A Just and True Love: Feminism at the Frontiers of Theological Ethics: Essays in Honor of Margaret Farley

Feminist Theology and Sexual Ethics

20 Chapter One Feminist Theology and Sexual Ethics Lisa Sowle Cahill North American feminist theory originated with a commitment to women’s autonomy and rights that emerged within and employed the vocabulary of Western (North Atlantic) liberal political traditions. This commitment has helped define feminist theology .1 But over the past decade and a half or so, feminism has shifted into a postmodern gear in which cultural and experiential differences among women have moved to the center of attention. The result has been greater respect for women of cultures in the South, more selfcriticism by liberal feminists, and epistemological agnosticism about the content of women’s “needs” and “rights.”2 Both the liberal interest in the self-determination of women and the postmodern attention to social location and pluralism remain important constituents of feminist thought. At the same time, we have now entered a new phase in which solidarity, dialogue and cooperative action by and for women are inspiring renewed interest in finding “common ground” (if not standards that are strictly “universal”) in which to root effective transnational critique and advocacy by and for women around the world.3 Among theologians, Margaret Farley has been a leader in the development of feminist theology through these phases. From the beginning , she has held together in her own work the feminist “moments” of liberal freedom, postmodern criticism, and moral commonality. Setting the feminist motto, “the personal is political,” in a theological context, she furthered the integration of the personal and social dimensions of ethics by subjecting specific behavioral norms as well as institutionalized practices to critique from the perspective of gender equality. Nowhere is this more evident than in her treatment of sexual morality. Farley analyzes the way theologically sanctioned institutions of marriage and family affect the personal situations of women. She also analyzes how power relations in and around these institutions affect the personal lives and possibilities of divorced Catholics, of gays and lesbians, and of women at risk for AIDS. She has moved her ethical theory ever more decisively into the realm of political action. The feminist theological connection between theory, solidarity, and practical political action is demonstrated in her commitment to improve the status of women and girls worldwide, a recent focus of which has been African women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. This essay will accentuate the ways in which Farley has utilized resources in the Roman Catholic moral tradition to develop a feminist theological ethics and a sexual ethics that can meet the challenges of globalization. She employs concepts like moral freedom, common good, and social justice, as well as the idea that there are at least some basic dimensions of human experience and morality that are shared across cultures and eras. She reinterprets these elements in a way that is both historically critical and ecumenical, leading the way for many other Catholic, ecumenical feminist ethicists. A list of these would include, but hardly be limited to, Christine Gudorf, Barbara Hilkert Andolsen, Patricia Beattie Jung, Jean Porter, Anne Patrick, Leslie Griffin, Cathleen Kaveny, Cristina Traina, Maura Ryan, Mary Rose D’Angelo, Julie Hanlon Rubio, and myself. First, I shall explicate Farley ’s basic approach as a feminist theological ethicist, showing how she combines elements such as individual freedom along with the common good, the definition of a clear justice agenda along with nuanced attention to women’s plural cultural situations, and postmodern social criticism along with basic shared values. Finally, I will apply this approach with its defining concerns to three issues of sexual ethics that Farley has addressed (marriage and family, homosexuality, AIDS), linking expectations and opportunities for personal behavior to social Feminist Theology and Sexual Ethics 21 institutions, politics, and engagement for social change according to the norm of justice. A FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL APPROACH In 1996, Margaret Farley joined with fellow Catholic moral theologians Charles Curran and Richard McCormick to edit a book showcasing and advancing the work of Catholic feminist ethicists.4 The two essays of Farley’s own that were selected for this volume may reasonably be taken as paradigmatic of the themes and orientations she considers central to her work. In the volume’s opening piece, Farley balances contrasting concepts to achieve a flexible and nuanced framework for feminist theology. For example, she signals a transition in feminist thought from a concern with women’s general well-being to a growing recognition of women’s diverse contexts.5 Yet, despite...