In John Corvino's “Why Shouldn't Tommy and Jim have Sex” Corvino defends the gay community in a conversation about why homosexuality is wrong. Corvino explores the common reasons why homosexuality is considered wrong. In the article he defednds the statement that homosexuality is wrong because it is “unusual”. First, it is unknown what can be considered “normal” or “unusual”. Every person will have some form of variation from one another and their definition of what is “normal” or “abnormal” based on their social upbringing, society and community, and religious beliefs. This being said the claim that something is unusual or abnormal can not be solely defined. “The statistical frequency of an act does not determine its moral status”. (pg. 4) …show more content…
Corvino claims that yes, although it is out of the ordinary of the social norms, who are we to say what is wrong based on its commonality. Corvina uses the example of reading Sanskrit: an ancient Indic language of India. Not many people have the ability to read Sanskrit but we do not call it wrong or immoral simply because not many people practice the reading. One could also consider this, Ashley is vegetarian. Ashley is the only vegetarian in her family. Ashley is not hurting anyone by not eating meat. Ashley doesnt hurt herself by not eating meat. Ashley, although especially in her family, it is unusual to eat meat she is not ostracized or shamed because being vegetarian is unusual. Because Ashley is a vegetarian, and being vegetarian is unusual, does not mean that this it is immoral simply because it is unusual. Ergo, why shouldn't Ashley be a
John Corvino also refers to the morality of homosexual relationships. His views vary considerably from Levins. Corvino (1997 p,6) addresses the idea that homosexual sex is unnatural and therefore immoral. Corvino defends the right to a homosexual relationship by comparing the use of sexual organs to others. We have numerous uses for our mouth such as talking, eating, breathing, chewing gum etc and Corvino states that sexual organs may be useful in a relationship other than just procreation. Corvino makes reference to the churches view on sexual behaviour. Although the church disapproves of homosexual behaviour, Corvino (1997
I believe that through his analogies of the misuse of body parts, counter arguments and his response to them, as well as the logical implications, Michael Levin poses a strong case that homosexuality is abnormal. With that said, the purpose of this paper is to analyze Levin’s argument, to do that I will address the parts previously mentioned, analogies, a counter argument, and logical implications.
He contradicted the argument that homosexual behaviour is related to genetic, hormonal or biological disorder. To abolish these views, the author mentions that ‘no school of medicine, medical journal or professional organization has ever recognized such claims (p. 2) - at least at the time he wrote the article in 1994.
Millions of people varying in color, religion, sex, sexual preferences, and socioeconomic status share the earth that we live on. Somehow within all that variation people think that they are able to interpret and label what is normal and abnormal. How many are considered “normal” and why? Is the child born with 6 fingers on one hand instead of 5 any less normal then the 5 fingered child? Why is preferring to sit in the dark and go on long meandering walks enough to have you labeled unfit to raise children as Sylvie was in the movie Housekeeping? Webster’s dictionary defines normal as the ability to conform to a particular standard or desired pattern. People who abide by the laws and social norms are normal, and those who don’t are abnormal.
When using this approach to define abnormality you would first have to consider what is normal behaviour for that particular culture otherwise a person could be incorrectly diagnosed as abnormal. Cultural differences are also a problem for the 'Failure to Function Adequately' definition of abnormality. This classification of abnormality involves a person who conforms to their 7 characteristics of the abnormal as having ill mental health. Examples of these characteristics are vividness, unconventionality and observer discomfort.
In the article Corvino first explains the relationship of two gentlemen named Tommy and Jim that are living together that homosexuals and are in a loving relationship before he goes into depth of why they should be able to have sex because it is not unnatural for them to do so if they please. Corvino provides different scenarios or versions of arguments that would say homosexuality is unnatural or wrong but he combats these arguments with firm facts or he explained why the arguments weren’t strong enough to stand.
In John Corvino’s essay, “Why Shouldn’t Tommy and Jim Have Sex?” he advocates his argument that gay sex is not “unnatural” in any moral way. However, this argument is easy to critique when considering opposition from natural law theorists, democracy, and other perspective ideas.
Throughout the years many schools have been caught paying their athletes money when they are not allowed to. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA, makes billions of dollars every year because of the popularity of their sports.When the school has a successful season they are making millions of dollars and as a result, some schools are breaking the rules and they are trying to pay players and recruits to entice them to come to their school so they can make even more money. This has lead to a corrupt system and has many people asking whether it would be better to just pay college athletes or not.
The term ‘abnormal’ means deviating from the average. Therefore, if we were to adopt a literal approach to defining abnormality, we would conclude that any rare behaviour or ability was abnormal. This, however, is not a useful way of defining abnormality as it doesn’t take into account whether or not the behaviour is desirable. There are three ways of defining abnormality; deviation from
One way of defining abnormality is through statistical infrequency. This method states that if behaviour is not common then it is considered as abnormal. For example, statistically, it is not normal to have your first child if you are under the age of 20 or over the age of 40. Therefore, if this were the case, it would be considered abnormal.
As mentioned the definition ignores desirability of some behaviours and traits, it also does not take in to account of cultural differences and it is not clear by how much a behaviour should deviate from what’s normal for it to be considered abnormal
According to the text, abnormality can be defined by comparing the behavior of the person in question to a set of criteria. This set of
Media coverage surrounding alternative sexualities has also expanded in recent years and, in the wake of gay liberation and the emergence of lesbian and gay studies, an ever increasing flow of academic documentation pertaining to sexual orientation has flourished. We now know more about homosexual lives in general and about the experiences of particular groups such as those in prison those who offer sex in exchange for money and those who lived during particular historical periods. However, with the knowledge and awareness about what it means to be gay or lesbian has increased considerably, there remains an ignorance on a number of homosexual issues. Explanations of why sexual orientations differ are still inadequate, and in a
In all aspects of the lives we live, normal can not ever be defined as a single idea. If normal is such a thing at all, it is a subjective opinion and can only be defined on an individual level. Everything we interpret is relative to our upbringing and our environment. Not one person had the same upbringing or lived in the same environment as another person for even siblings who have lived together their whole lives have different nurturing experiences. The differentiation between normal and abnormal is a topic of much debate. The meaning of normality varies in many ways such as by person, time, place, situation, culture and set of values. Normality is usually seen as good and desirable by society and what society thinks while abnormality may be seen as bad or undesirable (Boundless).
Abnormal behavior relates to the influence of psychological factors, biological factors as well as the social factors referring to inadequate relationships. In the face of diverse definition, abnormal behavior refers to the deviating from norm, which norm is the typical behavior or characteristic of the population. As such, Jim behavior is abnormal because it violates moral and conventional mores of the society (Violates societal standards), as such causing social discomfort to others. For instance, Jim fails to recognize the social cues in conversation thereby annoying other interlocutors. Jim is this case is behaving in a manner counterproductive to his own well being by