“Sometimes hormones just take over, you know?” he continued.
He was definitely an idiot. But I nodded. I wasn’t agreeing. “So we have a supporter of Kant? You’re willing to be celibate for the rest of your life to remove such temptations and possible uncontrollable urges to violate another? At the very least would you be willing to engage in sexual intercourse for the sole purpose of procreation and not outside of that purpose?”
More students laughed, and the kid took it in stride. If nothing else, he was laid-back and didn’t mind the attention. Actually, I was starting to think he liked it very much. Kane craned his neck around to see the kid.
“I wouldn’t go that far.” The kid smiled at me as he shoved his tongue in his cheek playfully. “I like sex a bit too much.” He winked at me.
“Then how about you do us all a favor and get yourself castrated since you clearly can’t be trusted with your cock.” Kane’s tone was cool, but there was a bitterness there too. Kane had been staring at the kid as he’d tried to flirt with me after all.
The kid scoffed. “I didn’t say I couldn’t control myself—only that I understood the point Kant was making.”
“So,” I said loudly, pulling the attention of the class back to me before things got heated and Kane used the word cock again. “Is it fair to say you understand the premise of Kant’s argument—sexual drive can reduce a person’s capacity to think and behave rationally—but you wouldn’t go so far as to say that it removes a person’s responsibility to act appropriately?”
Kane stared at me, but he was expressionless as I waited for the kid to respond.
“Yeah,” the kid finally agreed.
Kane rolled his eyes.
“Would you care to elaborate on your position, Mr. Thorson?”
I turned my focus to Kane.
He studied me for a moment. “It’s complicated.”
I laughed as did a few others who clearly remembered his refusal to delve into justice a few weeks before. “It’s also your topic.”
He rolled his eyes again, but it was playful this time. “Fine. I think people are well and truly able to think of their partner as much as themselves during sex. The fear of violating another as though we’re all nothing more than animals is absurd. If that were the case, then every woman in the world would be a victim by now.”
“Many have been,” I said quietly, forcing myself to look at him.
“I know.” His voice was just as quiet. “I’m not trying to diminish that. But we’re not animals. This notion that sex reduces us to something inhuman is ridiculous to me. I feel very human when I… I’m not focusing on a piece of you—I mean … not you you… I’m not focusing on a piece of a woman when I… Just in general, I’m saying.” He rolled his eyes as he shook his head.
My cheeks burned, but nearly all eyes were on Kane, and the flirt next to him was practically drooling.
He was silent for a moment. “I get it,” he said as his lips pursed and his brow furrowed. “Some relationships are based on the physicality of the act and nothing more. I … get that.” He glanced at me, but then he looked back down. “But some are rooted in something more, and there is no chance of objectifying your partner in that situation. Not for me.” He looked back up at me, and he didn’t look away.
I couldn’t hear the collective female sigh, but the rise and fall of shoulders, predominantly female, though a few males as well, was like a nonverbal reaction that implied the sighs were simply being stifled. I was stifling mine too.
“I know,” I whispered before I could stop myself. I cleared my throat as my cheeks burned. “I mean … yes … err… I understand. I understand your point.” Shit.
Kane bit his lip even as he smirked. “And Kant’s a fucking idiot if he didn’t figure that out,” he added.
And the dreamy eyes all bulged, and then students snickered.
I cleared my throat again. “That reminds me of an interesting paper I read once on this very subject. Essentially, you have all these different sexual behaviors—deviant and otherwise—and they’re all a part of the study of sexual ethics. So, you have everything from procreation to prostitution to pedophilia all lumped into one category of study. This particular article broke down very simply what is morally acceptable versus morally not acceptable. The rationale was that in order for the behavior to pass the litmus test of morality there had to exist within it a reciprocation. And the reciprocation had to be mutually beneficial. If so, then no further question existed as to the moral acceptableness of the behavior. Thoughts on that?”
I leaned against the desk again, clasping the edge of the desktop.
“How about we hear from some of the women,” I suggested.
A middle aged woman sitting in the front row at the very end, raised her hand.
“Yes,” I said.