Room 520-A | Sexuality and Health Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Time: 8:30 AM-10:30 AM |
Conceptualizing Sexual Rights: Instrument of Conflict, Control Mechanism, or Sexual Health Advocacy Tool?
Lottes, Ilsa*,1, Adkins, Charles*,1, 1 University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA
ABSTRACT- The concepts of ′sexual health′ and ′sexual rights′ have emerged as important within discourses by health professionals, sexuality educators, feminists, human rights advocates, as well as in the programs of national and international meetings and organizations (e.g., WHO, PAHO, IPPF, UNFPA, WIHC, WAS). Specifically, conceptualizations of, as well as problems and assumptions related to, sexual health have appeared in a variety of professional journals. For example, special issues dedicated to sexual health have recently been published in both The Journal of Sex Research and the Archives of Sexual Behavior. While sexual health has had this recent surge of publication status, sexual rights has not. How are sexual rights and sexual health related? What are conflicts and problems of using a sexual rights discourse? What power grants the legitimate application of a sexual rights claim? In this presentation we initiate a discourse that attempts to extrapolate answers to these questions and the multitude of implications that derive from these questions. We first present theoretical issues relating to sexual rights and sexual health, such as the globalization of western constructs. Then we examine conflicts that arise when applying sexual rights to specific institutions, groups, and individuals. These conflicts are categorized as internal conflicts between two sexual rights or conflicts between a sexual right and a social structure. Themes that illustrate conflicts involve individualism versus collectivism, cultural relativism, religious dogma, individual versus government responsibility, and the exploration of one′s ability to transgress dominate notions of what is sexual healthy. Although we present difficulties, problems, and risks in promoting sexual rights as a universal standard of ethics for diverse cultures and countries, we believe the sexual rights framework has much to offer in efforts to promote sexual health and the protection of marginalized people. Nevertheless, we argue that it is important to be aware of the dangers and misuses of a sexual rights discourse.
Key words: Sexual Rights, Sexual Health, Conflicts, Advocacy