性革命：文化、哲学和宗教角度的反思

Sexual Revolution: Reflections from Cultural, Philosophical and Religious Perspectives

关启文(Kai-Man Kwan)

《基督教文化學刊》 4期 (2000/12) Pp. 185-223

並列摘要

The sexual revolution took place in the 1960's in the West. Since then, its influence has spread all over the world. Chinese communities have felt the impact also. In fact, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the China Mainland are experiencing a tempered form of sexual revolution as evidenced by the liberalization of popular attitudes towards sex, the rising divorce rate, and so on. In 21st century, the contest over sexual values is likely to continue. Should Chinese societies follow the footsteps of the West? Before answering this question, it is worthwhile to review and evaluate the Western sexual revolution to see what lessons can be learned from their historical experience. This is what this paper intends to do. The author first briefly reviews the course and causes of the sexual revolution, including the liberation of women, the invention of contraceptives, the development of sexology, and urbanization. He then summarizes some of the Westerners' dissatisfaction with the sexual revolution although many had been former supporters of the movement. These reflections show that the sexual revolution is by no means an unmixed blessing. There are great financial, emotional and social costs involved. The paper then goes on to a critical evaluation of the ideology of the sexual revolution. J. W. Smith's critique of the pure sex thesis will be introduced. It asserts that sex is a purely biological phenomenon and is essential to normal life. Smith shows how sexologists often import value judgments into their allegedly objective discourse; he then adduces anthropological data against the idea that sexual abstinence will necessarily cause abnormality. Thomas Szasz, a psychologist, provides a further critique of sexology along the same lines as Smith. Szasz demonstrates that the type of sex education fashionable in the West today is also ideologically based. The paper then proceeds to discuss the casual sex ideology and illustrate how its ideology contradicts the claims of supporters of the sexual revolution as well as our own experience. With reference to George Leonard's discussions, the root problem of the sexual revolution is diagnosed to be the depersonalization of love. Lastly, the sexual revolution is evaluated from a religious perspective. The positive response of D. R. Mace is found to be too optimistic. Smith's Kantian critique is more consonant with the Christian viewpoint. For Stephen Post, the spiritual root of the problems of the sexual revolution lies in its inversion of the proper order of love. The author concludes that while there are certainly some things that we can learn from the sexual revolution, it should be carefully and critically scrutinized. We should look for resources within our traditional cultures and from the religions of both East and West in order to counterbalance the excesses of the sexual revolution.