Sexual Ethics Test

One Hundred Plus Questions

Related to Sexual Right and Wrong

 

Cluster 1

Version 1.7

 

1. Regarding the relationship of sexuality to moral right and wrong as you, the respondent,define moral right and wrong for yourself, with which statement do you most agree?

  1. Human sexual behavior has nothing to do with right and wrong.
  2. Right and wrong do pertain to human sexual behavior or at least to other behaviors sometimes mixed with it.
  3. I don't know.
  4. Other. Please elaborate.

 

2. To what do moral prohibitions properly apply?

  1. Choice of sexual partner(s).
  2. Choice of sexual practices.
  3. The dynamics of a relationship.
  4. The treatment of persons.
  5. Sexual activity without the benefit of marriage.
  6. Sexual activity with one's marital partner.
  7. Unwelcome behaviors sometimes mixed with sexuality, such as violence.
  8. Nothing.
  9. I don't know.
  10. Other. Please elaborate.

 

3. What are the bases or measures for determining right and wrong in sexual matters?

  1. The Tanach, which is called by Christians the Old Testament (note especially Leviticus 18 and 20).
  2. The New Testament (note especially 1 Corinthians 5-7).
  3. The Talmuds.
  4. The Koran.
  5. My religious tradition.
  6. Desirability of social simplicity in expectations for relationships.
  7. Cultural mores.
  8. Nature (whatever is possible and suits the inclinations).
  9. Natural law (the divinely ordained ends of human sexuality).
  10. Practical reason as informed by science.
  11. Health.
  12. Desirability of controlling paternity, so that no man is fooled into raising another man's biological child.
  13. Concern for child-rearing.
  14. Property rights.
  15. Love as applied to the situation.
  16. One's own temperament and subjective feelings.
  17. Gut feeling.
  18. Immediate pleasure.
  19. The maximizing of pleasure and the minimizing of pain over the long term.
  20. Harmony with the universe and equilibrium within.
  21. Whatever might be freely negotiated with one's sexual partner(s).
  22. Whatever those who hold the power say.
  23. There is no basis or measure for determining right and wrong in sexual matters.
  24. I don't know.
  25. Other. Please elaborate.

 

4. Regarding the applicability of sexual morality, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

  1. Certain rules about human sexual behavior are universal.
  2. Certain rules about human sexual behavior are binding on oneself no matter what. (Note: A rule does not have to be universal to be absolutely binding.)
  3. Not rules but general principles, such as the principle of love or of honesty or of doing no harm, determine what is right and wrong sexual behavior, principles that call for different application in different situations.
  4. Certain areas of human sexuality need to be regulated, and the specifics do and should vary from culture to culture.
  5. Sexual morality, so-called, does not properly apply to anybody, except for those who voluntarily decide to have it apply to themselves and for those who insist on it for others.
  6. I don't know.
  7. Other. Please elaborate.

 

5. Regarding attitudes towards being sexual, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

  1. The fact that humans are sexual beings is a wonderful and innately good thing.
  2. Being sexual is innately shameful.
  3. Being sexual is innately shameful but can be transformed into a good thing by marriage.
  4. Being sexual is innately shameful and so must be managed, for instance by means of marriage.
  5. Being sexual is neither innately good nor innately shameful, it just is.
  6. I don't know.
  7. Other. Please elaborate.

 

6. Regarding attitudes towards human sexual activity, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

  1. Human sexual activity is innately beautiful (which doesn't mean that it can't be made ugly by mixing unwelcome behaviors with it, such as violence)
  2. Human sexual activity is innately degrading.
  3. Human sexual activity is degrading, unless it serves human reproduction.
  4. Human sexual activity is degrading, unless it occurs within marriage.
  5. Human sexual activity is beautiful, but degrading when exposed.
  6. Human sexual activity just is; people bring what tastes and attitudes they will to it.
  7. I don't know.
  8. Other. Please elaborate.

 

7. Regarding attitudes towards the living human body, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

  1. The human female body uncovered is innately beautiful in its ideal forms.
  2. The human male body uncovered is innately beautiful in its ideal forms.
  3. Any human body is innately beautiful, uncovered or not.
  4. Any body of a good person is innately beautiful, uncovered or not.
  5. The human body uncovered in private is shameful.
  6. The human body uncovered in public is shameful.
  7. The human body uncovered in public is shameful, only if it shows signs of sexual arousal or if its posture is especially designed to stimulate sexual arousal in others.
  8. Signs of sexual arousal make no difference in the degree of shamefulness.
  9. Only ugly bodies uncovered are shameful.
  10. Shamefulness has nothing to do with the uncovered body itself, only with the way a person acts.
  11. The human body uncovered just is; people bring what tastes and attitudes they will to it.
  12. I don't know.
  13. Other. Please elaborate.

 

8. Regarding attitudes towards human genitalia, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

  1. The human female genitalia uncovered are innately beautiful in their ideal forms.
  2. The human male genitalia uncovered are innately beautiful in their ideal forms.
  3. Any human genitalia are innately beautiful.
  4. The human genitalia uncovered in private are shameful.
  5. The human genitalia uncovered in public are shameful.
  6. The discernible erection of a human penis is beautiful.
  7. The discernible erection of a human penis is shameful.
  8. Parts of a body are beautiful only insofar as they serve the whole.
  9. My attitude towards human genitalia depends on whose they are.
  10. The human genitalia uncovered just are; people bring what tastes and attitudes they will to them.
  11. I don't know.
  12. Other. Please elaborate.

 

9. Do you agree or disagree with this statement: Human sexual suffering of the sort brought about by the lack of any sexual partner, though often a fact of nature, is a moral evil when deliberately imposed by others.

  1. I agree, in part because there is no always-satisfactory substitute for sexual relations with another person.
  2. I disagree, so long as self-masturbation is possible.
  3. I disagree. Sexual desire is a matter of the will; so if someone suffers from it, the fault is their own.
  4. I disagree. Sexual suffering is not pain and so is not true suffering.
  5. I disagree. If anyone suffers sexually, let them take a pill.
  6. I disagree. There may be some moral value in avoidance of sexual suffering, but other moral values outweigh it, values which may even cause sexual suffering.
  7. I disagree. Abstinence, even if imposed, is generally good for the soul.
  8. I don't know.
  9. Other. Please elaborate.

 

 

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First draft completed, December 21, 1998; posted, December 21, 1998; new url, January 28, 2004; last modification, January 28, 2004

Copyright ©1998-2004 by Norman E. Anderson