) have been prohibited; while at

5355-481: Is still unclear. Similar brain structure differences have been noted between gay and heterosexual men, and between lesbian and heterosexual women. Transsexuality has a genetic component. Research suggests that the same hormones that promote the differentiation of sex organs in utero also elicit puberty and influence the development of gender identity. Different amounts of these male or female sex hormones can result in behavior and external genitalia that do not match

5474-419: Is that sex work is a means of empowering women, the argument here being that in sex work women are able to extract psychological and financial power over men which is a justified correction of the power unbalance inherent in a patriarchal society. Some feminists regard to sex work as simply a form of labor which is neither morally good or bad, but subject to the same difficulties of other labor forms. If sex work

5593-450: Is thus distinct from gender identity in that it is the external expression of gender but may not necessarily portray a person's gender identity and may vary "according to racial/ethnic background, socio-economic status and place of residence." In late-19th-century medical literature, women who chose not to conform to their expected gender roles were called "inverts", and they were portrayed as having an interest in knowledge and learning, and

5712-497: Is too broad and does not always account for disproportionate power dynamics. The feminist position is that women's freedom of choice regarding sexuality takes precedence over family, community, state, and church. Based on historical and cultural context, feminist views on sexuality has widely varied. Sexual representation in the media, the sex industry, and related topics pertaining to sexual consent are all questions which feminist theory attempts to address. The debate resulting from

5831-402: Is widely agreed that core gender identity is firmly formed by age 3. At this point, children can make firm statements about their gender and tend to choose activities and toys which are considered appropriate for their gender (such as dolls and painting for girls, and tools and rough-housing for boys), although they do not yet fully understand the implications of gender. After age three, it

5950-465: Is widely regarded as a norm, and polygamy is deprecated. Even within polygamous societies, polyandry is regarded as unacceptable. Today, the practice, especially in Western cultures, of polyamory or open marriage raises ethical or moral issues. Most societies disapprove of a person in a position of power to engage in sexual activity with a subordinate. This is often considered unethical simply as

6069-529: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM) is the formal diagnosis of people who experience significant dysphoria (discontent) with the sex they were assigned at birth and/or the gender roles associated with that sex: "In gender identity disorder, there is discordance between the natal sex of one's external genitalia and the brain coding of one's gender as masculine or feminine." The DSM (302.85) has five criteria that must be met before

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6188-708: The UCLA Medical Center for the study of intersex and transsexual individuals. Psychoanalyst Robert Stoller generalized many of the findings of the project in his book Sex and Gender: On the Development of Masculinity and Femininity (1968). He is also credited with introducing the term gender identity to the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Stockholm, Sweden , in 1963. Behavioral psychologist John Money

6307-441: The ethics or morality of sexual behavior . Sexual ethics seeks to understand, evaluate and critique interpersonal relationships and sexual activities from social, cultural, and philosophical perspectives. Some people consider aspects of human sexuality , such as gender identification and sexual orientation , as well as consent , sexual relations and procreation , as giving rise to issues of sexual ethics. Historically,

6426-453: The philosophy of sex and related to the question of the moral status of sex is objectification, where sexual objectification is treating a person only as a sex object. The concept originates in Kant's moral philosophy, and many modern thinkers have used it to criticize and analyze a wide range of ethical issues related to sex, such as pornography. Kant views sex as only morally permissible in

6545-425: The § 1950s and 1960s , the term gender was used exclusively as a grammatical category . The terms male and man , or female and woman , were used more or less interchangeably when referring to people of one sex or the other. As the term gender took on new meaning following the work of John Money , Robert Stoller , and others, a distinction began to be drawn between the terms sex and gender . As

6664-508: The "Jurisprudential Annotations to the Yogyakarta Principles" observed that "Gender identity differing from that assigned at birth, or socially rejected gender expression , have been treated as a form of mental illness . The pathologization of difference has led to gender-transgressive children and adolescents being confined in psychiatric institutions, and subjected to aversion techniques – including electroshock therapy – as

6783-442: The 1960s. To this day they are usually used in that sense, though a few scholars additionally use the term to refer to the sexual orientation and sexual identity categories gay , lesbian and bisexual . Gender expression is distinct from gender identity in that gender expression is how one chooses to outwardly express their gender through one's "name, pronouns, clothing, hair style, behavior, voice or body features." It

6902-603: The Affordable Care Act and extends to "regulations pertaining to access to health insurance." This rule "is one of the many rules and regulations put forward by the Trump administration that defines "sex discrimination" as only applying when someone faces discrimination for being male or female, and does not protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity." Gender dysphoria (previously called "gender identity disorder" or GID in

7021-548: The Grand Historian , had the ulterior motive of portraying Qin Shi Huang , a foe of Confucians who had ordered their mass execution in 212 BCE, as a bastard . Supporters of this theory point out that Lao Ai's name appears etymologically fanciful: the characters used to write Lao Ai literally mean "lustful misdeed" in Old Chinese , and that his defining characteristic, his large penis (in Chinese 大陰 ), can also be taken to mean "great conspiracy". Given that Sima Qian , author of

7140-469: The Queen Dowager and gave Lao Ai to her. Lü and the Queen organised a false castration in order to facilitate Lao Ai's admission to the Queen's palace as a eunuch. After moving to the provisional capital Yong , Lao Ai fathered two children by the queen and gave himself the diminutive "false father". Lao Ai profited from his status and gathered over one thousand servants and followers. In 238 BCE, following

7259-572: The Reimer case is that Reimer lost his penis at the age of eight months and underwent sex reassignment surgery at seventeen months, which possibly meant that Reimer had already been influenced by his socialization as a boy. Bradley et al. (1998) report the contrasting case of a 26-year-old woman with XY chromosomes whose penis was lost and who underwent sex reassignment surgery between two and seven months of age (substantially earlier than Reimer), whose parents were also more committed to raising their child as

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7378-568: The Theory of Sexuality , giving evidence that in the pregenital phase children do not distinguish between sexes, but assume both parents have the same genitalia and reproductive powers. On this basis, he argued that bisexuality was the original sexual orientation and that heterosexuality was resultant of repression during the phallic stage , at which point gender identity became ascertainable. According to Freud, during this stage, children developed an Oedipus complex where they had sexual fantasies for

7497-544: The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights , "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". An intersex variation may complicate initial sex assignment and that assignment may not be consistent with the child's future gender identity. Reinforcing sex assignments through surgical and hormonal means may violate the individual's rights . A 2005 study on

7616-641: The United States, the Affordable Care Act provided that health insurance exchanges would have the ability to collect demographic information on gender identity and sexual identity through optional questions, to help policymakers better recognize the needs of the LGBTQ community. In 2020, however, the Trump administration finalized a rule that "would remove nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people when it comes to health care and health insurance" in

7735-498: The West, in many countries, consent is still not central and some consensual sexual acts are forbidden. For instance, adultery and homosexual acts remain illegal in many countries. Many modern systems of ethics hold that sexual activity is morally permissible only if all participants consent. Sexual ethics also considers whether a person is capable of giving consent and what sort of acts they can properly consent to. In western countries,

7854-404: The absence of consent may constitute rape. Also, if infected with a sexually transmitted infection, it is important that one notifies the partner before sexual contact. Sexual acts which are illegal, and often considered unethical, because of the absence of consent include rape and molestation . Enthusiastic consent, as expressed in the slogan "Yes means yes", rather than marriage, is typically

7973-476: The action of breastfeeding in public except two places in Illinois and Missouri. Various sexual acts are traded for money or other goods across the world. Ethical positions on sex work may depend on the type of sex act traded and the conditions in which it is traded, there are for example additional ethical concerns over the abrogation of autonomy in the situation of trafficked sex workers. Sex work has been

8092-401: The age of 3 or 4". The Endocrine Society has stated "Considerable scientific evidence has emerged demonstrating a durable biological element underlying gender identity. Individuals may make choices due to other factors in their lives, but there do not seem to be external forces that genuinely cause individuals to change gender identity." Social constructivists argue that gender identity, or

8211-614: The ancient Levant, persons who committed homosexual acts were stoned to death at the same period in history that young Alcibiades attempted to seduce Socrates to glean wisdom from him. As presented by Plato in his Symposium, Socrates did not "dally" with young Alcibiades, and instead treated him as his father or brother would when they spent the night sharing a blanket. In Xenophon's Symposium Socrates strongly speaks against men kissing each other, saying that doing so will make them slavish, i.e., risk something that seems akin to an addiction to homosexual acts. Most modern secular ethicists since

8330-403: The approval of the partner is often considered to be unethical. There are a number of complex issues that fall under the category of marriage. When one member of a marital union has sexual intercourse with another person without the consent of their spouse, it may be considered to be infidelity . In some cultures, this act may be considered ethical if the spouse consents, or acceptable as long as

8449-488: The aspects of gender associated with their biological sex; some of those people are transgender , non-binary, or genderqueer . Some societies have third gender categories. The 2012 book Introduction to Behavioral Science in Medicine says that with exceptions, "Gender identity develops surprisingly rapidly in the early childhood years, and in the majority of instances appears to become at least partially irreversible by

8568-443: The belief of equality between the sexes had children, especially sons, who displayed fewer preconceptions of their opposite gender. Estimates of the number of people who are intersex range from 0.018% to 1.7%, depending on which conditions are counted as intersex. An intersex person is one possessing any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes , gonads , sex hormones , or genitals that, according to

8687-574: The concept of gender, (2) learning gender role standards and stereotypes, (3) identifying with parents, and (4) forming gender preference. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) comprehensive sexuality education should raise awareness of topics such as gender and gender identity. Although the formation of gender identity is not completely understood, many factors have been suggested as influencing its development. In particular,

8806-566: The context of a heterosexual, lifelong, and monogamous marriage, whereas any sexual act that is performed outside this context is considered morally wrong. This is due to Kant's interpretation of the Categorical Imperative with regard to sexual desire . He considers sex the only inclination that cannot satisfy the Categorical Imperative; in fact, sexual desire by its nature is objectifying and lends itself to

8925-470: The divergence of feminist attitudes culminated in the late 1970s and the 1980s. The resulting discursive dualism was one which contrasted those feminists who believed that patriarchal structure made consent impossible under certain conditions, whereas sex-positive feminists attempted to redefine and regain control of what it means to be a woman. Questions of sexual ethics remain relevant to feminist theory. Early feminists were accused of being 'wanton' as

9044-478: The dominant societal constraints that label gender as binary. In scrutinizing gender, Butler introduces a nuanced perception in which they unite the concepts of performativity and gender. Transgender people sometimes wish to undergo physical surgery to refashion their primary sexual characteristics , secondary characteristics, or both, because they feel they will be more comfortable with different genitalia. This may involve removal of penis, testicles or breasts, or

9163-434: The effect of social factors on gender identity formation. In the 1960s and 1970s, factors such as the absence of a father, a mother's wish for a daughter, or parental reinforcement patterns were suggested as influences; more recent theories suggesting that parental psychopathology might partly influence gender identity formation have received only minimal empirical evidence, with a 2004 article noting that "solid evidence for

9282-708: The ethics of such behavior, some condemning it while others view it to be normal and acceptable. There are persons, groups and cultures that consider premarital sex to be immoral, or even sinful, and refer to such behaviour as fornication . In recent decades, premarital sex has increasingly been regarded as less socially or morally objectionable, especially within Western cultures. Similarly, but perhaps more than sex by unmarried persons, extramarital sex may be regarded as immoral or sinful by some, and referred to as adultery , infidelity or "cheating", while some cultures, groups or individuals regard extramarital sex as acceptable. Monogamy , especially in Christian societies,

9401-572: The extent to which it is determined by nurture (social environmental factors) versus biological factors (which may include non-social environmental factors) is an ongoing debate in psychology, known as " nature versus nurture ". There is increasing evidence that the brain is effected by the organizational role of hormones in utero, circulating sex hormones and the expression of certain genes. Social factors which may influence gender identity include ideas regarding gender roles conveyed by family, authority figures, mass media, and other influential people in

9520-471: The fashioning of a penis, vagina or breasts. In the past, sex assignment surgery has been performed on infants who are born with ambiguous genitalia. However, current medical opinion is strongly against this procedure on infants, and recommends that the procedure be only conducted when medically necessary. Today, gender-affirming surgery is performed on people who choose to transition so that their external sexual organs will match their gender identity. In

9639-490: The father works and the mother, who may only work out of financial necessity, still takes care of the household. However, middle-class "professional" couples typically negotiate the division of labor and hold an egalitarian ideology. These different views on gender can shape the child's understanding of gender as well as the child's development of gender. A study conducted by Hillary Halpern demonstrated that parental gender behaviors, rather than beliefs, are better predictors of

9758-581: The focus of liberal sexual ethics. Under that view passivity, not saying "No", is not consent. An individual can give consent for one act of sexual activity, however, it does not condone proceeding into other acts of sexual activity without reestablishing consent. The concept of consent being the primary arbiter of sexual ethics and morality has drawn criticism from both feminist and religious philosophies. Religious criticisms argue that relying on consent alone to determine morality ignores other intrinsic moral factors, while feminist criticisms argue that consent

9877-519: The gender identity outcomes of female-raised 46,XY persons with penile agenesis , cloacal exstrophy of the bladder, or penile ablation , found that 78% of the study subjects were living as female, as opposed to 22% who decided to initiate a sex change to male in line with their genetic sex. The study concludes: "The findings clearly indicate an increased risk of later patient-initiated gender re-assignment to male after female assignment in infancy or early childhood, but are nevertheless incompatible with

9996-401: The general health of a nation's citizens. Moving forward there is going to be more restrictions on conscription with the global population exponentially increasing like it is. In China there is a two-child policy , and before that they had a one-child policy which was highly controversial and came into effect in 2015. But in terms of practicality, and by more modern Malthusianism , putting

10115-399: The genitalia they were born with (see transsexual for some of the possible reasons) but adopt a gender role that is consistent with their gender identity. Within recent years modern society has made strides towards the acknowledgement and destigmatization of those who identify as non-binary or a gender variant, with sex reassignment surgery expected to grow by an annual rate of about 11% from

10234-450: The heyday of Utilitarianism, e.g. T.M. Scanlon and Bernard Williams , have constructed systems of ethics whereby homosexuality is a matter of individual choice and where ethical questions have been answered by an appeal to non-interference in activities involving consenting adults. However, Scanlon's system, notably, goes in a slightly different direction from this and requires that no person who meets certain criteria could rationally reject

10353-418: The historical work that canonized this traditional account of Lao Ai, was himself subject to the punishment of castration some years before, skeptically minded historians believe that the story of Lao Ai is meant to be understood allegorically, as a "personified phallus" who represented "a basic threat to the transmission of the imperial bloodline and hence the purity of the 'united cosmos.'" The story of Lao Ai

10472-493: The idea of gender identity as being biologically rooted, as they do not identify with their anatomical sex despite being raised and their behaviour reinforced according to their anatomical sex. One study by Reiner et al. looked at fourteen genetic males who had suffered cloacal exstrophy and were thus raised as girls. Six of them changed their gender identity to male, five remained female and three had ambiguous gender identities (though two of them had declared they were male). All

10591-531: The importance of postnatal social factors is lacking." A 2008 study found that the parents of gender-dysphoric children showed no signs of psychopathological issues aside from mild depression in the mothers. It has also been suggested that the attitudes of the child's parents may affect the child's gender identity, although evidence is minimal. Parents who do not support gender nonconformity are more likely to have children with firmer and stricter views on gender identity and gender roles. Recent literature suggests

10710-465: The legal concept of " informed consent " often sets the public standards on this issue. Children, the mentally handicapped, the mentally ill, animals, prisoners, and people under the influence of drugs like alcohol might be considered in certain situations as lacking an ability to give informed consent. In the United States, Maouloud Baby v. State is a state court case ruling that a person can withdraw sexual consent and that continuing sexual activity in

10829-446: The males raised as male switched their gender identity. Those still living as females still showed marked masculinisation of gender role behaviour and those old enough reported sexual attraction to women. The study's authors caution drawing any strong conclusions from it due to numerous methodological caveats which were a severe problem in studies of this nature. Rebelo et al. argue that the evidence in totality suggests that gender identity

10948-457: The manual, DSM-III-R , added a third diagnosis: gender identity disorder of adolescence and adulthood, nontranssexual type. This latter diagnosis was removed in the subsequent revision, DSM-IV (1994), which also collapsed GIDC and transsexualism into a new diagnosis of gender identity disorder. In 2013, the DSM-5 renamed the diagnosis gender dysphoria and revised its definition. The authors of

11067-418: The norm of their sex assigned at birth, and in acting and looking like their identified gender. Social scientists tend to assume that gender identities arise from social factors. In 1955, John Money proposed that gender identity was malleable and determined by whether a child was raised as male or female in early childhood. Money's hypothesis has since been discredited, but scholars have continued to study

11186-525: The notion of a full determination of core gender identity by prenatal androgens." A 2012 clinical review paper found that between 8.5% and 20% of people with intersex variations experienced gender dysphoria . Sociological research in Australia, a country with a third 'X' sex classification, shows that 19% of people born with atypical sex characteristics selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men, and 6% unsure. At birth, 52% of persons in

11305-450: The nude unless a private citizen complains then you are to be removed from the premise by force if the individual does not comply. Breastfeeding in public is sometimes considered wrong and mothers are encouraged to either cover themselves in a blanket or go to the restroom to breastfeed their newborn. In many circumstances the appropriateness of public breastfeeding is determined by the mother's judgment. There are no actual laws that prohibit

11424-503: The origin of psychic life, and that Freud did not give adequate description to the female child (Freud rejected this suggestion). During the 1950s and '60s, psychologists began studying gender development in young children, partially in an effort to understand the origins of homosexuality (which was viewed as a mental disorder at the time). In 1958, the Gender Identity Research Project was established at

11543-492: The parent ascribed the opposite gender and hatred for the parent ascribed the same gender, and this hatred transformed into (unconscious) transference and (conscious) identification with the hated parent who both exemplified a model to appease sexual impulses and threatened to castrate the child's power to appease sexual impulses. In 1913, Carl Jung proposed the Electra complex as he both believed that bisexuality did not lie at

11662-484: The parent confidently raised their child as the opposite sex from earlier than age two, the child would believe that they were born that sex and act accordingly. Money believed that nurture could override nature. A well-known example in the nature-versus-nurture debate is the case of David Reimer , born in 1965, otherwise known as "John/Joan". As a baby, Reimer went through a faulty circumcision, losing his male genitalia. John Money advised Reimer's parents to raise him as

11781-406: The partner is not married while other cultures might view any sexual intercourse outside marriage as unethical, with or without consent. Furthermore, the institution of marriage brings up the issue of premarital sex wherein people who may choose to at some point in their lives marry, engage in sexual activity with partners who they may or may not marry. Various cultures have different attitudes about

11900-923: The prevailing notions of what is regarded as sexually ethical have been linked to philosophy and religious teachings. More recently, the feminist movement has emphasized personal choice and consent in sexual activities. The terms ethics and morality are often used interchangeably, but sometimes ethics is reserved for interpersonal interactions and morality is used to cover both interpersonal and inherent questions. Different approaches to applied ethics hold different views on inherent morality, for example: Many practical questions arise regarding human sexuality , such as whether sexual norms should be enforced by law, given social approval, or changed. Morality and religion have historically been closely intertwined. Religious morality has usually looked down upon sex, with "...Christian philosophers condemn[ing] it". Christian denominations generally hold that sexual morality

12019-439: The royal proclamation announcing Lao Ai's status as an imposter lover consorting with the Queen Dowager, with plans to secretly father the next king, Lao Ai was investigated. During this time, he attempted a coup d'état with a small number of followers, using the Queen Dowager's seal to gain legitimacy. Without popular support, military training, numbers, or sufficient organisation, Lao Ai's followers were quickly defeated. Lao Ai

12138-482: The same time various forced sexual encounters such as rape of a slave, prostitute, war enemy, and most notably of a spouse, were not illegal. The criminalization of marital rape is very recent, having occurred during the past few decades, and the act is still legal in many places around the world - this is due to some not essentially viewing the act as rape. In the UK, marital rape was made illegal as recently as 1992. Outside

12257-432: The study were assigned female, and 41% were assigned male. A study by Reiner & Gearhart provides some insight into what can happen when genetically male children with cloacal exstrophy are sexually assigned female and raised as girls, according to an 'optimal gender policy' developed by John Money : in a sample of 14 children, follow-up between the ages of 5 and 12 showed that 8 of them identified as boys, and all of

12376-810: The subjects had at least moderately male-typical attitudes and interests, providing support for the argument that genetic variables affect gender identity and behavior independent of socialization. Gender identity can lead to societal security issues among individuals that do not fit on a binary scale. As of 2022, only 23 states plus Washington D.C. currently have state laws that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Moreover, only "53% of [the] LGBTQ population live in states prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity", while "17% of [the] LGBTQ population lives in states explicitly interpreting existing prohibition on sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity". In some cases,

12495-505: The subjects had moderate to marked interests and attitudes consistent with that of biological males. Another study, using data from a variety of cases from the 1970s to the early 2000s (including Reiner et al.), looked at males raised as females due to a variety of developmental disorders ( penile agenesis , cloacal exstrophy or penile ablation). It found that 78% of those males raised as females were living as females. A minority of those raised as female later switched to male. However, none of

12614-416: The thing-like treatment of other persons. The idea seems to be that sexual desire and pleasure cause very acute forms of sensation in a person's own body; that these sensations drive out, for a time, all other thoughts, including the thoughts of respect for humanity that are characteristic of the moral attitude to persons. ... In that condition of mind, one cannot manage to see the other person as anything but

12733-427: The three ends (telos) of marriage, and ranked them in order of importance, with procreation as the primary end. Not until contemporary times has sex been thought of as something generally good in the history of western philosophy: "Plato denigrated it, arguing that it should lead to something higher or better (Phaedrus, Symposium), Aristotle barely mentioned it, and Christian philosophers condemned it." A major topic in

12852-437: The time of the study was a blue-collar occupation that was practiced almost exclusively by men. Griet Vandermassen argues that since these are the only two cases being documented in scientific literature, this makes it difficult to draw any firm conclusions from them about the origins of gender identity, particularly given the two cases reached different conclusions. However, Vandermassen also argued that transgender people support

12971-709: The way it is expressed , are socially constructed , determined by cultural and social influences. Constructivism of this type is not necessarily incompatible with the existence of an innate gender identity, since it may be the expression of that gender that varies by culture. There are several theories about how and when gender identity forms, and studying the subject is difficult because children's immature language acquisition requires researchers to make assumptions from indirect evidence. John Money suggested children might have awareness of and attach some significance to gender as early as 18 months to 2 years; Lawrence Kohlberg argued that gender identity does not form until age 3. It

13090-463: The world, people are not legally allowed to have sex until they reach a set age. The age of consent averages around the age of 16. Some areas have 'Romeo and Juliet' laws, which place a frame around teenage relationships within a certain age bracket, but do not permit sexual contact between those above or below a certain age. In all cultures, consensual sexual intercourse is acceptable within marriage. In some cultures sexual intercourse outside marriage

13209-532: The years 2022 to 2030. Although sex reassignment surgery is expected to become more popular, the surgery is still not destigmatized in a lot of countries, including the United States. Such stigmatization has been shown to have adverse health effects on LGBTQ+ individuals, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The terms gender identity and core gender identity were first used with their current meaning—one's personal experience of one's own gender —sometime in

13328-406: Was also instrumental in the development of early theories of gender identity. His work at Johns Hopkins Medical School 's Gender Identity Clinic (established in 1965) popularized an interactionist theory of gender identity, suggesting that, up to a certain age, gender identity is relatively fluid and subject to constant negotiation. His book Man and Woman, Boy and Girl (1972) became widely used as

13447-528: Was also told by Yu Xiao-yu, the 16th-century author of Chronicles of Many States During the Age of Spring and Fall, the length of which was nearly tripled by Feng Menglong (1574–1646), after which the book was then known as Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms . Sexual ethics Sexual ethics (also known as sex ethics or sexual morality ) is a branch of philosophy that considers

13566-497: Was coined by psychiatry professor Robert J. Stoller in 1964 and popularized by psychologist John Money . In most societies, there is a basic division between gender attributes associated with males and females, a gender binary to which most people adhere and which includes expectations of masculinity and femininity in all aspects of sex and gender : biological sex , gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Some people do not identify with some, or all, of

13685-562: Was no longer legally restricted to be only between man and woman. No objective measurement or imaging of the human body exists for gender identity, as it is part of one's subjective experience. Numerous clinical measurements for assessing gender identity exist, including questionnaire-based, interview-based and task-based assessments. These have varying effect sizes among a number of specific sub-populations. Gender identity measures have been applied in clinical assessment studies of people with gender dysphoria or intersex conditions. Before

13804-592: Was not universal (and still is not) even in academic usage, and even less so in more informal writing or in speech, which often conflate the two. Some people, and some societies, do not construct gender as a binary in which everyone is either a boy or a girl, or a man or a woman. Those who exist outside the binary fall under the umbrella terms non-binary or genderqueer . Some cultures have specific gender roles that are distinct from "man" and "woman." These are often referred to as third genders . In Samoan culture , or Faʻa Samoa , fa'afafine are considered to be

13923-513: Was punished by being dismembered and torn apart by five horses and the Queen Dowager was imprisoned in her palace and her two allegedly illegitimate sons were killed. Followers were exiled to the former state of Shu . The historicity of Lao Ai has been doubted by modern historians, who consider that Confucian ideologues, who were in favor with the Han court during the composition of the Records of

14042-432: Was the reason for the often unusual sexual ethics displayed by persons living in brothels, asylums, on board ships, or in prisons. Sexual expression was freed of social controls in such places whereas, within society, sexuality has been controlled through the institution of marriage which socially sanctions the sex act. Many different types of marriage exist, but in most cultures that practice marriage, extramarital sex without

14161-506: Was told that he had been born with male genitalia. Reimer stopped seeing Money, and underwent surgery to remove his breasts and reconstruct his genitals. In 1997, sexologist Milton Diamond published a follow-up, revealing that Reimer had rejected his female reassignment, and arguing against the blank slate hypothesis and infant sex reassignment in general. Diamond was a longtime opponent of Money's theories. Diamond had contributed to research involving pregnant rats that showed hormones played

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