One must consider the broad spectrum of opinions concerning human sexuality in determining whether the United States is a restrictive or permissive society. In other words, it is necessary to recognize that there are many perspectives when it comes to human sexual behavior. As in the U.S., there are broad gaps in the way cultures regard sexuality. For instance, in hard-line theocracies, like many Muslim countries, sexual behavior is tightly restricted and transgressions are punished severely. On the other hand, in European countries, sex is generally seen as a highly personal matter, an area in which the state has no business intruding. In many ways, the United States reflects this volatile and oppositional nature of opinion, with some states tending toward permissiveness while others maintain a much more intransigent position. Ultimately, it comes down to a question of tolerance, or intolerance, at the governmental/legislative level. Where government uses its coercive power to restrict sexual behavior, where laws punish individuals based on their sexuality, that society must be considered restrictive when one realizes that there are governments which have determined that sexuality lies beyond their power to legislate. Seen in this light, it must be concluded that the United States is a restrictive society when it comes to sexual behavior.
The key battleground issue at present is gay marriage. In preventing members of the same sex from marrying, the U.S. government and judiciary draws heavily on a subjective notion of morality that owes its moral force to Western religious principles. In other words, a close reading of the Bible has tended to steer government policy on the matter toward a restrictive position, in which homosexual marriage and, in some cases, homosexuality period, has been deemed immoral and, consequently, made illegal. As mentioned previously, countries that use religion to base laws on sexuality must, in the broader global perspective, be deemed restrictive, even punitive. Declaring that marriage, as defined in the Bible, is a state of union between a man and a woman only is restrictive based on theocratic grounds. Seeking to govern sexual behavior from a heavily religious frame of reference is reminiscent of some of the world’s most oppressive regimes. Using a state-based notion of religion, i.e. Christianity, to legislate personal affairs or behavior is an infringement upon the citizenry’s constitutional rights and represents a betrayal of the nation’s foundational principles.
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"Liberty and Hypocrisy: America’s Restrictive Stance on Sexuality".
Few subjects are more a matter of conscience than sex. America’s founders sought to establish a country in which conscience and freedom of choice directed the government’s actions, not a religion-based conformity that reaches into the very homes and bedrooms of the nation’s populace. In a world of degrees, it must be pointed out that the United States is far removed from a country like Saudi Arabia, where illegal activity is seen as offenses against Islam and, consequently, are punished brutally. However, a society that fines and imprisons citizens for failing to follow a state-prescribed mode of “moral” behavior, anchored in a heavily theocratic ideology, must be seen as restrictive, even though there may be pockets of dissension, a few places where men and women of conscience are free to consort with, and marry, whomever they wish. Until American society joins those with which it has the most in common, i.e. European countries, the U.S. must be considered a restrictive country on matters of sexuality and sexual preference. It seems ironic that in a country that virulently defends the right of the most dangerous individuals to bear arms, sex is considered a dangerous and subversive matter (Klein, 139).
- Klein, Marty. America’s War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006.
