Sexual Ethics Test

One Hundred Plus Questions

Related to Sexual Right and Wrong

Cluster 10

Version 1.7

1. To what extent should emotional hurt to non-participants affect the moral evaluation of a sexual encounter?

To the extent that a participant thereby breaks a pledge to a non-participant, for example a pledge of sexual exclusivity.
To the extent that a non-participant loses face socially.
To the extent that a participant can reasonably expect to hurt a non-participant to whom he or she is close by means of any dishonesty related to the encounter.
To the extent that a participant can reasonably expect to hurt a non-participant to whom he or she is close, because of the non-participant's emotional and moral make-up.
To the extent that no emotional extortion is involved.
To no extent, because of the danger of emotional extortion.
To no extent. People must be responsible for their own emotions.
To no extent. Emotional hurt occurs no matter what we do and should not be taken into account in moral evaluation.
To no extent. Sexual encounters must be evaluated according to biblical rules for sexual behavior, not according to emotional hurt.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

2. To what extent should offense against the prudish be taken into account in moral evaluation?

Completely. The prudish should be given every deference outside of one's own realm of privacy. In public their preferences should prevail.
Somewhat. There should be accommodation in the public realm between the prudish and those with more open attitudes towards sexuality.
Not at all. Offending prudery is not a moral offense, since prudery itself has no proper place in moral evaluation.
Not at all. In fact, prudery should be actively abolished, except in the private realms of the prudish.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

3. To what extent should sexual partners be honest and forthcoming with each other about their sexual histories and outside sexual activities?

Totally. Nothing should be held back, not even small details.
Only to the extent that the relationship between the partners is not put in jeopardy.
A little at a time, as they learn to take joy in each other's outside sexual lives.
Generalities should be shared, but not just any of the details.
Examples should be shared, but not generalities.
Any breach of the rules of the relationship should be revealed.
Risk factors, at least, should be revealed.
Names, at least, should be revealed, so that the partner can better deal with various emotions.
Names should not be revealed, in part because the privacy of other individuals should be protected.
Partners have no obligation to one another to be honest and forthcoming, for privacy of the individual is a higher value.
Partners have no obligation to one another to be honest and forthcoming, for concealment is inherent to human sexuality.
Partners should not ask and should not tell.
It depends on what the partners themselves negotiate as to how honest and forthcoming they should be with one another.
It depends on how much the partner can take.
It depends on a judgment of whether the consequences of being discovered would be worse.
It depends on a judgment of how much other socially legitimate relationships would be adversely affected, examples being relationships with family members.
It depends on a judgment of how much other love relationships would be adversely affected.
It depends on what else besides relationships is put at risk, examples being property and reputation.
It depends on the sex of the partner. Please elaborate.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

4. To what extent should the nature of one's sexuality be obscured in the public realm?

Totally, because evidences of sexuality do not belong in the public realm anywhere.
Totally, except by way of heterosexual monogamous marriage and the socially accepted processes that may lead to it.
Anything except heterosexuality should be obscured.
Openness regarding controversial sexualities should be limited to contexts that can be easily de-selected by the general populace.
The nature of one's sexuality should not have to be obscured at all. To be the sexual beings that we are and to express ourselves accordingly, for the present purposes leaving aside sexual activity in public, are essential freedoms and may involve other vital freedoms as well, such as the freedom of speech, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of religion.
It should not have to be obscured at all. Obscuring it forces one into hypocrisy, which is immoral.
It should not have to be obscured except in limited contexts where special values come into play.
It should be obscured before children, because they shouldn't have to cope with adult sexualities.
It should be obscured before children, if potentially controversial with their parents.
It should be obscured in the military, if dealing with it detracts from national security.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

5. To what extent should scientific development make a difference in sexual morality, referring to advances such as effective birth control methods, effective means of combating sexually transmitted diseases, and improved understandings of sexual orientation?

It ought to make a considerable difference; and the difference it makes should be:
1. To make moral a greater range of sexual freedom.
2. To bring greater responsibility in the obtaining and use of scientific knowledge.
3. To bring a different moral mix of freedom and responsibility.
When factored in with other matters, it should make a small difference.
It should make no difference at all, because morality is morality for all time.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

6. Regarding the use of computers for finding a partner to complement one's own sexual preferences, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

Sexual complementarity should not be a determining factor in choice of partner, but should be worked out after a partner is chosen; otherwise, such things as love and personality are devalued.
This is a wonderful development, which advances the cause of happiness in choosing partners and keeping them; furthermore having sexual complementarity settled up front provides a fertile ground for love.
This changes all the rules of finding a partner, to the extent that it may even change the future of human evolution.
Human passions are too vagrant to worry about any moral consequences of using computers in this way.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

7. Regarding virtual sex -- that is, the use of computer programs in sexual experience -- with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

Virtual sex is an avenue of vice, not virtue.
Virtual sex depersonalizes what should be intimately inter-personal, and that is bad for the soul.
Virtual sex itself is not a form of sexual immorality; but, by its very nature, it promotes sexual immorality.
Virtual sex is an extension of sexual immorality as it has been known.
Virtual sex is wrong, because it bonds people too intimately to machines.
Virtual sex is a wonderful and welcome avenue for the advance of sexual pleasure.
Virtual sex is a wonderful and welcome avenue for the exploration of one's own sexuality.
Sexual moralities of the past have no applicability to virtual sex, since it is completely new; let right and wrong evolve on their own in the world of virtuality.
Virtual sex just is. People bring what tastes and attitudes they will to it.
Virtual sex is immoral only if other living participants are involved with whom it would be immoral for one to be sexually involved.
The morality or immorality of virtual sex depends on the sort of virtual sex engaged in. Please elaborate.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

8. Regarding cyber sex, that is, people engaging in sexual stimulation together without direct contact but by way of computers, typically online, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

Cyber sex is a wonderful and welcome avenue for the advance of sexual pleasure.
Cyber sex is a wonderful and welcome avenue for the exploration of one's own sexuality.
Cyber sex is a wonderful and welcome avenue for people who cannot always find accommodating sexual partners in person.
Cyber sex can be a wonderful and welcome marital aid, here envisioning spouses as the sole participants.
Cyber sex can be a wonderful and welcome marital aid, here envisioning spouses as participants on one end engaged with one or more other participants elsewhere.
Cyber sex is morally acceptable if and only if direct sexual relations between the participants would be morally acceptable.
Cyber sex, in being entirely a mental connection between individuals, is morally acceptable, even if direct physical relations between the individuals would not be.
Cyber sex is morally acceptable provided that participating in it with others is acceptable to one's regular sexual partner(s).
If one has a regular sexual partner, engaging in cyber sex with another is a form of infidelity, even if one's partner consents.
Cyber sex is morally acceptable unless it does damage to the inner being of one of the participants.
Cyber sex is inevitably corrupting.
Cyber sex tempts one to seek out physical contact, and that can lead to great hurt. The moral thing to do is to avoid such temptation altogether.
Cyber sex is never morally acceptable.
Sexual moralities of the past have no applicability to cyber sex, since it is completely new; let right and wrong evolve on their own in the world of cyber sex.
The morality or immorality of cyber sex depends on the sort of sexual stimulation engaged in. Please elaborate.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

9. Regarding the ideal of sexuality for which humankind as a whole should be striving, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

Humankind should strive to eliminate sexuality and marriage altogether and to live as asexual spirits, which happen to be embodied.
Humankind should strive to fulfill, perfectly, traditional sexual morality, meaning sexual exclusivity within heterosexual monogamy and abstinence otherwise.
Humankind should strive to fulfill, perfectly, traditional sexual morality in the present era; but ultimately sexuality will be superseded by a universal intimacy between those living in God's grace.
Humankind should strive to eliminate all sexual possessiveness and for all people to treat one another with love, which includes sexual expression.
Humankind should strive for sexual freedom, so that individuals can live out their sexualities as they see fit, so long as they do no physical harm to one another.
Humankind should strive for the model of sexuality, perhaps with individual variation, that best suits harmony with the universe and interior calm; and this model has yet to be a widespread discovery.
Humankind should strive to advance sexual pleasure, so that it can maximize the degree to which it can live in such pleasure.
Humankind should not be striving corporately for any supposedly ideal end having to do with sexuality; let things be as they are and change as they will.
Humankind should not be striving corporately for any supposedly ideal end having to do with sexuality; utopia is impossible and striving for it takes energy away from improvements that can be accomplished to reduce suffering in the world. These improvements would be in the direction of:
1. Fulfilling traditional sexual morality.
2. Sexual freedom.
3. A model of harmony.
4. More therapy, to enable people better to cope.
5. Other. Please elaborate.
I don't know.
Other. Please elaborate.

10. Regarding the proper model of sexual rightness and wrongness, with which statement(s) do you generally agree?

Sexual rightness and wrongness are relative to the ideal for which humankind should be striving; falling somewhat short of maximum advancement of the ideal may mean only lesser goodness, not necessarily wrongness.
Sexual rightness has a rigidly defined boundary; step over it and you are wrong.
I don't know.
Neither a relative scale as described nor a rigid boundary is the right model. Please elaborate.