Democratic Sex: Reynolds v. U.S., Sexual Relations, and Community

Abstract

Abstract Democratic theory provides a distinctive vantage point on sexuality, one that rivals more familiar standpoints, such as popular morality and moral philosophy, religion, and the legal right to privacy. “Democratic sex” in my title is shorthand for the view that appropriately ordered intimate relations reinforce democracy. Preoccupied with the formative effects of sexuality on character and community, an increasing number of contemporary political theorists approach the legal regulation of sexual conduct and relations from the point of view of their congruence with democratic principles. Of course, religiously inspired accounts of the public interest in intimate relations have greater practical political force today, but they do not occupy the field alone. Democratic considerations, too, give sexuality a political face.