Goldman And Goldman's Definition Of Sexual Desire

In this paper I will be looking at Goldman’s definition of sexual desire and discussing why it may be too broad of a definition. I will also suggest ways in which Goldman’s definition could be improved with a little specificity. Goldman defines sexual desire as the want to be in contact with another person’s body and the pleasure that the contact produces. He defines sexual activity as the activity which fulfills these desires and achieves pleasure. According to Goldman, contact with another person’s body is the minimum requirement that is needed for sexual desire. However, he firmly denies that sex is just a means to an end. Therefore, sex is not just for the purpose of reproduction, an expression of emotions, or a way to communicate. If one were to be in accordance with sex being a means to an end, then anything that did not meet that criterion would automatically be deemed as perverse. Thus, if someone were to have sex for any other reason they would be seen as perverted, according to this claim. Goldman also believed that a person did not always have to be attracted just to someone’s body. In

Sexual activity would be any activity that involves such contact and fulfills the desires of the agent. This genital contact could involve another person contacting them in different ways such as orally, manually, anally or vaginally. However, this contact does not require another person’s body in order to be deemed as a sexual act, which is why I chose to exclude that aspect from the definition. I have done so because this pleasure could be achieved with contact with one’s own genitals and with the help of specific tools, whether someone else is there or not. Someone could desire genital contact from another person, but engage in contact themselves and still fulfill the desire of the