List of topics in sexual ethics

This is a list of topics on sexual ethics.

See ethics, sex, and sexual ethics for an overview.

General Topics in Sexual Ethics

Much of sexual ethics explores the obligatoriness, permissibility, or forbiddenness of the activities that follow.

*marriage -- how the love described above is or is not related to the permissibility or forbiddenness of sex; what kind of commitment it is that is central to marriage; . . . .
**polygamy
***polygyny
***polyandry
**cheating and adultery
**divorce
**extramarital sex -- hooking up; one night stand
*virginity
*pedophilia
*incest
*rape and consent
*pornography use and abuse
**various types of pornography
**the production of pornography
*indecent exposure
*masturbation -- frequency of; techniques of
*libido/sex drive, sexual desire, lust,
*varieties of homosexuality and queer sex
**gays and gay sex
**lesbians and lesbian sex
**bisexuals
**transgendered individuals and transsexualism
*various sex methods
**BDSM
**sexual positions
**various combinations of people having sex
***threesome
***orgy
**types of sex and sex-like acts
***oral sex
***anal sex
***coitus
***kiss
*frequency of sex and cooperation between sexual partners
*contraception; varieties of, technologies in
*Reproductive rights
*Genital modification and mutilation
**circumcision
**female genital mutilation (FGM)
*sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
*abortion
*adoption
*family
*sex and children
*bestiality, Zoophilia
*sexual abuse -- definitions of, statistics about, strategies for preventing, legal and moral questions about
*sexual harassment

*sex and different age groups
**teens and sex: and all the other topics included on this list
**elderly people and sex, elderly people and love

*feminism and sex: has influenced many aspects of (particularly western) cultural views about sex
*gender roles

*animals: sexual behaviors of animals, including masturbation and the majority of other topics on this list: the implications for the obligatoriness, permissibility, or forbiddenness of such behaviors in humans

tatistics on Sex

Often, data about actual human populations is consulted, in order to find out about statistic normalities and deviations in those populations. Such data is often considered useful for making moral judgments about how the average person can be expected, obligated, permitted, and forbidden to act sexually.

Research on such statistics are carried out by the likes of the Alfred Kinsey Institute. Also see such topics as History of Human Sexuality and Sexual Revolution.

Love and Sex

Prominent in dialogue about sexual ethics are definitions of various types of love. These philosophical discussions aim at finding norms for how various types of love ought to correlate (e.g., whether romance must necessarily include friendship), and norms about which, if any, of these types of love ought to be present as a proper context for sex.

*unrequited love
*polyamory

Religion and Sex

The interplay of religion and ethics in general is a vast topic for ethical philosophers, religionists and theologians, and people in general when a source for moral guidelines about sex are desired. There are vast differences in religious views on sex, but there also might be a surprising amount of agreement on sexual ethics among various religions. Very many religious views, sects and persuasions could have articles that intersect with virtually every topic listed above. Here are some:

*Religion and Sexuality
*Religious leaders and sex, religious leaders and marriage, chastity
*Homosexuality and religion
*Tantrism

Books on Sexual Ethics

Primoratz, Igor. Ethics and Sex. New York: Routledge, 1999.