Religion, the Body, and Sexuality

Name: Religion, the Body, and Sexuality
Brand: Taylor & Francis

Taylor & Francis

How does religion relate to bodies and sexualities? Many people would answer, simply, \""through repression,\"" but the relationship is much more complicated than that. While many religions draw boundaries between what they consider to be appropriate and inappropriate use of the human body, especially in the realm of sexuality, the same religions often celebrate human sexuality and even expect sexual partners to provide each other with sexual pleasure. Celibacy, too, is more than just repression, and sometimes it is even seen as providing the practitioner with great spiritual power; in other settings, the sex act itself is understood to provide this power.