what is the relationship between moral standards and on

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What is the relationship between moral standards and On-Line Dating?

Introduction

Morality is an issue which affects the way in which we act, it is part of the process which

helps us make decisions and defines us as human beings. efore enrolling with an online

agency we must make the moral decision on whether it is correct for oursel!es. We must

also e!aluate the risks of others being immoral at the same time.

Morality, thinking philosophically

Morality is an issue which philosophers ha!e dedicated much time to. "he definition of

what is moral or not !aries greatly between indi!iduals# this thought is linked to

relati!ism moral philosophy. $elati!ism addresses the indi!idual !iewpoint that what is

right for me may not be right for someone else%. Moral philosophy has it&s roots in

'ncient (reece when 'ristotle raised the idea of !irtue ethics which is a hierarchical way

of thinking where one is first law abiding and ultimately a !irtuous being, but this does

not deal with the why an act is moral or not). *tilitarianism which dates back to the %+ th

century takes the !iewpoint that an act is morally good if the act increases o!erall

happiness of society# the name being deri!ed from utility economic term for gain. "he

/uestion is raised on whether this is a rele!ant way of thinking of morality as it takes noaccount of the act itself e.g. if 0 crash my car whilst dri!ing under the influence of

alcohol causing me to miss an e!ent in which would ha!e resulted in my death 1 this

thinking would mean drink dri!ing in this case was morally 2ustified33. "his is a direct

contrast of the !iewpoint of Duty ethics also known as deontological ethics. Duty ethics

concentrate on the act itself# that each human being has a duty to do good and by carrying

out this duty regardless of the conse/uences one is being morally good4. 0 would

recommend that our own moral standards lie somewhere between the two main schools

of thought that both the moti!ation and outcome of an act make it morally good or bad.

What are our moral standards?

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Moral standards !ary greatly on what we belie!e# some belie!e that homose5uality is

immoral whereas all but a minority would agree that bestiality for e5ample is highly

immoral. "he reason that we all ha!e !arying moral standards is due to e5periences that

we ha!e encountered in our li!es. ' study of moral standards between %+)+ and %+67 in

the *8' found that moral standards had changed, world war two being an instrument for

change# the study found that it was more acceptable to assert 9apitalist ideas on other

states# it also found that people found it acceptable to use imperfect knowledge of another

party to gain economically# it also found that religion played a higher role, 9hristian

morals took the foreground in %+6:&s 'merica6. "his could possibly be due to a higher

le!el of national and religious pride which is affected by War WW00 and the 9old War.

Our own standards are shaped by our peers& ideas, laws of the time, media and education

as well as other e5periences.

The relationship between morality and law

Legal systems are set up to be 2ust and fair on the basis of human thought and idea# this is

portrayed in the idea of $awlsian 2ustice. $awlsian 2ustice theorises that indi!iduals will

attempt to create laws that benefit themsel!es and under a perfect democratic system the

ma2ority will ha!e the laws suited to them, this is based on their own moral 2udgment;. 0t

is clear that there is a link between law and morality as both are human ideas. "here are

many e5amples of acts which are illegal and seen as immoral as they directly affect

others, theses acts are answerable to society as they harm others but laws !ary

greatly dependent on morality. 0n some states sharia law is adopted and as a result the law

is based on the moral !alues of 0slam itself# crimes possible are adultery, consumption of

alcohol, ha!ing beliefs other than 0slam. 8ome of which parallel the historic situation in

the *> where witchcraft was punishable by society.

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'n e5ample of 8haria law affecting on-line dating and the moral position was the arrests

of ;7 people in 0ran by the morality police in )::47. Despite the !arying moral standards

there are still acts deemed as criminal in the *> as they are immoral, prostitution being

one which is currently illegal despite pressures by some groups to decriminalie. "here is

some e!idence howe!er in-conclusi!e that on-line dating has been used to solicit se5. 0n

@apan this was the greatest crime committed by numbers as a result of internet dating

with o!er 4:: cases reported in the first half of )::) +# 0n the *> some se5-finding sites

discussed later ha!e profiles of Ahot women eager to please generous manB, whether

this refers to him being well endowed or merely financially able to pay would be open to

debate meaning that the element of proof is missing to confirm this.

Activities that may be seen as immoral

"here are many acti!ities that some people carry out that are seen as immoral by others

such as ha!ing se5 before marriage or watching pornography# some of theses acts are

restricted by law whilst some are not and re/uires our own moral 2udgement.

8e5 finding sites are e5amples of those which can be deemed as immoral. 8uch sites as

www.adultfrienfinder.com, can be found by typing in search phrases such as Afind se5

tonightB. "he names and descriptions only con2ure up ideas of a hedonistic paradise for

some and !isions of depra!ity for others. ecause there is no clear definition of morality

and law is about balancing rights of one with another these sites remain legal in most

western ci!iliations.

8e5 sites do howe!er bring up two legal problems, the age restrictions re/uired for these

sites and also the display of obscene images. 0t is illegal under 8cot&s Law to display

obscene or lewd images publicly. "he law surrounding this will parallel Watt ! 'nnan

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Drudge and 'merica Online 0nc the *8 District court agreed with this that 'merica

Online were not responsible for the material published on-line%).

"he acceptance of se5 specific sites is a contrast to the !iew of 6 years ago when

Dateline traditional dating agency had a /uestion regarding willingness to ha!e se5

before marriage# this was remo!ed after go!ernment pressure by the then 8ecretary of

Marriage ureau, Lt 9ol Corman arnell who posed as a ): year old female to

in!estigate on-line dating%.

"he changing attitudes towards marriage also may be a catalyst for the e5plosion in

popularity of online dating sites, di!orce rates are at an all time high /uadrupled during

the %++:&s%4 and it is now seen as morally acceptable for single mothers and single

people# this eckhaus Efsnak2 belie!es it is a result of the empowerment of women and

change in social recognition%6.

'ttitudes towards se5 ha!e clearly changed in terms of when and how often we can ha!e

se5 as much as with whom# homo-se5uality has the same legal position as heterose5uality

in the *> today, although not in all countries, in the *8 right wing groups ha!e stopped

9i!il partnership whilst in more e5treme cases the punishment is death many middle

eastern states. "here is clear e!idence of the use of the internet to pro!ide partners for

homose5uals in the same way as heterose5uals by simply ticking men seeking men rather

than men seeking women.

"he morality of homose5uality is one that is indi!idual and personal, for someone who

has homose5ual tendencies there will probably be no moral issues where as for others

such as religious groups this is seen as immoral and unnatural as most religions do not

pro!ide any mention of this. 0t has been noted that the internet and use of se5 sites ha!e

facilitated se5 and the spread of 8e5ually "ransmitted 0nfections 8"0&s, a study in the

*8 found that men seeking men were se!en times more likely to ha!e se5 as a result of

internet relationships%;, there is a clear link but this can be due to discretion not wanting

others to know your se5ual habits or a lack of possible partners.

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"he discretion and secrecy of online dating leads to another issueF is it okay to lie on-

line? Whilst on-line members can become anyone they want, it is not unknown for users

of these sites to us fake profiles, in fact one in three profiles on dating sites are fake%


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which we lead is the factor of morality and not online dating this merely pro!ides a !essel

on which these changes can ride.

Reerences

%,),,4 'lai, Galerie )::4, Media ethics and 8ocial 9hange, =dinburgh,

=dinburgh *ni!ersity ress

;, %7 @ohnson, Deborah )::%, computer ethics, rd ed, new 2ersey, rentice-Hall.

egan aul

%4 McDermott)::6, Did Lo!e con/uer marriage, spiked-online, a!ailable fromIhttpFJJwww.spiked-online.comJinde5Jphp?J;+6

%6 ristow)::;, 're we addtcied to lo!e, a!ailable from httpFJJwww.spiked-

online.comJinde5Jphp?J6):

%; ull, H0G and 8e5ually transmitted infection risk beha!iors of men seeking se5with men on-line, 'merican @ournal of ublic Health, )::% Gol +%F;

%< WikipediaF $omanceK8cam, a!ailable from

httpFJJen.wikipedia.orkJwiki.romanceKscam

%+ andura, ' %++%, %++%. !ocial cognitive theory o moral thought andaction. 0n W. M. >urtines E @. L. (ewirt =ds., Handbook of moralbehavior and development Gol. %, pp. 46-%:.

Hillsdale, C@F =rlbaum
http://www.spiked-online.com/index/php?/695http://en.wikipedia.ork/wiki.romance_scamhttp://www.spiked-online.com/index/php?/695http://en.wikipedia.ork/wiki.romance_scam

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