Sexual abstinence

Abstinence
Background
Type	Behavioral
First use	Ancient
Failure rates (first year)
Perfect use	0%
Typical use	0%
Usage
Reversibility	Immediate
User reminders	Only 100% effective birth control method
Advantages and disadvantages
STI protection	Yes
Weight gain	No effect

Sexual abstinence is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social or religious reasons.

Common reasons for practicing sexual abstinence include:

• poor health - medical celibacy
• material reasons (to prevent conception – undesired pregnancy – or sexually transmitted infection or transmission);
• psycho-sociological reasons (e.g., clinical depression, social anxiety disorder, increasing testosterone in males, or negative past experiences); or,
• legal injunctions requiring conformity.
• circumstantial reasons such as incarceration or geographical isolation.
• to focus on other matters – sublimation
• inability to find a suitable sexual partner – involuntary celibacy
• religious or philosophical reasons
• physically or emotionally unprepared

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 mid-1900s. This important transformation often colors discussion of sexual behavior in the later 20th century. World War I 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 World War II, the societal importance of abstinence declined swiftly. The advent of the first oral contraceptive pill and widely available antibiotics suppressed many consequences of wide and free sexual behavior, while social morals 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 was considered normal. Some cultural groups continued to place a value on the moral purity of an abstainer, but abstinence was caught up in a wider reevaluation of moral values.

During the early 20th century, prominent feminist and birth control advocate Margaret Sanger argued that abstinence from sexual activity led to greater endurance and strength, and was a sign of the best of the species:

"Though sex cells are placed in a part of the anatomy for the essential purpose of easily expelling them into the female for the purpose of reproduction, there are other elements in the sexual fluid which are the essence of blood, nerve, brain, and muscle. When redirected in to the building and strengthening of these, we find men or women of the greatest endurance greatest magnetic power. A girl can waste her creative powers by brooding over a love affair to the extent of exhausting her system, with the results not unlike the effects of masturbation and debauchery"[^ Sanger 1920, p. 46]

In some cultures, those who infringe the rules regarding chastity may be ostracized. Social re-acceptance 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.)

Long-term abstinence

Lifelong (or at least long-term) abstinence, often associated with religious asceticism, is distinguished from chastity before marriage. Abstinence is often viewed as an act of self-control over the natural desire to have sex. The display of the strength of character allows the abstainer to set an example for those not able to contain their "base urges." At other times, abstinence has been seen as a great social ill practiced by those who refuse to engage with the material and physical world. Some groups that propose sexual abstinence consider it an essential means to reach a particular intellectual or spiritual condition, or that chastity allows one to achieve a required self-control or self-consciousness.

Abstinence as a lifestyle

Although many individuals abstain from sex for complex reasons such as religion or morality, for some individuals, sexual abstinence is simply a lifestyle choice. Those individuals who fall into this category may have a dislike of sex (antisexualism), or are simply not interested in it (asexuality). They may view sex as an unnecessary part of human life. As with other lifestyle choices, this attitude toward sex and relationships can vary greatly. Some who choose such a lifestyle still accept sex for reproduction, some engage in romantic relationships, and some engage in masturbation.

Historical views on abstinence

Throughout history, and especially prior to the 20th century, there have been those who have held that sexual abstinence confers numerous health benefits. For males, lack of abstinence was thought to cause a reduction of vitality. In modern times, the argument has been phrased in biological terms, claiming that loss of semen through ejaculation results in a depletion of vital nutrients such as lecithin and phosphorus, which are also found at high levels in the brain. Conservation of the semen allegedly allows it to be reabsorbed back into the bloodstream and aid in the healthy development of the body. Along these lines, the noted German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche spoke of the positive physiological effects of abstinence: "The reabsorption of semen by the blood ... perhaps prompts the stimulus of power, the unrest of all forces towards the overcoming of resistances ... The feeling of power has so far mounted highest in abstinent priests and hermits" (quoted by Walter Kaufman in his classic, Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist, p. 222). Before the "sexual revolution" of the 1960s, it was commonly believed by members of the medical profession that numerous mental and physical diseases in men were caused primarily by loss of nutrients through seminal discharge, and that the deliberate conservation of this substance would lead to increased health, vitality, and intellectual prowess. This also applied to masturbation, which were also thought to lead to bedwetting and hairy palms.

Raymond W. Bernard, Ph.D. in his essay entitled Science discovers the physiological value of continence (1957) states:

"[I]t is clear that there is an important internal physiological relation between the secretions of the sex glands and the central nervous system, that the loss of these secretions, voluntarily or involuntarily, exercises a detrimental effect on the nutrition and vitality of the nerves and brain, while, on the other hand, the conservation of these secretions has a vitalizing effect on the nervous system, a regenerating effect on the endocrine glands[,] and a rejuvenating effect on the organism as a whole."

Possible physical effects

See also: Sexual intercourse § Benefits

Sexual abstinence diminishes the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. On the other hand, it may necessitate relinquishment of potential health benefits of sex.

Queens University in Belfast tracked the mortality of about 1,000 middle-aged men over the course of a decade. The study, published in 1997 in the British Medical Journal found that "men who reported the highest frequency of orgasm enjoyed a death rate half that of the laggards". The report also cited other studies to show that having sex even a few times a week may be associated with the following: improved sense of smell; reduced risk of heart disease; weight loss and overall fitness; reduced depression (in women); the relief or lessening of pain; less frequent colds and flu; better bladder control; better teeth; and improved prostate function. The report cited a study published by the British Journal of Urology International which indicated that men in their 20s can reduce by a third their chance of getting prostate cancer by ejaculating more than five times a week.

Possible psychological effects

According to a paper published by US Conservative Policy Research organisation, The Heritage Foundation, sexual abstinence in teenagers decreases the risk of contracting STDs and having children outside marriage.

It also alleges that compared to sexually abstinent teens, those who partake in sexual activity during high school years (e.g., at least until age 18) are:

• Approximately half as likely to graduate from school.
• Approximately half as likely to be accepted in of high school.
• Almost twice as likely to drop out from college.
• On average, having approximately 15 percent lower incomes.

Social background factors were also taken into account and compensated for in indications listed above. Such factors included racial orientation (caucasian, african, asian, etc.), parental education, family income, and family structure, as well as cases of teenage pregnancy, indicating that sexual abstinence itself may be the primary factor.

On the other hand, there have been numerous studies indicating that excessive repression of the sexual instinct leads to an increase in the overall level of aggression in a given society. Societies forbidding premarital sex are plagued by acts of rage and tend to have higher rates of crime and violence. There may be a link between sexual repression and aggression, insensitivity, criminal behaviour, and a greater likelihood of killing and torturing enemies.

Premarital chastity

Main article: Chastity

In most cultural, ethical, and religious contexts, coitus within marriage is not considered to be opposed to chastity. Some religious systems try to prohibit sexual activities between a person and anyone other than a spouse of that person, as have, in the past, legal systems and societal norms. In such contexts, sexual abstinence was prescribed for unmarried individuals for the purpose of chastity. Chastity has been used as a synonym for sexual abstinence, but they are similar but different behavior and restrictions.

Modern abstinence movements

Abstinence is recommended as a way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Without sexual contact, it is virtually impossible to conceive a child (other than through artificial insemination). By avoiding exposure of the sexual organs to other people, one will also avoid the sexual transmission of many diseases (STDs). Note, however, that many STDs can also be transmitted non-sexually. Some STDs (including genital warts due to human papillomavirus) are passed through skin-to-skin contact, and are either not prevented by using a condom, or such prevention is only partially effective. Further, some have noted that many do not consider oral sex or similar acts to violate abstinence. One study states that 55 percent of college students claiming abstinence had, indeed, performed oral sex. Many of these acts can transmit STDs.

However, critics note that many abstinence education programs include information that although true, is misleading. For example, many programs exaggerate the risks of oral sex; the risk of exposure to HIV through saliva is significantly less than through exposure to semen.

Advocates also claim other benefits, such as the freedom from teenage pregnancy, and the resulting ability to focus on education and preparing for one's future.

Critics of abstinence-promotion programs have indicated that abstinence-only programs are not an effective way to decrease the occurrence of diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

While some claim that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective birth control method, that only applies to perfect use. In typical use abstinence is less effective; those intending to be abstinent may not do so, either voluntarily or through nonconsensual sex. As a public health measure, it is estimated that the protection provided by abstinence may be similar to that of condoms. Detractors claim that human nature leads to a high failure rate in practice.

Pregnancy can also be avoided through selective sexual abstinence. This method is generally known as fertility awareness, or natural family planning. In order to be effective, the partners must abstain from sex for a time sufficient to ensure that no spermatozoa (which have a lifespan of up to 5–6 days) are able to fertilize an ovum (which has a lifespan of up to 48 hours). There are a variety of types of fertility awareness. Observational systems, such as the sympto-thermo method, can have correct-use failure rates as low as one percent per year under perfect use, with a two-week abstinence period (According to the WHO, this method has an estimated 25% failure rate under ordinary use). Statistical methods such as the Standard Days Method have higher correct-use failure rates.

Main article: Abstinence-only sex education

Organizations such as SIECUS have called abstinence-only programs "fear-based," and "designed to control young people’s sexual behavior by instilling fear, shame, and guilt." Author Judith Levine has argued that there might be a natural tendency of abstinence educators to escalate their messages: "Like advertising, which must continually jack up its seduction just to stay visible as other advertising proliferates, abstinence education had to make sex scarier and scarier and, at the same time, chastity sweeter." (Harmful to Minors, p. 108)

In spite of these criticisms, federal government support has made abstinence the de facto focus of sex education in the United States, so that opponents frequently adopt the line that abstinence education is acceptable only if it is combined with other methods, such as instruction in the use of condoms, and easy availability thereof. Most nations of Western Europe use more comprehensive measures, and in sharp contrast to the heated discussion in the U.S., abstinence is hardly discussed as an educational measure.

A U.S. federal government-promoted abstinence-only program was aimed at teens in 1981 in order to discourage premarital sex and unwanted pregnancies. However, recent studies showed ineffectiveness of this program. The Responsible Education About Life Act was introduced by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT) to support age-appropriate sexual education. This program is focused to provide teenagers with science-based information on sexual health, so that they can make a sound decision regarding their sex-life.

In 2006, the George W. Bush administration expanded abstinence programs from teens to adults, by introducing programs to encourage unmarried adults to remain abstinent until marriage. Family-planning advocates and researchers denounced the program as unrealistic, due to the rising age of first-time marriage in the United States.

Popularity and effectiveness

See also: Sex education

The advent of AIDS helped build a more favorable view of abstinence. However, a review of 13 U.S. sex-abstinence programs involving over 15,000 people by Oxford University found that they do not stop risky sexual behavior, or help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancy. Recently, the United States Congress also found similar results in a study done on abstinence. Currently, there are also issues as to what abstinence means: is it an abstinence from sexual intercourse, or from sexual behavior? Movements such as True Love Waits in America, which ask teenagers to refrain from sex before marriage, are heavily subscribed, but surveys of sexual behavior indicate an increase in the popularity of oral sex.

The effectiveness of abstinence programs and movements remains debated.

Chastity in religions

Some religions regard Chastity as a virtue expected of faithful adherents. This usually includes abstinence from sex for the unmarried, and fidelity to a marriage partner.

In some religions, some groups of people are expected to remain unmarried and to abstain from sex completely. These groups include monks, nuns, and priests in various sects of Buddhism and Christianity. Chastity is required of the respective sacerdotal orders. The Shakers, on the other hand, impose chastity in the form of celibacy for all members, even forgoing procreation.

While there have been cultures which achieved total sexual abstinence, such as castration cults, it is unlikely that any of them survived for a substantial period of time, due to their lack of reproduction.

Christianity

Many Christians teach that sexual intercourse is meant to take place within the context of marriage, and that sexual abstinence is the norm outside of that. But for married couples, Paul of Tarsus wrote that they should not deprive each other, except for a short time for devotion to prayer.

Catholicism defines chastity as the virtue that moderates the sexual appetite. Unmarried Catholics express chastity through sexual abstinence. Sexual intercourse within marriage is considered chaste when it retains the twofold significance of union and procreation.

Judaism

Further information: [[:Abstinence in Judaism]]

Orthodox Judaism forbids intercourse outside marriage (which is termed zenuth or promiscuity), but has no ideal of chastity. Similar to Islamic religion, abstinence is required during a woman's menstruation.

Islam

Islam also forbids intercourse outside of marriage; however, maintaining celibacy as an act of piety is strongly discouraged, and marriage for all who are able is strongly encouraged. Similar to Judaism, abstinence is practiced during the time of a woman's menstruation. Abstinence from sexual intercourse is also practiced during the dawn to dusk fasts of Ramadan or other fasting days.

Hinduism

The Hindu tradition of Brahmacharya places great emphasis on abstinence as a way of harnessing the energy of body and mind towards the goal of spiritual realization. In males, the semen (Veerya) is considered sacred, and its preservation (except when used for procreation) and conversion into higher life-energy (Ojas) is considered essential for the development of enhanced intellectual and spiritual capacities.

The blending of sexual and spiritual is portrayed in Hindu iconography, as seen in ubiquitous phallic and vaginal iconography in Hindu temples and for instance in the Kharjuraho and Konarak medieval temples, where thousands of couples having sex in endless positions, and with the gods, are carved in deep bas-relief. However, these depictions of sex are not generally understood to be a license for free sexual practices, but are instead meant to celebrate procreation as an integral part of existence in the universe. In actual practice, there is a strong societal taboo against pre-marital sex for both males and females, which still exists today in Hindu societies.

Buddhism

Buddhism in its fundamental form, does not define what is right and what is wrong in absolute terms for lay followers. Therefore the interpretation of what kinds of sexual activity is acceptable for a layperson, is not a religious matter as far as Buddhism is concerned.

Buddhist monks and nuns of most traditions are expected to refrain from all sexual activity (Japanese Buddhism being a notable exception.)

The second of the Four Noble Truths states that the ultimate cause of all suffering is attachment and unquenchable desire (tanha), and the third states that the way to eliminate suffering is to eliminate attachment and desire. Sexual practices are characterized as both attachment (kama-upadana) and desire (kama-tanha).

See also

• Asexuality
• Abstinence, be faithful, use a condom
• Abstinence-only sex education
• Antisexualism
• Celibacy
• Chastity belt
• Chastity ring
• Harmful to Minors, a book by Judith Levine which deals with sexual morality in the United States, and also discusses the issue of abstinence education
• The Fighting Temptations, a film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles which features a storyline that involves sexual morality and also explains the film's title.
• Making sense of abstinence
• Masturbation
• Purity Ball
• Religious aspects of marriage
• Refusal skills
• Spiritual marriage
• Virginity pledge

External links

• Chastity.com
• National Abstinence Clearinghouse
• Article Extract "What is Prohibited in Ramadan"