A social-constructionist, narrative understanding of the church's morality on sex

Abstract

This article can be described as a social constructionist, narrative understanding of a group of selected South African white Christians' experience and perceptions regarding sexual morality in the context of heterosexual couples. In this article we will encounter alternative descriptions of sex, sexuality and marriage. The assertion is made that sexual morality should be understood within a relational contextual view of human interaction. This entails a shift away from act-centred, universally right or wrong sexually moral behaviour. These contentions are grounded in a thickened description of sex, sexuality and marriage, through which the thin, act-centred discourse of sex as coitus and marriage as ceremonial consent is deconstructed. A few guidelines are also being made in view of the church and parents. The authors use the metaphor of the board game "snakes and ladders" to enlighten the underlying worldview and findings, thereby situating sexual morality within the sphere of human social interaction and reality.