Sexual abstinence

Sexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from sexual intercourse and (usually) other sexual activity. Persons abstaining from sex typically do so for reasons of chastity, to prevent conception, to prevent the transmission of pathogens, or due to a lack of desire to participate in sexual activity.

Premarital chastity

Main article: Chastity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many religious and ethical systems proscribe sexual activities between a person and anyone other than a spouse of that person, including most denominational variations of Judaism, Christianity, and Isalm, and, historically, many legal systems and societal norms. In such contexts, sexual abstinence is (was) prescribed for unmarried persons for the purpose of chastity. Chastity is sometimes used synonymously with sexual abstinence, but the mechanisms of chastity are typically largely different for persons who assume different societal roles. For example, in most cultural, ethical, and religious contexts, coitus within monogamous marriage is not considered to be opposed to chastity.

Related Topics:
Judaism - Christianity - Isalm - Chastity - Coitus - Monogamous - Marriage

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Western attitudes

Historically, there has been a swing from the sexually free end of the Industrial Revolution to the chaste values of the early Victorian period. This was then followed by a new puritanism from the late Victorian era to the early 1900s. This important transformation often colours discussion of sexual behaviour in the later 20th century period. The First World War began a return to sexual freedom and indulgence, but more often than not the appearance of conforming to the earlier moral values of abstinence before marriage was retained. With the conclusion of the Second World War, the societal importance of abstinence declined swiftly. The advent of the oral contraceptive pill and widely available antibiotics surpressed many earthly consequences of wide and free sexual behaviour, while social mores were also changing. By the 1970s, abandonment of premarital chastity was no longer taboo in the majority of western societies; perhaps even the reverse: that members of both sexes would have experienced a number of sexual partners before marriage. Some cultural groups continued to place a value on the moral purity of an abstainer, but abstinence was caught up in a wider re-evaluation of moral values.

Related Topics:
Industrial Revolution - Victorian - Puritanism - 20th century - First World War - Second World War - Oral contraceptive - Antibiotics - 1970s - Moral values

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anthropologists and social historians have noted that many cultures such as Victorian Britain or the rural areas in the modern United States, which formally place a high value on abstinence until marriage, actually have a large amount of pre-marital sexual activity in which there is no actual sexual intercourse and which preserve a state known as technical virginity.

Related Topics:
Sexual intercourse - Technical virginity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In some cultures, those who infringe the rules regarding chastity may be ostracized. Social reacceptance can sometimes be regained by marriage between the two. In the West, even as late as the mid-20th century, there was a stigma attached to being a 'one-parent family' and an illegitimate child could be legitimized by the marriage of the parents. (This latter is still the case in many Western countries, though the lifting of legal penalties and social stigma regarding illegitimacy has rendered this irrelevant to social acceptance.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~