ABSTRACT
In order to challenge sexual harassment, violence, and abuse, people need to understand and appreciate the values and norms that undergird the condemnation of these behaviors if they are to articulate and embody them and effectively challenge those who violate them. Yet, candid ethical conversations within faith and public communities about sexuality and gender are almost taboo. This chapter addresses the need to break this silence, despite the job-related risks this may pose, especially for graduate students, seminarians, and professors in some church-affiliated academic institutions. This chapter attends particularly to the way such threats are evidenced in the sexual ethics classrooms at Roman Catholic institutions, though this problem is not unique to this denomination. The author advocates “critical fidelity” toward authoritative church teachings about sexuality and gender, offering pedagogical strategies that may reduce the vocational risks that accompany appreciative yet critical analysis of perspectives on sexuality and gender.
