Moral Philosophy Final Exam - Topic 6 - Deception and Sexual Consent

Sexual Dealbreaker

Something that if the other person would have known about, they would choose not to have sex. Dougherty argues that deceiving someone about a deal-breaker invalidates their consent

Lenient Thesis

The view that it is only a minor wrong to deceive someone into sex about things that don’t really matter ex. personal characteristics, natural hair color, romantic intentions

Dougherty’s Argument Against the Lenient Thesis

Intentionally deceiving someone about their sexual dealbreakers is a serious moral wrong

Harm Explanation

Non-consentual sex is bad because it causes the victim harm

Consent Explanation

Dougherty says the wrongness of non-consentual sex is the lack of consent. The harm explanation is wrong because it is still morally wrong to have sex with people in comas even though they do not experience harm

Sexual Moralism

The view that certain sexual acts are inherently wrong regardless of consent, or that consent is only valid if it aligns with specific moral standards