User:Valoem/Involuntary celibacy
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Involuntary celibacy (incel) is chronic near-total or total absence from sexual activity due to involuntary reasons. While the term celibacy, on its own, usually implies being voluntarily[dubious – discuss] unmarried and sexually abstinent, celibacy within the phrase involuntary celibacy refers to a general lack of sexual activity for reasons other than voluntary ones (such as sexual abstinence, asexuality, or antisexualism).
Distinct from other forms of celibacy,[citation needed] involuntary celibacy is a term used to describe individuals who are just as sexually driven as typical individuals, but despite a normal amount of effort on their part or other circumstances have failed to produce sexual partnerships. Incel individuals therefore lack intimate physical connection for very long periods of their adult lives.
Most individuals identifying as incel exhibit the same social behaviors as their peers who have sex lives.[1] A few of the involuntarily celibate population might exhibit discernible personality disorders that preclude current and future sexual opportunities, but the small amount of research done on this subject indicates that the incel population are on the whole socially normal, otherwise healthy individuals whose frustration is merely a product of their lack of sex, and not vice versa.[1]
Prevalence
There is extremely little sexological study regarding involuntary celibacy.[1]
Causes
A study on modern involuntary celibacy by Denise Donnelly, an associate professor of sociology from Georgia State University, Involuntary celibacy: A life course analysis, was published in 2001 and had been initiated in 1998, after a member of an online discussion group for involuntary celibates inquired about current research on the subject.[1][2] In an analysis by Donnelly et al. of members of an on-line discussion group for incelibates three subsets were identified: 34 unmarried virgins, 25 single non-virgins and 23 non-virgins with partners. Her research indicated that they tended to miss key milestones in their sexual trajectory (e.g. dating, kissing, sexual activity) and found themselves on a radically different sexual development path than their peers. Other factors, as identified in Donnelly’s 2001 life course analysis include shyness; inability to relate to others; poor body image; difficult living arrangements (e.g. with parents, roommates, or in an isolated area); inconvenient work arrangements; lack of transportation; disinterest in having sex in the absence of love or a relationship; commitment to a marriage or relationship with a partner who is not interested in having sex with them; reduced physical ability to have sex as a result of illness, injury or handicap, or because of difficulty in developing and maintaining erections as a result of erectile dysfunction or impotence.[1] Donnelly published a study on involuntary celibacy within marriage in 2008.[3]
In historian Elizabeth Abbott's book The History of Celibacy, examples cited include those living amidst skewed sex ratios caused by the death of many men in a war or preferential abandonment or abortion of females, prisoners, those without access to the money needed to deal with a child, those denied the right to marry by social norms like widows in certain Hindu communities or younger sisters in societies that call for the oldest to be married first, women whose families lack money for the dowries required by their society, people who would lose their jobs if they were known to be sexually active like apprentices and journeymen in certain trades in Medieval Europe, or certain Western domestic servant or educator positions prior to the previous centuries, and men castrated against their will.[4]
Impact
Donnelly says 35% of the 82 celibates expressed dissatisfaction, frustration, or anger about their lack of sexual relationships. If the person lacks any such experience while all of his or her peers have it, psychological consequences can result;[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Donnelly D, Burgess E, Anderson S, et al (2001). "Involuntary celibacy: A life course analysis". Journal of Sex Research 38(2), 159–69. doi:10.1080/00224490109552083 reprinted in Stombler, Mindy (2004). Sex Matters: The Sexuality and Society Reader. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0205359744.
- ^ "For many, sexless lifestyle is not a choice" (Press release). Georgia State University. July 24, 2001. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ Donnelly D, Burgess E (2008). "The decision to remain in an involuntarily celibate relationship". Journal of Marriage and Family 70(2):519–35.
- ^ Elizabeth Abbott (2001). "Coerced Celibacy: Involuntary Celibacy". A History of Celibacy. New York: Da Capo Press. pp. 303–337. ISBN 0-306-81041-7.