Morality doesn’t reside in pleasure, this should be clear. Love also is not pleasure, it is far from it, in fact pleasure can even become anti love if you let it. The erogenous zones if stimulated can give pleasure regardless of love.
“Pleasure by its very essence is a good that is merely temporary, belonging solely to a given subject—its not a supra subjective or transsubjective good. So as long as this good is considered to be the complete basis of the moral norm, there can be no way of transcending what is good only for me. “
Yes the only obligated sexual act, is the vaginal penetration because that’s the only way to procreate. The couples understand that. So if they understand about that, they know that the body has a role, but then there is where love enters in the equation. In fact love should have entered it from before marriage. (The relation between persons is love, the summary of the commandments is to love like Jesus loves.) That is why sexual intercourse should only be done after marriage, because at that point love is suppose to have reach certain maturity between the couple. Where “sexual love” is not the primary reason, but procreation from the loving of persons, of a man and a woman. Love before marriage should help guard from the utilitarian property, as sexual intercourse wasn’t even in the mix. (You love the other because of the person.)
Affectivity leans on things about the person of the other sex not directed at the body (femininity, masculinity, etc). Tenderness enters in affectivity. Sensuality leans directly to the body and has a utilitarian characteristic. (It is said men tend to be more sensual and women tend to be more affective). Both of these constitute the subjective profile of love. Neither of them tend to the affirmation of the value of the person. So the most important part of love, is the objective profile, this takes what is the will and the human interiority (spirit) giving its personal character. This is the one that gives the affirmation of the value of the person, it is mainly a decision. (Love can be seen as an integration of love)
—You say:
Quote:
“”Per se, a spouse can not use the catholic morality in order to refuse to give or to receive sexual foreplay in the context of the marital act.””
When is love something about owing things, worst if they are seen as sexual obligations. So because I am married you owe me this or that, isn’t that the utilitarian characteristic talking? The basic principle is giving yourself (spousal love), wanting the best for the other, sometimes more than for yourself. For me, if someone doesn’t want to do something (some sexual act), your love for the other will help you refrain from something the other person would believe it hurts him as a person (for the sense that you cannot state that my pleasure is more important than you, and in love, in spousal love that will not be a problem, because you want all the good for the person). Pleasure is not a problem for love, as love gives the proper value to the person, love knows that pleasure needs to be subordinated. Also, where is the love virtue, self mastery, the abstinence, the moderation, the temperance, sex cannot be as strong as to let you do something that could hurt the other person, just because it feels good (for a moment). As love wants the best for the other person, in fact as God is the “absolute good”, you will want God for the other. For example, I am a guy and I don’t think oral stimulation is needed or nice (in giving or receiving) (would it give pleasure, probably yes, as you are stimulating erogenous zones), I am more inclined to state that the woman needs more stimulation, not the man (but I can only talk for myself). Then if my future wife would want that type of stimulation and for me it offends me in a way (or viceversa), then I am sure that her love would be greater than a sexual action, therefore the sexual action will not be done, simply because she understands that it could hurt me. Sexual values are being subordinated to the dignity of the person in a way.
Also, doesnt love include sacrifice too. Spousal love should have similar characteristics don’t you think. (The “sacrifice” should be for the more important value)(Even the sacrifice is not seen much as a sacrifice because you love, that’s the power love has).
The problem with sex is that man and woman have different sexual rhythms. Only love can suppress the utilitarian property, as abuse can be done very easily in the sexual act (and most of the times more easily to women. In fact women tends easier to love (to give herself) because of the characteristics of affectivity (in short words it creates an ambient of closeness), but affectivity if not corrected can idealize and destroy love).
You cant state that the morality of the marital act states that persons have to, in a sense, subordinate sexually. It’s the other way around, affirm the value of the person, affirm the value that it always has had, that value is always above the sexual value. Well, a person has the sexual values, not the other way around.
The right of the marital act is not to give pleasure, is to love. It is not to get someone to climax, it is to love the person of the other sex and procreate. Only In love, things will be in harmony, because you are respecting each others essence, affirming each other values, over other values.
"The utilitarian mentality point is to obtain the greatest possible pleasure, which the sexual sphere provides in such a prominent degree in the form of libido. Catholics ethics, however, protests in the name of its personalistics presuppositions: one may not be led by the “balance of pleasure” alone where the relation to the person comes into play— the person may not in any way be an object of use.”