被禁止的性行為與性暴力

正如我們已經瞭解的那樣，一些性變異對於那些牽涉到的個人來說，可能會受到人們的質疑。在一些國家，這些性變異（sexual variation）[1]仍然是非常嚴重的事件。例如，戀物癖、易性癖和易裝癖可能會受到如此的壓制，以至於有這些性變異的個人甚至不能作為性少數而組織起來，而且“換偶者”、男同性戀者、女同性戀者和雙性戀者可能會受到法律的制裁。從這個意義上看，這些性變異在一些地方始終是被禁止的行為。當然，對所有這些性變異來說，這也是一個歷史的範疇問題：進步社會的政府和實行法律改革的政府或新近就職的壓制人的政府，都能夠在開明與保守這兩個方向上，非常徹底地改變社會環境。這在過去已經發生過，今天正在發生，而且將來可能還會發生。

不過，對那些大多數文化中多數時間裏被禁止的性行為單辟一偶展開討論似乎是有益的。例如，成人與兒童的性接觸儘管有一些例外的例子應該要說明一下，它幾乎永遠都是會廣泛宣佈有罪的。賣淫的例子受到的評價則比較含混：如今，它在許多國家都是禁止的，不過在另一些國家它是法律允許的，而且正如每一位歷史學家所知曉的那樣，它過去曾經是包括基督教的中世紀在內的許多偉大的文明中由官方所接受和所管理的特許事業。不過，毋庸置疑，兒童賣淫在每一個國度裏都是違法的。

最後，至少以某種基本的方式強調一下性暴力問題似乎也是必要的。重申一下，在特定的情形下，一些性暴力的形式總是已經被容忍甚或受鼓勵，而且現在仍舊被容忍和受鼓勵。甚至，在一些國家，針對兒童的最惡劣的性暴力方式之一——女性性器官毀損得到了法律的完全保障，而且是出於虔誠的道德良心。

以下的課程內容提供一些有關這些方面的大致概要和所涉及的少許專題內容。因為這些問題本身的複雜性以及對它們做出社會和法律反應的繁複的多樣性，要想在本課程裏涉及到十分詳盡的細節，恐怕不可能辦得到。有人也許會認為，至少在剛剛提及的領域裏，存在全世界多數人都同意的大致合法或不合法的判定，然而，這並不是事物的真實狀況。從全球的視野看，只存在設法調節人類性行為的分歧相差極大的過多過濫的法律而已。

Prohibited Sexual Behavior and Sexual Violence

As we have seen, certain sexual variations can be problematic for the individuals concerned. In some countries, however, the problems are quite serious. For example, fetishists, transsexuals and transvestites may be so oppressed that they cannot even organize as minorities, and the sexual behavior of “swingers”, gays, lesbians, and bisexuals may be punishable by law. In that sense, these variations are already prohibited behaviors in some places. There is, of course, also a historical dimension to all of this: Progressive social and legal reforms or newly installed repressive governments can change the circumstances very drastically in either direction. This has happened in the past, is happening today, and is likely to happen in the future.
Nevertheless, it seems useful to offer a separate discussion of sexual behaviors that have been prohibited in most cultures much of the time. For example, adult sexual contact with children has almost always been widely condemned, although certain exceptions should be noted. The case of prostitution is less clear-cut: Today, it is prohibited in many countries, but in others it has been legalized and, as every historian knows, it was an officially accepted and regulated feature of many great cultures of the past, including the Christian Middle Ages. Needless to say, however, child prostitution is illegal everywhere.
Finally, it seems necessary to address, at least in some basic way, the issue of sexual violence. Again, some of its forms have always been – and still are – tolerated or even encouraged in certain situations. Indeed, in some countries one of the worst forms of sexual violence against children - the mutilation of female sex organs - is committed quite legally and with a good conscience.
The following sections provide some general information about these and a few related subjects. Because of the complexity of the issues themselves and the great variety of social and legal responses to them, it is not possible to be very specific in this course. One might think that, at least in the areas just mentioned, there is a world-wide consensus about legality or illegality, but this is not the case. Seen from a global perspective, there are simply too many widely diverging laws trying to regulate human sexual behavior.