Abstract
What does morality require of individuals in their dating and sex life? In this article I challenge recent outlines of antidiscrimination duties in the dating sphere and present a plausible alternative: the deliberative duty. This duty avoids the risks and limitations of earlier outlines: it is time-sensitive regarding the malleability of intimate preferences, it avoids being too demanding on the duty-bearer and minimizes the risk of generating mere dutiful attraction behavior towards right-holders. In addition, it is better suited for universal action guidance in the dating sphere than earlier outlines of individual antidiscrimination duties.
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to my colleagues at the Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination (CEPDISC), Department of Political Science, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University, DK, and for my colleagues at the Political Theory section for discussing this idea with me at several stages. I am indebted to Søren Flinch Midtgaard, my supervisor Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen and Michael Brownstein for providing very useful comments and suggestions. Special gratitude is also owed to Jonas Franzen whose input was very insightful. Not least, I want to thank the two anonymous reviewers who carefully engaged with the paper’s arguments and challenged me on several points, which helped improve the paper. Last, I presented this idea at the international CEPDISC conference, and I am appreciative of the many useful comments I received.
-
Research funding: This work was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF144).
References
Appel, J. M. 2010. “Sex Rights for the Disabled?” Journal of Medical Ethics 36 (3): 152–4. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2009.033183.Search in Google Scholar
Bedi, S. 2015. “Sexual Racism: Intimacy as a Matter of Justice.” The Journal of Politics 77 (4): 998–1011. https://doi.org/10.1086/682749.Search in Google Scholar
Bhugra, D., K. Eckstrand, P. Levounis, A. Kar, and K. R. Javate. 2016. “WPA Position Statement on Gender Identity and Same-Sex Orientation, Attraction and Behaviours.” World Psychiatry 15 (3): 299–300, https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20340.Search in Google Scholar
Brownstein, M., D. Kelly, and A. Madva. 2022. “Individualism, Structuralism, and Climate Change.” Environmental Communication 16 (2): 269–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2021.1982745.Search in Google Scholar
D’Alessandro, W. 2023. “Is It Bad to Prefer Attractive Partners?” Journal of the American Philosophical Association 9 (2): 335–54. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2022.3.Search in Google Scholar
Dehlin, J. P., R. V. Galliher, W. S. Bradshaw, D. C. Hyde, and K. A. Crowell. 2015. “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Among Current or Former LDS Church Members.” Journal of Counseling Psychology 62 (2): 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000011.Search in Google Scholar
Emens, E. F. 2009. Intimate Discrimination: The State’s Role in the Accidents of Sex and Love. Rochester: SSRN Scholarly Paper.10.2139/ssrn.1694174Search in Google Scholar
Fourie, C. 2017. “Wrongful Private Discrimination and The Egalitarian Ethos.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Discrimination, edited by K. Lippert-Rasmussen, 421–32. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315681634-41Search in Google Scholar
Fahs, B. 2014. “‘Freedom to’ and ‘Freedom from’: A New Vision for Sex-Positive Politics.” Sexualities 17 (3): 267–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460713516334.Search in Google Scholar
Fahs, B., and E. Swank. 2011. “Social Identities as Predictors of Women’s Sexual Satisfaction and Sexual Activity.” Archives of Sexual Behavior 40 (5): 903–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-010-9681-5.Search in Google Scholar
Gheaus, A. 2017. “Love and Justice: A Paradox?” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 47 (6): 739–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/00455091.2017.1319656.Search in Google Scholar
Haldeman, D. C. 2002. “Therapeutic Antidotes: Helping Gay and Bisexual Men Recover From Conversion Therapies.” Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy 5 (3–4): 117–30. https://doi.org/10.1300/J236v05n03_08.Search in Google Scholar
Halley, J. E. 1994. “Sexual Orientation and the Politics of Biology: A Critique of the Argument from Immutability.” Stanford Law Review 46 (3): 503–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229101.Search in Google Scholar
Halperin, D. M. 1989. “Is There a History of Sexuality?” History and Theory 28 (3): 257–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/2505179.Search in Google Scholar
Halwani, R. 2023. “Sexual Exclusion and the Right to Sex.” Theoria 1–37.10.1111/theo.12495Search in Google Scholar
Lazenby, H., and P. Butterfield. 2017. “Discrimination and the Personal Sphere.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Ethics of Discrimination, edited by K. Lippert-Rasmussen. New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315681634-36Search in Google Scholar
Liu, X. 2015. “No Fats, Femmes, or Asians.” Moral Philosophy and Politics 2 (2): 255–76. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2014-0023.Search in Google Scholar
Madva, A. 2017. “Biased Against Debiasing: On the Role of (Institutionally Sponsored) Self-Transformation in the Struggle Against Prejudice.” Ergo, an Open Access Journal of Philosophy 4 (20201214): 145–79, https://doi.org/10.3998/ergo.12405314.0004.006.Search in Google Scholar
Midtgaard, S. 2022. “I’m Just Stating a Preference!’ Lookism in Online Dating Profiles.” Moral Philosophy and Politics 10 (1): 161–83, https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2021-0046.Search in Google Scholar
Mills, C. W. 1994. “Do Black Men Have a Moral Duty to Marry Black Women?” Journal of Social Philosophy 25 (1): 131–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.1994.tb00352.x.Search in Google Scholar
Minerva, F. 2017. “The Invisible Discrimination Before Our Eyes: A Bioethical Analysis.” Bioethics 31 (3): 180–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12327.Search in Google Scholar
MMWR. 2014. ““Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence, Stalking, and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization—National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.” United States 2011.” Surveillance Summaries 63 (8): 1–24.Search in Google Scholar
Nucci, E.Di. 2011. “Sexual Rights and Disability.” Journal of Medical Ethics 37 (3): 158–61. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.2010.036723.Search in Google Scholar
Räsänen, J. 2023. “Sexual Loneliness: A Neglected Public Health Problem?” Bioethics 37: 101–2. https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.13134.Search in Google Scholar
Rudder, C. 2014. Dataclysm: What our Online Lives Tell us about Our Offline Selves. London: 4th Estate.Search in Google Scholar
Srinivasan, A. 2021. The Right to Sex. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Stocker, M. 1976. “The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories.” The Journal of Philosophy 73 (14): 453–66. https://doi.org/10.2307/2025782.Search in Google Scholar
Wolf, S. 1982. “Moral Saints.” The Journal of Philosophy 79 (8): 419–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/2026228.Search in Google Scholar
Zheng, R. 2016. “Why Yellow Fever Isn’t Flattering: A Case Against Racial Fetishes.” Journal of the American Philosophical Association 2 (3): 400–19. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2016.25.Search in Google Scholar
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Hybrid Ethical Theory and Cohen’s Critique of Rawls’s Egalitarian Liberalism
- Ideal Theory and Real Politics: The Politics in Political Liberalism
- Are Radical Realists Hypocrites about Intuition-Dependence?
- The Deliberative Duty and Other Individual Antidiscrimination Duties in the Dating Sphere
- Dimensions of Global Justice in Taxing Multinationals
- Situating the Moral Basis for Secession in Territorial Rights: A Dualist and Nonalienation Account
- Moral Reasoning in the Climate Crisis: A Personal Guide
- Is It Wrong to Benefit from Injustice?
- Self-Respect and the Importance of Basic Liberties
- Why Military Conditioning Violates the Human Dignity of Soldiers
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Hybrid Ethical Theory and Cohen’s Critique of Rawls’s Egalitarian Liberalism
- Ideal Theory and Real Politics: The Politics in Political Liberalism
- Are Radical Realists Hypocrites about Intuition-Dependence?
- The Deliberative Duty and Other Individual Antidiscrimination Duties in the Dating Sphere
- Dimensions of Global Justice in Taxing Multinationals
- Situating the Moral Basis for Secession in Territorial Rights: A Dualist and Nonalienation Account
- Moral Reasoning in the Climate Crisis: A Personal Guide
- Is It Wrong to Benefit from Injustice?
- Self-Respect and the Importance of Basic Liberties
- Why Military Conditioning Violates the Human Dignity of Soldiers