Posted on 03/30/2006 10:31:29 AM PST by klossg
(PRWEB) - Boston, MA (PRWEB) March 21, 2006 -- The author of a newly published book on sexual ethics has gone beyond criticizing the “puritanical moralists” of the religious right. He wants to challenge them to face-to-face debates on college campuses and radio programs.
ADVERTISEMENT
Desmond Ravenstone wrote “The Principled Libertine: Erotic Ethics for Everyone” (published by Lulu Press) as a response to the viewpoint of social conservatives who want to promote a “traditional” morality on sexual matters.
“When I read their writings or hear one of them speak,” Ravenstone says, “it doesn’t sound at all like an ethical discourse. It sounds like a simplistic set of rules to be imposed from above. If we want a real discussion about sexual ethics in this country, then we need to move beyond whether this or that activity is to be permitted, and start talking about the context in which we express our respective sexualities.”
“The Principled Libertine” is admittedly controversial, defending not only same-sex marriage and the decriminalization of prostitution, but even sadomasochism and non-monogamous relationships. Ravenstone advocates that values such as respect, consent and the enjoyment of pleasure should serve as the basis for deciding what is appropriate and when.
Most importantly, Ravenstone insists that one does not need to be sexually adventurous to share his views. He says he would “like to see a society where the voluntary celibate, the monogamous traditionalist, and the kinky polyamorous bisexual can live side by side, just as teetotalers can live with weekend beer drinkers and connoisseurs of fine wine.”
“People should have the freedom to choose whether, when and how they will explore and express their sexuality,” he asserts in the book’s introduction.
So why challenge members of the religious right to debate the issue? “Because they don’t seek to persuade with facts, but impose by force,” he replies. Ravenstone points to both the crusade against gay rights and same-sex marriage, and the spread of “abstinence-only” sexual education programs in schools as examples.
“It’s one thing if you want to promote puritanical codes within your own spiritual community, and even to propose it as an option. But it’s quite another to enshrine such views as law, as the only option for everyone. When you rob people of choice, you make ethics impossible.”
Desmond Ravenstone has written other books, both nonfiction and erotic fiction, and coordinates educational programs for an alternative sexuality group in New England.
###
Desmond Ravenstone 617-388-0947 E-mail Information Trackback URL: http://prweb.com/pingpr.php/TG92ZS1QaWdnLVNpbmctVGhpci1IYWxmLVplcm8=
The good Pope Benedict XVI has guys like this for breakfast.
I don't think I'll be reading this commies bokk.
And apparently a challenge to traditional spelling.
We've got that now. What more does he want?
Our approval?
Sounds like one of those perverts who wants to have his way with little children or something by somehow lowering the consent age so they can.
No need to debate such perverted and warped thinking if that is anywhere close to the mark. The only debate he would be getting form me if he tried to push such an agenda on any of mine or the grandchildren would be coming out of the business end of one of those horrible instrumentations of the second amendment.
funny but that is how they spelled it everywhere I've seen it. Is this an alternate spelling I don't know about yet? I'd lokk it up but I can't find the bokk itself.
Yeah, the government sponsored Morality Police need to stop breaking into people's homes and billy-clubbing the ones they find having sex. Oh, wait, that's not America that does that...
Oh, please. My morals are probably closer to this guy's ideal (closER, not close) than to that of hardcore Christians, and no one has ever "imposed" their "rules" on me from above.
Blah blah, the sky is falling. Just make your points, and if they are legit, they will stand or fall on their own, enough with the hysterics.
Adults are free to do any legal sexual activity in the privacy of their homes without being bothered. They encounter problems when they bring their adult sex out of their bedrooms and into the public square.
That doesn’t sound at all like an ethical discourse. It sounds like a simplistic set of rules to be imposed from below.
Once accomplished, we then all sit around a table and make up our own rules on what is "moral" based on some sort of quasi-consensus.
It's a view of the world which says that the moral law was not handed down from above. We make it up ourselves depending on what's fashionable, popular, relevant, or pleasureable. Thus, the new "god" and the only real standard becomes consent. As long as two people agree on something, then it's moral.
I wonder if this'll be one of those "$1000 to the guy who can prove helicentrism" challenges, where nobody seems to meet the challenger's standards.
It is merely a case where the challenger defines the debate in terms that presume he has already won it.
Actually, I think there are a lot of rational arguments in favor of sexual self-control, e.g., not to be ruled by one's passions but to be more fully human and in control, able to function with reason and compassion and not just be a slave to sexual desires, etc. I also think that there is nothing wrong with being a Puritan -- I'm quite proud of my Puritan ancestors and the New England that they built, sadly decayed in these latter days of Christian apostasy.
Well, sure...but so does the Left. Neither major political faction has any monopoly on the desire to control other people's behavior. I'm sure Ravenstone has a hundred ideas on confiscating even a fellow libertine's tax dollars at gunpoint for redistribution to causes he thinks are important. And he no doubt completely fails to see the inherent irony.
I haven't read his book, but I seem to agree with him here. Actually, to a large extent, we do live in a society where "the voluntary celibate, the monogamous traditionalist, and the kinky polyamorous bisexual can live side by side." Americans are pretty good at minding their own business, and few people consider it their busines what sexual things consenting adults do behind closed doors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.