Gobind Gill
218279007
What makes an activity, desire or pleasure sexual?
A sexual activity, a sexual desire and sexual pleasure are all different things. Sexual activity, sexual desire and sexual pleasure go hand in hand; they can be seen as the by-product of the other. Without one, achieving the other would be difficult. Logically, one would need to have a sexual desire to lead them onto performing a sexual act with another person and the parties involved would be able to derive from that sexual pleasure. However, this is not the only in which these things can happen as a person could also do these things all on their own without the need for a sexual partner.
For an activity to be considered one that is sexual Halwani believes that it should involve contact with a sexual body part, one’s own or another’s. (Halwani 2010:125) It could be fair to say that the parties involved should be aroused by the act and consent should be given by both parties. That being said, sexual activities can take place in many different forms, whether it be a solo act through things such as masturbation or between two or more people through the stimulation of the sexual organs. A sexual activity also does not necessarily have to be between a man and a woman, it could be between two people of the same sex or just one person alone pleasuring themselves. An activity becoming sexual requires the people involved to be aroused by what is happening, whether it be through the stimulation of the sexual organs or the through more unconventional body parts such as the feet or toes of a person. If the acts being performed lead to the arousal of one or both parties, then it can be said that the act is one that is sexual. For an activity to be sexual, there also does not have to be any form of romantic connection between the people involved as there is no need for any form of romance when partaking in sexual intercourse with another person. There are many ways in which a person can express their love romantically for another and sex may be one way to do it; yet having sex with someone is not a sign of one professing their love for their sexual partner. However, this could be seen as sex without the presence of love being sex with little value and therefore being morally incorrect.
Sexual desire, according to Goldman is the “desire for contact with another person’s body and for the pleasure that such contact produces.” Goldman also says that sexual desire is “a desire to reproduce, to love or to be loved or to communicate with others.” (Goldman 1977,268) This could then mean that a person’s desire for sexual pleasure is more than just an animal instinct, more than just the desire to reproduce; we seek love and communication, our brains leads to look for more than just sexual intercourse. As result sexual intercourse which is had ‘for fun’, can be seen as immoral is it does not meet any of these functions that Goldman speaks of. A person may have a desire to have sexual intercourse...
