R ELIGIOUS AND C ULTURAL I NFLUENCES
R ELIGIOUS AND C ULTURAL I NFLUENCES
Francoeur (1984; Francoeur & Perper, 1997, 2004) has theorized that peo- ple’s overall sexual attitudes are mainly infl uenced by their Weltanschauungen or worldviews. Although religion plays a major role in such conceptualizations, variations in these religious philosophies are much more important, according to Francoeur. He has posited dichotomous poles on a continuum that he believes defi ne and characterize these points of view: the fi xed versus the process worldview. Each worldview has adherents within virtually every religious tradition—both Western and Eastern. Francoeur suggested that believers in any given religion are more likely to take similar approaches to sexual issues as those people whose worldview is most closely aligned with theirs in other religions than they would with people whose worldview is opposed to theirs within their own religion. The nature of the confl ict can be briefl y summarized in the following paragraphs:
At one end of the spectrum are fundamentalist, evangelical, charismatic factions that accept as word-for-word truth the writings of the Bible as the word of God, and advocate the establishment of the United States as a Christian nation. For them, living under God’s rule would be evidenced by the man fi rmly established as the head of each family … and the woman in her God-given role as submissive and bearer of children for the Kingdom of Heaven. Similar fundamentalist strains in the United States are apparent among ultra- orthodox Jews and radical Muslims…. These embody an absolutist/natural law/fi xed worldview. (Francoeur & Perper, 2004, p. 1140)
These perspectives would be contrasted at the other end of the continuum as those of the “various mainstream Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims who accept a processual/evolutionary worldview,” in which, for example in the Roman Catholic tradition, the divinely revealed sacred texts are respected as
the record of the response to the word of God addressed to the Church throughout cen- turies of changing social, historical, and cultural traditions. The Faithful responded with the realities of their particular situation, guided by the direction of previous revelation, but not captive to it. (Thayer et al., 1987, cited in Francoeur & Perper, 2004, p. 1140)
Thus, moral and other interpretations evolve according to the ongoing evo- lution taking place in each society. This way of thinking might be represented by, for example, the more secularly oriented approach of situation ethics, in which context is considered in judging various actions. The confl ict is manifested in both American and other societies in the debates that occur within various denomi- nations and in the world-at-large. These, in turn, may take the form of formal pronouncements (as from the Vatican or other church, synagogue, or mosque offi - cials), reports of study groups by local committees, and attempts and successes by politicians at legislating specifi c moral and religious points of view surrounding issues involving sexuality and gender. Many of these perspectives about sexuality are
108 Raymond J. Noonan
available on the Internet. Links to some of these Web sites can be found at SexQuest’s Web Index for Sexual Health: The SexQuest WISH List at http://www.SexQuest.com/ SexQuest.html, which was compiled by this author. The JSR Website Review Companion Page at http://www.sexquest.com/SexualHealth/JSRwebsite-reviews.html, written to accompany a review of Web resources for sex researchers that appeared in the Journal of Sex Research (Noonan, 2001a,b), includes additional links.
As is often the case, in what might be described as life imitating pornography, the media tends to exaggerate matters having to do with sex, because it increases revenues. Politicians jump on the bandwagon because they know it generates interest, and, given Americans’ deep ambivalence toward sexuality, try to exploit both the unsubstantiated fears and the legitimate concerns that people have about sex-related issues (Noonan, 1996a, 1998b). Wilkins (1997) offered a description of the sociological concept of moral panic, which aptly describes much of the current timeworn responses we continue to see in sexual arenas:
A moral panic is characterized by a wave of public concern, anxiety, and fervor about something, usually perceived as a threat to society. The distinguishing factors are a level of interest totally out of proportion to the real importance of the subject, some individu- als building personal careers from the pursuit and magnifi cation of the issue, and the replacement of reasoned debate with witchhunts and hysteria.
Certainly, moral panic is an apt description for much of our collective responses to sex on the Internet. From the introductory section of this chapter, one could surmise that there is little justifi cation for it—but only if one looks at the bigger picture objectively—yet these moral panics persist regarding sex on the Internet and other aspects of sexual expression. So what then is on the Internet about this embarrassing, contentious, delightful, ugly, beautiful, confusing world of sex? What are its dynamics and why is it important for us to integrate this new medium into our consciousness of sexuality? A look at some key issues in modern sexology should help to put some of the possibilities into perspective, as well as to provide guideposts for future action. Later sections address the sex-related content and possible motivations and ramifi cations of the various responses to it.