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Just Love Summary

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Margret A. Farley book Just Love, presents a framework for Christian sexual ethics in terms of justice. Justice for love in sex and relationships. She opens with historical theories and cultural exploration. Although Farley’s book is from the Christian perspective, she seeks address perspectives across cultures by looking at history and considering the psychological and sociological aspects in defining sexual morality.
Farley begins with addressing the need for sexual ethics and the issues are presented in seeking a sexual ethic. Today, there is a great concern for sexual behavior because it has affected the home and the whole of society. Humans require and search for intimacy, but the changes in contemporary attitudes make it difficult to navigate an ethic of justice. Farley states the belief in the social construction of sexual norms, so she sets up questions to address about the patters of sexual behavior across cultures. The problem with questioning human sexuality stems from the fallibility of human’s freedom of choice …show more content…

First, Farley offers Michael Foucault’s theory on the historical construction of desire. Foucault indicates experience changes moral attitudes and norms which shaped historical views of sexuality. The changes in power, especially for women, transforms sexual structures. Second, Catherine MacKinnon’s theory of historical silences and gendered violence is outlined. There is “no accurate analysis of sex and power, and indeed no real history of sexuality (23).” The third theory is how evolution and the economy has historically influenced sexuality. A historical perspective of sexual ethics in the West have been influenced by other religious and cultural traditions. Ancient Greece and Rome’s general attitudes and practices to Judaism and Christianity are important for Farley to address in finding origins or past “answers” to issues facing sexuality

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