Sexual Paradigms of the Culture

Understanding the origins(31 slides)

creatively compiled by dr. michael farnworth

This lesson is intended to help us understand the philosophical values and history of a culture that has objectified and impersonalized the female body and

personality.

We need not be part of the problem.

With a definition of pornography as an objectification of the feminine we eventually have to ask why?

And hopefully understand the philosophical cultural climate that nurtures this kind of impersonal psychological violence

against the feminine.

It is the historical philosophical root system of the culture that is responsible.

The culture is not going to change but maybe we can.

It is possible to objectify women in more than a physical-sexual way.

We do harm to females when we objectify as roles.

Social roles, religious roles, personal roles, work roles or family roles.

Roles are an objectification?

Moral dualism

• Moral dualism is the belief that reality is dichotomized into a good - evil proposition.

• All principles can then be positioned into one or the other good - evil dichotomy.

Moral dualism: the good versus the evil

• Heavenly• Immaterial• God• Male• Logic• Light• Abstinence• Strength

• Earthly• Material• Devil• Female• Emotion• Dark• Pleasure• Weakness

Men of the moral dualism philosophy:

• Pythagoras

• Plato

• Aristotle

• Philo

• Descartes

• St. Thomas of Aquinas

• St. Augustine

A sampling of early philosophical beliefs

• “There is a good principle which created order, light and man. And an evil principle which created chaos, darkness, and woman.”

Pythagoras (early Greek Philosopher)

Some beliefs of Plato (an early philosopher)

• That bodies were evil.

• Denying one’s appetites and desire were good.

• Man was originally whole, but was divided in two as punishment

Some beliefs of Aristotle (an early philosopher)

• Females were mutilated males.

• Females were birth defects, accidents of nature. (genetics gone wrong)

• Sexual union was sinful and bad.

Some beliefs of Philo (early Jewish philosopher)

• Sexual pleasure was the source of all evil and sin.

• Marital sex was condemned for any other reason than to have children .

Some beliefs of Saint Ambrose (early Church Father)

• Women can progress to maleness.

• Women’s genitals were horrific and loathsome.

• He believed that Christ appeared at birth, and did not use the natural process. (too gross)

Some beliefs of Saint Augustine (early Church Theologian and Philosopher)

• Hated and loathed the women’s body.

• Sexual sin was the “original sin”. (and we know who to blame for that)

• “Between feces and urine we are born”.

Some beliefs of Saint Thomas of Aquinas (early Church Theologian and Philosopher)

• The woman was a man gone wrong.

• Celibacy was the best and most holy way.

• Sexual union was sinful, and the missionary position was the only acceptable way to engage.

Tertullian (early Christian Church Father)

“You (the women) are the devil’s gateway. You are the unsealer of the forbidden tree. You are the first deserter of the divine law. You are she who persuaded him (Adam), who the devil was not

valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God’s image, man. As a dangerous seducer of men, let woman seclude herself,

dress in sober garments, veil her face, and walk humbly in the earth.

Some additional sayings from days gone by...

• “The vagina is Satan's den.”

• “Sexual intercourse chained you to Satan.”

• “The woman is the gateway of the devil.”

• “Better to be castrated than succumb to woman.”

• “Christ came to save men from copulation.”

Putting two and two together...

• What dilemmas would face logical men as they try to incorporate the philosophical moral dualism of earlier ages with their sexual desires for the evil female gender?

A convoluted mentality:

• The typical double standard... boys will be boys.

• The evil women are at fault for seducing the innocent men.

• Seeing women as witches and having evil powers.

• Fear of women and being alone with them.

• Names for sexual women vs. names for sexual men.

value and moral differences

• Sexual women:• Whore• Slut• Bimbo• Nympho• Fluzzy• Home wrecker

• Sexual men• Stud• Ladies man• Don Juan• Casanova• Pimp• Player

An interesting creation...

• This culture has created a belief system that views the woman not only as inferior but dangerous and bad to the good and innocent male.

• This necessitates a belief that we need to be protected from the evil woman while placing that burden on the woman!

The moral of this story...

• If any thing goes wrong we can then blame it on the woman:

• Rape

• Pregnancy

• Going too far

• Jealousy

Moral reasoning

• Moral reasoning includes the motivation for our actions as being more important than the actions themselves.

• What is going in our culture that promotes such lousy moral thinking.

• Sexual double standard.

• Demeaning attitude towards the feminine.

• A culture that tolerates sexual exploits for males.

Maybe its time some of us became more conscious.

Pornography as objectification

• This sexual objectification of women is rampant in this society and in large part is enmeshed with the pornography industry which is founded upon the impersonal portrayal of female body parts and the visual sexual arousal they create in men.

Symptoms of a society that objectifies women:

• Sexual harassment of females

• Sexual abuse of females

• Multi billion pornography business portraying females

• Rape, date rape of females

• Double standard for sexual behavior for men

• Sexual addiction of men

Fetishists

• “When men are more aroused by the symbols of sexuality than by the sexuality of women themselves, they are fetishists.

• Fetishism treats a part as if it were the whole.

• Men who choose a lover on the basis of her “beauty” alone are treating the woman as a fetish that is, treating a part of her, her visual image, as if it were her.”

The Beauty Myth , Naomi Wolf P. 175

The danger for women

• As long as men are socialized to see women as potential sexual objects and conquests then there can be little overall change in the treatment of women.

• The real danger is when women view themselves as objects of masculine sexual desire and then try to fulfill the objectified image that has been portrayed by men to please them.

Objectification creates alienation from.

And it is this alienation is the root of much of the contempt men and women have about women!

And I think it is paradoxically the contempt that women have for women that does the greatest

damage.

the end