子供が関係しない男女関係は無視すべき
この議論は別にしても,お互いの性的な相性について何らの予備知識なしに,人びとに終生続けるつもりの関係に入ることを求めることは,不合理である(馬鹿げている)と思われる。それは,ちょうど,家を買おうとする人が,購入(手続き)が完了するまでその家を見ることを許されないの(は不合理である)と同様に,不合理である。結婚の生物学的な役割が十分に認識されたなら,妻が初めて妊娠するまでは,いかなる結婚も法的な拘束力を持たないとするのが適切な方針(道行き)であるだろう。 現在は,性交が不可能な場合は結婚は(法的に)無効であるとされているが,(法的な)結婚の真の目的は性交よりもむしろ子供にあり,従って,子供が生まれる見込みがつくまでは,結婚は完成(達成)されたものとして考えられるべきではない。この見解は,少なくとも部分的には,避妊具によってもたらされた生殖と単なるセックスとの区別(分離)に依存している。避妊具は,性と結婚の姿(様相)をすっかり変えてしまったので,以前は無視することができた区別をする必要が生じている(のである)。人びとは,売春に見られるように,性(性交)のみのために,あるいは,リンゼー判事の友愛結婚におけるように,性的な要素を含んだ親密な交わりのために,あるいは最後に,子供を作るために,一緒になる(一緒に暮らす)かもしれない(注:最初に「売春」があげられているが,これはもちろん,性的満足のためにだけ結婚する,という意味)。これらは,それぞれ異なるものであり,それらを十把一からげにして考えるような道徳は,いずれも現代の状況においては適切なものにはなりえない。 |
Chapter XII: Trial Marriage, n.7For my part, while I am quite convinced that companionate marriage would be a step in the right direction, and would do a great deal of good, I do not think that it goes far enough. I think that all sex relations which do not involve children should be regarded as a purely private affair, and that if a man and a woman choose to live together without having children, that should be no one's business but their own. I should not hold it desirable that either a man or a woman should enter upon the serious business of a marriage intended to lead to children without having had previous sexual experience. There is a great mass of evidence to show that the first experience of sex should be with a person who has previous knowledge. The sexual act in human beings is not instinctive, and apparently never has been since it ceased to be performed a tergo. And apart from this argument, it seems absurd to ask people to enter upon a relation intended to be lifelong, without any previous knowledge as to their sexual compatibility. It is just as absurd as it would be if a man intending to buy a house were not allowed to view it until he had completed the purchase. The proper course, if the biological function of marriage were adequately recognized, would be to say that no marriage should be legally binding until the wife's first pregnancy. At present a marriage is null if sexual intercourse is impossible, but children, rather than sexual intercourse, are the true purpose of marriage, which should therefore be not regarded as consummated until such time as there is a prospect of children. This view depends, at least in part, upon that separation between procreation and mere sex which has been brought about by contraceptives. Contraceptives have altered the whole aspect of sex and marriage, and have made distinctions necessary which could formerly have been ignored. People may come together for sex alone, as occurs in prostitution, or for companionship involving a sexual element, as in Judge Lindsey's companionate marriage, or, finally, for the purpose of rearing a family. These are all different, and no morality can be adequate to modern circumstances which confounds them in one indiscriminate total. |