Lesson 1: How and why have attitudes towards sexual ethics changed?
Key terms:
- Pre-marital sex: sex before marriage
- Extra-marital sex: sex outside of marriage (adultery)
- Homosexuality: sexual attraction to the same sex
- Moral: ethically acceptable
- Legal: allowed by law
- Tolerable: accepted, though not necessarily agreed with
There has been change in some attitudes towards sexual relationships in the UK in the
last 40 years. At 57% the proportion who think that having sex outside marriage is
“always wrong” is a little different from the 58% who held that view in 1983
- Views towards same sex marriage being okay has increased from less than 20%
in the 1980’s to just under 70% in 2021.
- Pre-marital sex is more accepted from just over 40% in the 1980’s to just under
80% in 2021/ the figure almost doubled in the past 40 years.
Laws which have progressed society
1885: The age of consent for heterosexual sex was raised to 16 (previously 13)
1937: Divorce laws needed a fault to get a divorce
1961: Oral contraceptives (pill) were available for the first time
1967: Sexual Offenders Act – Decriminalisation of homosexuality – Gay men age of
consent was 21
1994: Age of consent for gay men was lowered to 18
,2000: Age of consent for gay men was lowered to 16
2004: Civil partnerships – gave legal recognition to homosexual relationships
2013: Same sex marriage act
Religion is an important factor in sexual ethics; there are many teachings and rules
about it in the Bible and from Church leaders. In a more secular world, society has
chosen to abandon some principles of the past but retain others. For example,
attitudes towards homosexuality.
In 1964, a committee was established to conduct an inquiry into aspects of sexual
morality and produce a report giving recommendations to Parliament. The Wolfenden
Report was published in 1967. It said society and the law should respect “individual
freedom of actions in matters of private morality”.
Ultimately, private morality or immorality was “not the law’s concern”
Sexual Relationships are a matter of Sexual Relationships should be governed
private morality: by social norms and legislation:
1) A sexual Relationship is only the 1) A sexual relationship can affect
business of the people involved people other than those involved in
it for example wider family
2) Creating the situation where some 2) Societal norms can help to define
relationships aren’t allowed and expectations regarding faithfulness and
others are can lead to commitment
discrimination
3) Each relationship is different – laws 3) Laws are needed to protect people
generalise (issue of consent)
Casual sex: having sex with no intention of a committed relationship
Cohabitation: living together in a committed, unmarried relationship.
, Lesson 2: What does Christianity teach about pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex?
- In the 1960’s fewer than 5% of UK couples cohabitated, but now more than over
50% cohabitate.
- The introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960’s is considered a main
factor in this change.
- Historical research reveals that in Anglo-Saxon England, couples could pledge
themselves to one another in a betrothal ceremony, after which they would
have sex with formal marriage following later. Marriage was expected to follow
betrothal, but women were vulnerable to being abandoned.
- The rise in importance of being married before having sex was in part due. To
the influence of Christian teaching, but also due to the fact male members of
the British aristocracy wanted to be sure that children born to their wives were
definitely their own as they would become heirs
- In Christianity, extra-marital sex is considered wrong. The New Testament and
other early Church teachings warn Christians not to commit adultery.
- Among the medieval tribes, wealthy powerful men had concubines as well as
wives (concubine is a lower status woman who lives with a man as though she
were a wife). Long term relationships to more than one woman were common.
Adultery was only seen as wrong if it were a wife having sex with someone
other than her husband
- Despite society becoming more secular, there is still the general view that
adultery is wrong.
Quotes on extra-marital sex
- “Thou shall not commit adultery” Bible
- St Paul condemns adulterers as sinful in Corinthians as part of a list of people
who do not inherit the kingdom of God
- Jack Dominian views adultery as a “symptom in a marriage” where “the
minimum needs of one or two people are not being met,” suggesting it signals
deeper relational issues rather than just moral failure. He believes it is “a cry for
help” and that the Christian response should be to “help the couple in every
way to restore their marital relationship.”
Key terms:
- Pre-marital sex: sex before marriage
- Extra-marital sex: sex outside of marriage (adultery)
- Homosexuality: sexual attraction to the same sex
- Moral: ethically acceptable
- Legal: allowed by law
- Tolerable: accepted, though not necessarily agreed with
There has been change in some attitudes towards sexual relationships in the UK in the
last 40 years. At 57% the proportion who think that having sex outside marriage is
“always wrong” is a little different from the 58% who held that view in 1983
- Views towards same sex marriage being okay has increased from less than 20%
in the 1980’s to just under 70% in 2021.
- Pre-marital sex is more accepted from just over 40% in the 1980’s to just under
80% in 2021/ the figure almost doubled in the past 40 years.
Laws which have progressed society
1885: The age of consent for heterosexual sex was raised to 16 (previously 13)
1937: Divorce laws needed a fault to get a divorce
1961: Oral contraceptives (pill) were available for the first time
1967: Sexual Offenders Act – Decriminalisation of homosexuality – Gay men age of
consent was 21
1994: Age of consent for gay men was lowered to 18
,2000: Age of consent for gay men was lowered to 16
2004: Civil partnerships – gave legal recognition to homosexual relationships
2013: Same sex marriage act
Religion is an important factor in sexual ethics; there are many teachings and rules
about it in the Bible and from Church leaders. In a more secular world, society has
chosen to abandon some principles of the past but retain others. For example,
attitudes towards homosexuality.
In 1964, a committee was established to conduct an inquiry into aspects of sexual
morality and produce a report giving recommendations to Parliament. The Wolfenden
Report was published in 1967. It said society and the law should respect “individual
freedom of actions in matters of private morality”.
Ultimately, private morality or immorality was “not the law’s concern”
Sexual Relationships are a matter of Sexual Relationships should be governed
private morality: by social norms and legislation:
1) A sexual Relationship is only the 1) A sexual relationship can affect
business of the people involved people other than those involved in
it for example wider family
2) Creating the situation where some 2) Societal norms can help to define
relationships aren’t allowed and expectations regarding faithfulness and
others are can lead to commitment
discrimination
3) Each relationship is different – laws 3) Laws are needed to protect people
generalise (issue of consent)
Casual sex: having sex with no intention of a committed relationship
Cohabitation: living together in a committed, unmarried relationship.
, Lesson 2: What does Christianity teach about pre-marital sex and extra-marital sex?
- In the 1960’s fewer than 5% of UK couples cohabitated, but now more than over
50% cohabitate.
- The introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960’s is considered a main
factor in this change.
- Historical research reveals that in Anglo-Saxon England, couples could pledge
themselves to one another in a betrothal ceremony, after which they would
have sex with formal marriage following later. Marriage was expected to follow
betrothal, but women were vulnerable to being abandoned.
- The rise in importance of being married before having sex was in part due. To
the influence of Christian teaching, but also due to the fact male members of
the British aristocracy wanted to be sure that children born to their wives were
definitely their own as they would become heirs
- In Christianity, extra-marital sex is considered wrong. The New Testament and
other early Church teachings warn Christians not to commit adultery.
- Among the medieval tribes, wealthy powerful men had concubines as well as
wives (concubine is a lower status woman who lives with a man as though she
were a wife). Long term relationships to more than one woman were common.
Adultery was only seen as wrong if it were a wife having sex with someone
other than her husband
- Despite society becoming more secular, there is still the general view that
adultery is wrong.
Quotes on extra-marital sex
- “Thou shall not commit adultery” Bible
- St Paul condemns adulterers as sinful in Corinthians as part of a list of people
who do not inherit the kingdom of God
- Jack Dominian views adultery as a “symptom in a marriage” where “the
minimum needs of one or two people are not being met,” suggesting it signals
deeper relational issues rather than just moral failure. He believes it is “a cry for
help” and that the Christian response should be to “help the couple in every
way to restore their marital relationship.”
