Catholic Sexual Theology and Adolescent Girls

Doris M. Kieser

Description

This book explores the intersection in contemporary Western culture of Catholic sexual theology and adolescent female developmental and sexual experiences. The voices of adolescent females, so long silent in sexual theologies, are given privilege here in the articulation of a normative theology.

Applying a feminist natural law framework, the book engages both theoretical scholarship and practical evidence from psychological and other social sciences to inform sexual theology in the Catholic tradition. Attending to gendered, developmental, and social contexts, Doris Kieser explores adolescent females’ experiences of puberty, menarche, various sexual activities, communities of support, sexual desire, and the pleasure and danger these realities reap. She critically explores historical and traditional sexual theologies and prevailing social patriarchal and androcentric sexual attitudes through a feminist lens.

The author’s attention to the voices of girls and women, and her aim to see their sexual flourishing in particular and diverse social contexts, yields a theology mindful of the rich complexities of female sexual desire, pleasure, and well-being. The result is an integrated sexual theology that grapples with the Catholic theological tradition, feminist theory and theology, and the embodied experiences of females. For anyone who is invested in the lives and well-being of adolescent females, this work uncovers both barriers and boons to their sexual flourishing.

Sujets

• Sexualité
• sexualité
• Sexualité
• Religion
• Sexuality

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 08 juin 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781771120807
• Langue: English

Extrait

CATHOLIC SEXUAL THEOLOGY AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS
Studies in Women and Religion / tudes sur les femmes et la religion
Studies in Women and Religion is a series designed to serve the needs of established scholars in this new area, whose scholarship may not conform to the parameters of more traditional series with respect to content, perspective, and/or methodology. The series will also endeavour to promote scholarship on women and religion by assisting new scholars in developing publishable manuscripts. Studies published in this series will reflect the wide range of disciplines in which the subject of women and religion is currently being studied, as well as the diversity of theoretical and methodological approaches that characterize contemporary women s studies. Books in English are published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Inquiries should be directed to the series coordinator.
Coordinators
Heidi Epstein
St. Thomas More College
University of Saskatchewan
Coordinatrice
Monique Dumais
Universit du Qu bec, Rimouski
CATHOLIC SEXUAL THEOLOGY AND ADOLESCENT GIRLS
EMBODIED FLOURISHING
Doris M. Kieser
Wilfrid Laurier University Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. This work is supported by the Research Support Fund.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Kieser, Doris, 1964-, author
Catholic sexual theology and adolescent girls : embodied flourishing / Doris M. Kieser.
(Studies in women and religion) Includes bibliographical references and index. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-77112-124-8 (pbk.).-ISBN 978-1-77112-079-1 (pdf).-ISBN 978-1-77112-080-7 (epub)
1. Sex-Religious aspects-Catholic Church. 2. Teenage girls-Sexual behavior. 3. Feminist theology. I. Title. II. Series: Studies in women and religion (Waterloo, Ont.)
BX1795.S48K53 2015 233 .5 C2015-900225-7
C2015-900226-5
Cover design by David Drummond. Front-cover image from Shutterstock_176400578 (detail). Text design by Daiva Villa, Chris Rowat Design.
2015 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC certified paper and is certified Ecologo. It contains post-consumer fibre, is processed chlorine free, and is manufactured using biogas energy.
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit http://www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Dedication
For my parents, with gratitude. ~ Laurette and Henry Kieser ~ My compass. My rock. My roots.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
1 What s a Girl to Do? An Introduction
2 Natural Law in the Roman Catholic Theological Tradition
3 Feminist Natural Law
4 Females, Sexuality, and Gender: Theological Anthropology
5 Adolescent Females in a Contemporary Context: Sex, Gender, and Development
6 Adolescent Females in a Contemporary Context: Physical/Biological Development
7 This One s for the Girls: Adolescent Females and Flourishing
8 Girls and God: Adolescent Females and a Sexual Theology of Flourishing
Notes
References
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canada Book Fund of the Government of Canada for granting funds enabling the publication of this book.
Thanks to the kind folks at WLU Press and their colleagues, particularly (in order of appearance) Lisa Quinn, Acquisitions Editor; Leslie Macredie, Website and Marketing Coordinator; Rob Kohlmeier, Managing Editor; Kristen Chew, copy editor; and my anonymous reviewers. You found merit in my thoughts, creatively bound them together, and brought them into daylight. I could not be more grateful.
The Church I love is a jumble of beauty and wisdom, oppression and sin. I owe a great deal to all women of the Church, particularly the feminist theologians and wise women of history, who have suffered for their work and opened the door for the likes of me. These saints and sinners give lively witness to the grace of women s strength and faith in the face of misogyny and sexism, and I am thankful. And for the women and men who will follow-my students and all the bright lights of youth-you are my hope and my inspiration. There is much to do.
The Academy is a quirky space, inhabited by the promise and anxiety of production, teaching, and collegiality. I consider myself fortunate to work among some rather sane, intelligent, and compassionate scholars, who generally enjoy beer. Thank God-if I had to travel this road alone, it would not be nearly so amusing. Thanks to my colleagues at St. Joseph s College, particularly those in the Corridor of Light (Matthews Kostelecky and Hoven, Nathan Kowalsky, Richard Rymarz, and Lorne Zelyck). Thanks also to my colleagues at the Canadian Theological Society for your hospitality, and especially Timothy Harvie, Robert McKeon, and Erin Green for your enthusiastic and gracious support of my scholarship.
I reserve particular space for my extraordinary female colleagues, without whose friendship and humour I would be lost in a sea of crazy. Michelle Rochard, you are an angel of kind and rigorous editing. Donna Meen, you have never failed to facilitate my work through your own, while negotiating the ideologically and financially beleaguered world of the academic library. Indre Cuplinskas, my model of prudence and compassion in a broken world, you have forged a path for us both and for the females yet to occupy this particular ivory tower. I am so very grateful to you all.
Thanks to my colleagues and clients at Insight Psychological, Inc., with whom I have worked for many years. The courage of my clients and the steady caring of my colleagues are ever reminders to me that wellness and grace go hand in hand. I offer special thanks to Cory Hrushka-you steer this particular ship and never cease to amaze.
J. Rowan Scott has for many years been my advocate, supporter, and sounding board. Without your kind wisdoms, I would not be writing these words of thanks, which will never suffice.
To my friends and extended family members who have stood close to me throughout this project, who bring the spicy bean dip to the party and enrich my life, thank you for blessing me with your love: Sandy MacPhail, Margolee Horn, TC Yarema, Michael Liboiron, Kathleen Sullivan, Brendan Leier, Glenn MacDonald, Marilyn Komarnisky, Robert Sheard, Anthony Easton, Bonnie Moser, Yvonne McKinnon, Zinia Pritchard, Jim Parsons, Chris and Susan Kieser, Teresa Bigsby, Sharon Bachand, Alyssa Atkinson, Marion McIntyre, and Claude Prefontaine.
My immediate family does an excellent job helping me to keep my feet on the ground while my head is in the clouds. Elaine and Don Groenenboom; David and Coreen Kieser; Brent and Lori Kieser; Jed, Emily, and Haley Groenenboom; Hank, Ivy, Daniel, and Gabrielle Kieser; and my mother Laurette, ever remind me of whence I come. I love all you weirdos.
Very shortly after I submitted this manuscript to WLU Press, my father, Henry, died rather unexpectedly. He saw neither the cover of the book nor the words in print. I hope he is proud.
In the immortal words of Etta James: At last.
CHAPTER ONE WHAT S A GIRL TO DO? AN INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
What is a girl to do? The moral questions facing Western adolescent females today, particularly those regarding sexual expression, are complex and engaging. The diverse cultural influences facing contemporary adolescent females intersect in the concrete lives of actual girls in the throes of teen spirit. La Senza Girl, Pope Francis I, Maxim , Girl Guides, Twitter, Miley Cyrus, Instagram, and Mother Teresa exist side by side in the melee of consumer and media messages about what it means to be an adolescent female. Running quietly in parallel to these influences are parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, mentors, siblings, and friends. More immediate personal influences on adolescent females, those quiet influences are living with the reality of adolescence alongside teen girls, often drawing them, hopefully, toward a life of flourishing, integrity, safety, joy, and faith. While external influences encourage girls to spend dollars on constructing external beauty, those close to girls invest hours in fostering their personal self-awareness, intelligence, emotional insight, physical capacity, relational maturity, and life-sustaining spirituality. Adolescent female flourishing is precarious precisely because the girls engagement with their worlds is so full of ambiguity.
In the thick and thin of both teaching undergraduate theology and providing psychological counselling to adolescent and adult females, few questions touch me more profoundly than those pertaining to gender, sex, sexuality, and sexual experience. Undergraduate students, female and male, are generally keen to approach these questions and their related issues meaningfully when in a safe environment created precisely for such exploration. Conversely, adolescent females tend, generally, to be more hesitant to address sex-related issues, despite acknowledging the pervasive presence of sex in their lives (for b