Sex and Reason
Harvard University Press (Verlag)
978-0-674-80279-7 (ISBN)
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How much of a say do we have in our own sexuality? More than is commonly assumed, Richard Posner asserts in this account of sexuality and its social control. While acknowledging that sexual drives and orientations are formed in a fundamentally biological matrix, Posner contends that they are also subject to self-interested choice constrained by perceived costs and benefits. With this approach, he explores a number of puzzles presented by sexual history. Why, for instance, are "macho" cultures generally more tolerant of sexual deviance than their otherwise more sexually liberal Anglo-Saxon counterparts? Why were Victorian women less free sexually than women in 18th-century England? Why might the AIDS epidemic have reduced the ratio of illegitimate to legitimate births? Why is marital rape increasingly criminalized? Economics provides "Sex and Reason" with its unifying perspective, but Posner also draws heavily on biology, law, psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy, sociology, theology, and women's studies.
The scope of his analysis ranges from ancient Greece to modern Sweden, from African tribal societies to the American Catholic priesthoods, from Islamic sexual regulation to the sexual jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court, from polygamy and homosexuality to abortion, surrogate motherhood, and pornography. In all these areas, Posner argues, the rational choice approach can illuminate temporal and cultural variance in sexual norms and practices and point the way to enlightened reform. Posner seeks to dispel the clouds of ignorance, prejudice, shame, and hypocrisy that befog the public discussion of sex. His effort is especially timely, coming at a juncture when the American legal system is strained to its limits by such phenomena as the AIDS epidemic, the abortion controversy, the homosexual rights movement, battles over the federal funding of erotic art, and growing attention to sexual harassment and abuse.
Part 1 The history of sexuality: theoretical sexology - the development of the field, social constructionism (with a glance at gender disorders), other threads in the multidisciplinary tapestry; autres temps, autres moeurs - the history of western sexual mores, the sexual mores of non-western cultures; sexuality and law. Part 2 A theory of sexuality: the biology of sex - the biological basis and character of "normal" sex, the biology of "deviant" sex, conclusion and critique; sex and rationality - the benefits of sex, the costs of sex, complementarity of sexual practices; the history of sexuality from the perspective of economics - Greek love and the institutionalization of pederasty, monasticism, puritanism, and Christian sex ethics; Swedish permissiveness, three stages in the evolution of sexual morality; optimal regulation of sexuality - the model of morally indifferent sex elaborated, the externalities of sex, incest and revulsion, the efficacy of sexual regulations, designing an optimal punishment scheme for sex crimes, the political economy of sexual regulation; moral theories of sexuality - are moral theories falsifiable?, Christian and liberal theories of sex, sexual radicals. Part 3 The regulation of sexuality: marriage and the channeling of sex - restrictions on marrying, regulating nonmarital sex; the control of pregnancy - contraception, abortion; homosexuality - the policy questions - the phenomenon reconsidered, relations between consenting adults - sodomy laws and homosexual marriage, discrimination against homosexuals, with particular reference to military service; the sexual revolution in the courts - from Griswold v. Connecticut to Roe v. Wade, Bowers v. Hardwick and beyond; erotic art, pornography, and nudity - the economy of erotic representation, the social consequences of pornography, deciding what - if anything - to punish; coercive sex - sexual abuse of adults, sexual abuse of children; separating reproduction from sex - adoption, artificial insemination and the issue of surrogate motherhood, eugenics and population.
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 1.5.1992 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 3 tables, index |
| Verlagsort | Cambridge, Mass |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 161 x 235 mm |
| Gewicht | 830 g |
| Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Psychologie |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sexualität / Partnerschaft | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-674-80279-9 / 0674802799 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-674-80279-7 / 9780674802797 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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