Philosophy of Sex

Greta Christina has looked at it from different scenarios in trying to provide a specific definition of sex. She begins by giving her previous sexual experiences, starting from her sexual relationship with men to a point where she starts to explore this definition with fellow women. As she keeps on exploring, she appears to get mixed up on the right definition of what constitutes sex. Her first definition looks at sex as a journey to fulfilling sexual pleasure through mutual consciousness and consent. Christina goes further from this first definition to looking at sex through shared thought through a consensus of the mind, regardless of whether both parties are having fun or not. She further defines sex as a journey to a mutual sexual satisfaction through conscious, consent but this time, the goal of satisfaction is centered on one of the partners such as in a case where one is paying for this pleasure. The traditional definition of sex is through intercourse. Christina goes further to question scenarios like rape and ponders as to whether this constitutes to sex. Her bid to find the definition takes us to a situation where she hosts an all-girl sex party. Here she is engaged in touching and kissing and dirty talks. She further questions whether those activities satisfy the definition of sex. In another experiment, she involves a woman, whom even after negotiation on what to do, the woman says that she is not sure whether she wanted to have sex. At the end of this engagement, she says that she had a great a great erotic experience. However, the two of them achieved satisfaction without touching each other’s genitals. Based on their differences in defining sex, she still doesn’t find the answer she is searching. Christina’s final quest to find her the answers to her question takes us to a scenario where she is working as a dancer for clients on a peep show; a client looks at her dancing naked and begins to masturbate. She draws near and masturbates with him though they are separated by a glass barrier. Both of them leave satisfied, making her question the act if it constituted to sex. From her definition, we find various elements involved in sex. This paper will, therefore, pick one of her descriptions and further elaborate it to identify the available and the missing constituents of sex to get a definite answer to her question. Definition of sex is based on individual preferences on activities that constitute sex.

With a focus on Christina’s last definition, there is consciousness in the action, as both parties were aware of their acts and feelings. However, it is important to remember that Christina was doing her job. Therefore, one cannot conclude that her actions in the booth constituted of consent. This scenario can be compared to watching a pornographic video, which does not represent sex. One may ask, is Christina going to the point of masturbating to please a stranger out of her own will or is it her job that is making her do all these? The answer to the question is found in her statement when she says that she could not believe that she was paid to masturbate and for her, it was a terrible job. Therefore, we can conclude that had she had an option she would have acted differently. The definition is, therefore, problematic.

Even though there are some cases, we could count as sex such as deriving pleasure through activities of the duo, such as teasing, the definition lacked mutual consent as the two parties are strangers, where one is a client and the other is doing what she is paid to do. Even as she is conscious in masturbating in front of a stranger and claims that they both had a fabulous time, there is little evidence of consent as we do not know whether her employer instructed her to do that to clients or whether she was doing it out of her free will. The definition is therefore too broad because, even as sexual stimulation through teasing can be classified as sex, mutual consent still misses out. Furthermore, there is no physical activity connecting the two parties like touching to stimulate feelings, as each party is busy stimulating themselves.

The second definition of sex is that it is a conscious consenting mutually acknowledged pursuit of shared sexual pleasure. This explanation satisfies most of the shortcomings of the description above. In this case, mutual consent is addressed. In this case, both parties have mutual feelings for sex without any form of coercion. Sex here seeks to pleasure both parties. However, this definition is too broad and at the same time too narrow. First, on the broadness of this definition, there are many ways in which people can find pleasure. Determining pleasure ranges from personal sexual orientation to the techniques used during sex. The description, therefore, fails to pick a detailed definition of sexual pleasure as some people would think that sexual pleasure can only be derived from vaginal or penile stimulation. Secondly, the description does not specify as to whether there needs for a physical contact between the two parties in a conscious and consented desire to achieve sexual satisfaction. For some people, sexual desire can be met through watching the other parties do some acts that he/she considers sexually fulfilling. For others, sexual pleasure is achieved through body contact, oral stimulation or vaginal penetration. Others find pleasure through being tortured or torturing the other partner.

This definition is also too narrow, as it is difficult to determine whether both parties achieved their optimal desired sexual pleasure. A man may assume that through hours of vigorous sex, a woman is satisfied. A woman may, however, define her sexual pleasure through Cumming during the sexual process. In this case, therefore, there is a chance that one party will go unsatisfied despite both sides having mutual sex feeling, consent, and consciousness. Thus, two people can consent to have a sexual relationship involving body intimacy, yet remain unsatisfied as their fetish desires are not satisfied.

It is important to remember that sexual pleasure and satisfaction involves more other things and actions. For instance, some individuals may prefer anal sex, which is not discussed in any of Christina’s definition of sex. Furthermore, there are other instances that question consent, for example, when someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Such a person would be acting on consent and consciousness to have whatever kind of sexual pleasure they need with another person. The person would even enjoy sex, but later, this individual may develop a sense of guilt. The question here arises, does the feeling of guilt even after satisfying the above condition count as sex? Another problem occurs in the legality of sex. If two people who are conscious mutually agree to explore their sexual pleasure and one of the parties has not attained the legal age and considered a child under the law, does the same constitute to sex?

Like Christina, one is likely to be in a dilemma of providing a definite answer to this question. From the above explanations, it is, therefore, challenging for one to define sex adequately as different people uphold varying views on this subject considering their preferred tastes and preferences which constitute sexual pleasure. Furthermore, new ways of finding sexual satisfaction evolve every day. Having a single explanation for this question is likely to create disagreement in ideas amongst people as some people would feel left out following their preferences in achieving sexual ecstasy. It would be unfair to pick one definition and conclude that, that is the right definition of sex. Therefore, we should learn to accept other people’s definition of sex without prejudice and unfair judgment.