THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN SEXUALITY: A PHILOSOPHICAL APPRAISAL IN LIGHT OF THE GENDER DEBATE

Abstract

There is a profound existential mystery that characterizes the nature of the human person. Human sexuality as an important aspect of the human person shares, in a special way, in this mystery. As a result of this mystery, the human person is accorded some dignity that is denied other species. That the human person possesses certain dignity is a basic truism, little wonder there is almost a general consensus to protect human life in whatever state it is found. Human Sexuality therefore shares in this dignity of the human person. Human sexuality, which basically entails the differences that exist between the sexes and how these differences are lived out, has now been placed under rigorous and often violent debates that posit radical change with far-reaching significance within the bio-politics of existence. The prevalent subjectivism in this century, the overarching sense of personal freedom and an obnoxious detest for authority have led to almost what a sound mind would term a ridicule to Human Sexuality. In dealing with these conundrums, this work adopts a philosophical framework. In the context of a philosophical framework, this work pays attention to the terminology and meaning of Human Sexuality and the dignity attached to it, the origin and contentions of the gender debates and their far-reaching consequences in health and disease categories, specifically in the controversial field of Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS). It also examines the debate which loosely concerns the phenomenon of gender binary (classification of gender to be either male or female) and the phenomenon of gender fluidity (the belief that one’s gender can change as time changes). The basic interrogative in the gender debates is: Where there is a conflict between biological gender and psychological self-identity, should the mind be transformed to conform to the body (emphasis on the psyche) or should the body be restructured to conform to the mind (emphasis on sexual reassignment surgery)? In the muddled water of conflicting ideologies and the cacophony of voices, this paper concludes that appropriate ‘anthropology of self’ and a review of the teleology of the sexual faculties, as well as the health and disease category of correcting defect instead of making it objective, will aid in protecting the dignity of Human Sexuality