Why Sexual Morality Matters: Exploring J. D. Unwin's Sex and Culture… — The Melanin Archive — TG.ME

Why Sexual Morality Matters: Exploring J. D. Unwin's Sex and Culture Sexual morality is one of those hot topics we see discussed from time to time in different spheres of society, ranging from secular to religious. Many debate its relevance to the human race as a whole and its contribution to our flourishing. There have probably been thousands of books written about sexual morality, but perhaps one of the most interesting is J. D. Unwin's Sex and Culture. J. D. Unwin was an English ethnologist and social anthropologist associated with Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In his 1934 book Sex and Culture, Unwin aims to examine vast amounts of data from different societies to see whether there is a relationship between sexual freedom and the flourishing of cultures. Unwin starts off by describing four categories of human culture and degrees of flourishing, where flourishing was measured by how a certain society excelled in architecture, art, engineering, literature, agriculture, and so forth. The primary criterion for classification was how a society interacted with and understood nature, meaning things such as supernatural forces, spirits, gods, and the forces believed to influence human life The four categories were: Zoistic: A society where people are primarily concerned with their immediate, day-to-day needs and have little interest in interacting with or exploring nature. Monistic: A society that tries to make sense of the world, but whose explanations are based largely on superstition or magic. Deistic: A society that attributes the powers of nature to gods. Nature is therefore understood as being governed by divine beings rather than merely by mysterious supernatural forces. Rationalistic: A society that increasingly attempts to understand nature through reason and systematic thought, using that understanding to make practical decisions. Unwin then divided degrees of sexual restraint into two major categories, prenuptial and postnuptial. Prenuptial categories: 1. Complete sexual freedom: There are no restrictions on sexual activity before marriage. 2. Irregular or occasional restraint: Cultural regulations require periods of sexual abstinence from time to time. 3. Strict chastity: A person is expected to remain a virgin until marriage. Postnuptial categories: 1. Modified monogamy: One partner at a time, but either person may end the relationship. 2. Modified polygamy: Men may have multiple wives, while wives retain the freedom to leave their husbands. 3. Absolute monogamy: Only one spouse is allowed throughout the marriage, generally until death. 4. Absolute polygamy: Men may have multiple wives, while wives must remain sexually exclusive to their husband for life. Now, his findings were very broad and detailed, but it is possible to summarize and explain the core ideas. They are as follows. According to Unwin, an increase in sexual freedom, whether prenuptial or postnuptial, eventually led to the decline of a society. Such societies would either be conquered or replaced by a society with greater social energy, and Unwin argued that this would happen within three generations. According to Unwin, one generation consisted of approximately 33 years. The best combination for a society to prosper, according to his findings, was strict chastity, where couples remained virgins until marriage, combined with absolute monogamy, where couples remained married for life. So, what does this mean for today's world?