SEX, CULTURE AND WORLDVIEWS

            Have you ever wondered how culture affects our conception of sexuality? If there is a consistent standard of sexual practices in every culture? How do different cultures see sexual problems or disorders? It is true that the perception of a sexual disorder can differ from culture to culture and for that matter the definition of sexuality can differ from culture to culture. The textbook "Abnormal Psychology" written by Barlow and Durand provides some examples of differing cultural views of sexuality, such as the sexual practices of Sambian adolescent boys in Papua New Guinea. The people believe that the male body doesn't produce its own semen naturally and that it’s inappropriate to masturbate, so the young boys roughly 7 engage in oral sex with older teenage boys. The boys then become semen providers for others, when the boys become teenagers they enter into a heterosexual marriage. Or take the example of a group in India who encourage the opposite of the Sambian tribe, the natural view of them is to have children to live together and engage in heterosexual intercourse. And one last example, in Swedish culture women are much more promiscuous, which reflects the general acceptance of promiscuity in the public eye. With so many views in mind how can we effectively asses disorder in the realm of sexuality?

          As you can see from the various examples given, there is little consistent cross-cultural standard or norm. We must also take into account that cultural conceptions change, this makes matters worse if we are to make and accurate analysis. Take for example the issue of homosexuality in the United States. Some researchers have tried to make the case that homosexuality, a sexual practice historically considered in our society a paraphilia, is due to biological factors, but the study that proposes this view has yet to be replicated and recognized by the scientific community. In my opinion, I don’t understand why we are associating what is cultural with what is right. 

           This speaks to the issue of worldviews and which worldview truth claims best correspond to reality. Since this is a rather large issue, I will only address a few points briefly here and who knows, maybe write full fledged blog one day on the issue of worldviews. The two main worldview at least in the US are Christian Theism, and Materialism, which usually entails Naturalism, Darwinian Evolution, and Atheism. Christian Theism takes into account what is, but its primary focus is on what ought to be. In other words, Christian Theism provides a philosophical and conceptual ground of what is, why things are, and the way they should be. It provides grounds to be prescriptive and not merely descriptive. So when we take the issue of sexuality, we have the groundwork for establishing norms, and recognizing deviations. In terms of a Materialistic worldview and all its entailment's we only have data on what is, that is to say, we only have descriptive data, and therefore there is no basis for making the assertion of norms, should's and prescriptive statements. 

          How does this work itself out in the real world? If you buy into the Materialistic worldview and you read the part mentioned above about the Tribe in Sambian that forces young boys as young as 7 to ingest the semen of older males, and you had a reaction of disgust, moral outrage, and you felt that the practice was wrong, then based on you're worldview, you would have no justification for feeling that way. In fact you should rightly have no feeling about it at all. The most qualitative statement you could make in regards to that issue would be a mere descriptive one, "It is something that occurs." And you would have no conceptual basis for thinking it is wrong. And yet you do, something deep inside you senses that forcing young boys against there will to perform sexual acts with an older male is intrinsically wrong. But how can this be when you're worldview doesn't allow for thinking that way. You cannot derive an "ought" from an "is."
        On the other hand, the Christian Theistic worldview has a conceptual framework that serves as a ground for thinking prescriptively about what is. We know that forcing young boys against there will to perform oral sex and ingest the semen of older males is intrinsically wrong because it violates what is right, and we know what is right because what is right is reflective of the character and nature of God. And so, the Christian Theist is justified in reacting to the sexual practices of the Sambian Tribe with disgust, moral outrage, and thinking that they are wrong for doing that. There is a logical and rational justification for thinking this way, there is no logical and rational justification for thinking this way in the Materialistic worldview, they are being illogical and irrational for thinking that is wrong. The Materialist doesn't realize it, but in order to make that qualitative claim of wrongness, they must borrow from the Christian Theistic worldview. And therefore, their worldview is utter lacking.
          If what I said is true, wouldn't it stand to reason that what I have described plays a major factor in many other debates such as the homosexuality discussion? Abortion? Contraceptives? Cross-Cultural Analysis?

Reference

 Barlow, David H. & Durand, V. Mark (2008).   Abnormal Psychology: An Integrated Approach, CengageNOW™