Sexual ethics

Sexual ethics or sex ethics (also called sexual morality) is the study of human sexuality and the expression of human sexual behavior. Sexual ethics seeks to understand and evaluate the moral conduct of interpersonal relationships and sexual activities from social, cultural, and philosophical perspectives. Historically, the prevailing notions of what was deemed as sexually ethical has been tied to religious values. Sexual ethics involve issues, such as gender identification, sexual orientation, the imbalance of power in relationships, consent, sexual relations, and procreation.

Sexual behavior is impermissible if the individual is: under the age of majority, mentally handicapped, mentally ill, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or there is a distinct imbalance of power in the relationship. Therefore, the individual is unable to consent and it would be considered unethical and/or illegal to partake in sexual activity if he or she meets any of the above qualifications.

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.

However, not all approaches to applied ethics agree that there is an inherent morality:

In philosophic terminology, hedonism is the idea that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, making selfish pleasures their primary goal. This may be combined with nihilism in a selfish morality, or with utilitarianism to seek maximization of happiness for everyone. Some religions derive a normative sexual ethics from their texts or teachings, and these range from nihilistic utilitarianism to more complex, fixed systems for determining right and wrong.

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