The Celibate FAQ
- I ask myself, 'Where does lust come from? Is it something
to yield to or be overcome?'
- -Bluer than Midnight, The The
- We commonly speak of the sex 'drive', as if it, like hunger,
must be satisfied, or a person will die. Yet there is no evidence that
celibacy is in any way damaging to one's health, and it is clear that many
celibates lead long, happy lives. Celibacy should be recognised as a valid
alternative sexual lifestyle, although probably not everyone is suited to
it.
- -J. S. Hyde, Understanding Human Sexuality, 1986
- Celibacy is hereditary. If your parents didn't have sex,
the chances are you won't have sex.
- -Anonymous.
- The position is undignified, the expense ruinous and the
pleasure only momentary.
- -The Duke of Wellington
- Shopping is better than sex. At least after shopping, if
you're not satisfied, you can exchange it for something you really like.
- -Adrienne Gusoff
Contents:
- 0: Where does this document come from?
- 1: What kind of people are celibate?
- 2: Is there really a celibate viewpoint?
- 3: Let's hear some other opinions!
- 4: How can you tell people you are celibate?
- 5: How can I help my local celibate?
- 6: What are the advantages of celibacy?
- 7: What are the disadvantages?
- 8: Who are the celebrity celibates?
- 9: Alternatives to Sex
- 10: Let's talk about sticky stuff
- 11: Celibate booklist
- 12: Other Resources
- 13: Conclusion
0: Where does this
document come
from?
This FAQ is the work of Martin Poulter, (Home
Page)
(E-mail). It
will be posted by him to relevant newsgroups whenever he remembers to do
so. It is available on the
Web at http://www.glandscape.com/celibate.html
It was created in response to the lack of celibate stuff (outside
religious contexts) on the internet, and in response to the 'net's
anti-celibate (to say the least) bias.
I need material for this FAQ. Please send me:
- Pointers to magazine articles on celibacy
- Quotes from the famous about celibacy
- Observations on celibacy from your own life
- Pointers to discussion forums where celibacy is a topic
- Names of famous celibates (cite your evidence, please)
- Celibate merchandise(?!) (What we're on the look out for at the
moment is some sort of ear ring or badge that will indicate our celibate
status and so save us from being targetted by lecherous people at parties
etc.)
1: What kind of people
are
celibate?
A celibate is someone who voluntarily abstains from sex. If you are
involuntarily celibate, there is a separate web page
for your predicament (but keep reading anyway!). Often when
someone makes a conscious decision to be celibate, there is a religious
motive, but there are several other possible reasons.
- There are single people who believe that sex should only happen within
marriage. This might be due to religious belief, or due to a need for
security.
- The next category is that of monks, nuns, priests and religious people
for whom celibacy is a part of a spiritual path.
- There are victims of sexual abuse, for whom sex is too much of an
emotionally loaded thing.
- There are people who regard sex as simply not worth the hassle,
often because they have happen to have low sex drives. Included in this
category are people who
are happy to go on dates, have emotional relationships and even marry, but
who don't have sex. In some parts of the US, this kind of relationship is
known as the "Lover Lite", or "Platonic Plus". As concerns grow over
AIDS and as women feel more confident to say "no" to sex, this
category is on the increase (see quote below).
The numbers of people with a low basic interest in sex are much
higher
than you would think, probably because of the social pressure not to admit
to it. In a survey of women in the UK in 1999, nearly 20% claimed not to
be interested in sex. A large survey published in JAMA (Journal of the
American Medical Association) using data collected in 1992 reported that
15% of men aged 18-59, and 30% of women have a low sex drive (Source:
JAMA, February 10, 1999- Vol. 281, No. 6.
[Online
here].
See also the Salon Magazine article at this link)
- Some people who are actually very sexual by nature go on deliberate
temporary "fasts", on the premise that rarity makes the act more
valuable.
- There are extreme feminists who regard all sex as rape and who see
celibacy as an expression of independence and autonomy
- There are some people who reject gender roles, including sexual
roles, entirely. A separate RAQ (Rarely Asked Questions
list) addresses this subject.
- It has come to the attention of this writer that there are
certain men who call themselves 'celibate' just because they can't get a
partner at the moment. These men are "lads" pretending to be "new men". Get
out of the pool, wimps!
In summary, there are two general reasons for voluntary celibacy.
There are negative reasons, including disillusionment with sex,
lack of sex drive or medical or emotional problems. (For those with specifically medical problems, there is a dedicated site, the Medical Celibates Network). There are also
positive reasons, including honesty (many people will acknowledge
that sex and bulls**t are difficult to separate), stronger and less casual
relationships, spiritual reward or the prospect of channeling one's
hormonal energies into higher experiences.
The popular belief that people only give up sex because they are
repressed or have some sort of deep problem is an unfortunate prejudice.
My own experience and my contact with dozens of other celibates has shown
celibates to be a far more happy and settled bunch than this prejudice
would lead you to expect.
The following comes from "The girls of Gen X" by Barbara Dafoe
Whitehead,
American Enterprise, 1 January 1998:
According to psychologist Joanna Gutmann, a counselor at
the University of Chicago, asexual couplings are increasingly
common. Gen X men and women may share beds without ever having sex,
or they may start out in a sexual relationship and then eventually
shift to a comfy, asexual living-together relationship for the sake
of companionship and convenience. Passionate, romantic love between
young men and women is increasingly rare, says Gutmann.
2: Is there really a
celibate
viewpoint?
Western society is pervasively heterosexual. The images presented to us
convey the message that the quality of a man's life is very much dependent
on the quality of the woman he gets to mate with, and vice versa. Being
celibate, like being gay or lesbian, requires you to step outside of this
conditioning. One also has to face the pervasive folklore that
people only choose celibacy because there is something wrong with them, or
because they view sex as "dirty". To express oneself as a celibate is thus
to score a huge victory over peer pressure.
Hence while some people use celibacy to fit in to a social group (in
religious contexts), others use it as an ultimate expression of
individuality and independence.
A link between celibacy and eccentricity is suggested by David
Weeks' and Jamie James' book "Eccentrics: A Study of Sanity and
Strangeness".
"Eccentrics are usually friendly people, glad to share their
hobbyhorses with anyone who is interested, but they tend to
be solitary by nature and sometimes find it difficult to be
intimate with other people. Nonetheless, most of them do
cherish romance when and if it comes along, and fall head
over heels in love, but when the initial enthusiasm wanes,
they have a hard time sustaining the relationship.
We also found that a rather large number of modern eccentrics seem to have no particular interest in sex. Loners such
as Anita, the artist, have chosen celibacy and seem to be
genuinely contented with that way of life."
3: Let's hear some
other
opinions!
The following are extracts from my page of first-hand accounts of
sexual abstinence. The full accounts make very interesting reading.
"I also have to deal with the assumptions of other people when I mention
my particular orientation. Because it hurts, people assume I must be
psychologically damaged. Sorry, it hurts in the same way that putting my
hand on a lit stove burner hurts. Just a physical pain folks.
Nothing to panic about as long as we avoid that which causes it. They want
me to seek therapy. For what? If the urges were there I would get
medical help for the pain. But they're not. I suppose I could take
hormone therapy for the urges, but good lord, my middle-aged friends can't
get dates and want them desperately. I want to be like them?!"
"Sex is terribly overrated. It is more banal than many people are willing
to admit. The "solution", the "cure", for that banality for some people is
to keep switching partners to find that "honeymoon" feeling again-over and
over. This strikes me as immoral, dangerous and a sad attempt to find in
sex what was never there to begin with."
"I see a tremendous preoccupation that this society has with sex. It is
everywhere, in advertising etc. As a society we put so much energy into
this. I may be in a minority, but it seems like such a waste, actually
kind of boring. All to what end? A temporary pleasure that is gone after a
few minutes. There must be more meaningful ways to connect with each
other. I would like to work on building stronger friendships."
"Socially....ironically...I am able to approach beautiful women much more
freely cause I simply don't have an agenda. I also will put myself in
social circumstances that normally I would want to avoid....frankly
because the transmutation of sexual energy gives me more courage to do so."
"It is a tremendous freedom not to ride the love/sex roller coaster - I
have very serious career goals that takes alot of energy, concentration
and time. The last thing I want to do is spend my spare time listening to
some half-wit in a bar rambling on about
blahblahsexblahblahbestblahmyplaceblahblah --YUK!"
4: How can you tell
people you are
celibate?
"I am not of an erotic disposition."
"I am not a member of the carnal union."
"I'm not in the vagina business." (line from the film
"Peter's Friends")
"I do not intend to unleash my juices."
"I really really like you- I just don't want to get up to any
porky pump-action with you."
5: How can I help my
local celibate?
In the battle for acceptance in modern western society, homosexuals
have had to cope with the folk belief that they all want to change their
sex, or that they are all pedophiles who want to "convert" young children.
Similarly, transvestites have had to cope with the mistaken assumption
that they are all homosexual, and attitudes to sadomasochism have been
coloured by a belief that its practitioners are all potential rapists.
While there is no persecution of celibates that compares to the
treatment
that the above minorities have had to face, there are still prejudices
that form in peoples' minds due to the fact that the majority of voluntary
celibates are silent, so that the only examples of celibacy that people
hear about are in the context of devout religion or emotional repression.
We celibates as a whole would be very glad if others would free themselves
of the following prejudices. (You may also like to know that, according to
a Mr. G. Clinton, once you free your mind, your ass will follow).
- Perhaps the most inconvenient folk belief is that, if you are not
driven by lust, you must lack other emotions as well. So it is that
people decide that their celibate friend must be incapable of love or
affection, or does not have fun in other ways. This is bizarre
from the celibate perspective, because many of us are using it to
enrich our emotional lives by channelling that energy into other
experiences.
- In some cases, people have responded to hearing that someone is a
celibate by recommending a doctor or a psychiatrist. This is a big
mistake: people need to go to a doctor when they are unwell, not
when they are unusual or different.
- As we have seen, some people are celibate because they want a
particular kind of relationship, while others are pleased to be
entirely solitary. If you have a friend who is a celibate and not in a
relationship, it is a good idea to find out which kind they are. The
ones who are happy to be solitary will not be grateful if, out of pity,
you try to matchmake them with someone. The ones who are only giving up
sex might be also feel left out if everyone around them assumes that
they are not into intimacy at all.
- When someone tells you that they are celibate, they are not offering
to tell you absolutely everything personal about themselves. It might not
be a good idea to immediately ask, "So do you masturbate a heck of a
lot then?" (The answer, actually, is that some celibates do and some
don't. What difference does it make to you?)
- Statistics prove that sexual activity makes you very careless with
money. If you're a non-celibate and you have any spare money, it
would be wise to put it in safe hands by giving it to your nearest
celibate. Just go up to them and slap the banknotes into their hand:
they will understand. (Well that probably hasn't convinced you, but it
was worth a try).
6: What are the
advantages
of celibacy?
- A whole load of worries are taken off your mind. You don't even have
to think about contraception, venereal disease, physical compatibility,
who sleeps on the wet patch, impotence, frigidity, bizarre sexual injuries,
whether to swallow, whether your partner is good in bed, sexual fidelity,
how to stop the bed from creaking, shave or not shave, wash or not
wash, whether you know enough positions, orgasm faking, whether to
experiment or which flavour of condom to choose.
This must surely free up several cubic inches of brain tissue.
- The enormous amount of time and effort that other people expend in
order to get laid is freed up for other things. No more hanging around in
sweaty nightclubs. No more searching through 'lifestyle magazine' articles
for the latest and cleverest way to pick someone up. No more garotting your
body with tight underwear. No more worry about whether you are adequately
filling out your bra/shorts. No longer will you go to a dull party just
because there's someone there that you fancy.
- People you talk to will know that you're not interested in them for their
body.
- If you don't have sex, you can't have any Sexual Disasters. None of
those embarrassing moments like when you just can't undo her bra, or when you
can't get out of your bondage gear, or when you knock over the bedside table,
or when your parents come home earlier than you expected, or when you
realise that your partner is in fact amazingly ugly, or when you smear
them all over with peanut butter and them remember that you don't like
peanut butter, or when you wake up the next morning and you've forgotten
their name, or their gender.
- You will save money. How much money you save depends on how you were
getting your sex in the first place.
- Nobody will be able to blackmail you with photographs of you in
flagrante delicto. James Bond would be more effective if he were celibate,
because then attractive enemy agents would not be able to seduce and
capture him.
- I don't believe in God myself, but there are a lot of folks out there
who think that God will look on you more favourably if you are
celibate, or if you avoid recreational sex. Remember "Every sperm is
sacred. Every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite
irate."? Seriously though, celibacy may contribute to a greater
peacefulness and spirituality if undertaken in the right context.
- Celibacy significantly decreases your chances of becoming pregnant.
That is, unless you're a man.
- You have a reserve of energy that you can expend on other things. Life
will come into a more sensible perspective when it isn't dominated by
the search for a mate.
- If you spontaneously combust, you don't take anyone with you.
7: What are the
disadvantages?
- You don't get any sex.
- Cliff Richard is your role model.
8: Speaking of which,
who
are the celebrity celibates?
- The Pope... okay, I'm not going to mention the religious ones.
- Stephen Fry, the British actor, comedian, writer, critic, novelist and
taxi driver, was the UK's most prominent and vocal celibate for several
years, although he has since rediscovered the alleged joys of
wanton carnality.
- Isaac Newton, the mathematician and scientist (said by some to be the
greatest scientist ever), was a virgin all his life. He was also very
unpopular. Let us move on.
- Cliff "no soul" Richard, purveyor of family-acceptable and totally
non-threatening pop tunes, is one of the most vocal celibates of modern
times. It may well be this fact which has held back the cause of open
celibacy.
- Cosmopolitan agony aunt Irma Kurtz has been a celibate for
years and years with no regrets. Perhaps a Cosmo reader can fill me in
with some more specifics.
- Simone Weil was one of the best known European political
thinkers of the 20th Century and, as far as anybody knows, a lifelong
celibate.
- Also rumoured to be a lifelong celibate was the Dutch
philosopher and theologian Baruch Spinoza.
- Dr. Temple Grandin, the American academic whose empathy with
animals has led to her being a highly successful designer of humane animal
management systems, is a voluntary celibate. The reasons are too complex
to go into here, but those interested can read the final chapter of Oliver
Sacks' "An Anthropologist on Mars".
- Stevie Smith, poet and novelist, was celibate all her life, after
sampling and rejecting romance and sex in her youth. She was fiercely
critical of those who thought that her life must be emotionally
impoverished by not having sexual relationships anymore, emphasizing
the depth of her friendships, especially her bond with the aunt with
whom she lived.
- Pitt the Younger, legendary British Prime Minister, is generally
agreed by historians to have died a virgin.
- Nikola Tesla, who developed the system of alternating electrical
current that is the standard nowadays worldwide, was a self-proclaimed
celibate.
- Carole Channing, the Broadway musical star of "Hello Dolly" fame
was celibate in her marriage to Charles Lowe for 41 years.
- Morrissey, the British singer and former member of the Smiths, was
openly celibate for several years.
- G. H. Hardy, twentieth century English mathematician who made ample
contributions in number theory and who co-authored the famous
Hardy-Weinberg law of population genetics. He was also the mentor of
legendary prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan (who was probably also a life-long
celibate).
- Paul Erdos was the most prolific mathematician in history, having
participated in more then 20,000 papers. He was born in Hungary but
never held a home or a job, relying instead on the hospitality of other
mathematicians with whom he collaborated and on the money he received
for conferences. See The Man Who Loved Only Numbers, by Paul
Hoffman (Hyperion, 1998).
- Antonio Gaudi, the spanish architect most famous for the Segrada
Familia in Barcelona, is said to never have had sex.
- Alan Christie Wilson of the blues-rock group Canned Heat was a
voluntary celibate in the later part of his life, according to his
authorised biographer Krisna Radha. The reasons seem to be a mix of
medical, spiritual and issues from childhood.
- "Divorced novelist Beryl Bainbridge
revealed that she gave up men because, when she was 56, she felt having
a physical relationship with a man was 'no longer dignified', and anyway
her life was far too full of other things like writing, children and
friends." - quote from a Daily Mail article by Jenny Nisbet (approx.) 1st
December 1998.
9: Alternatives to
Sex
To be serious, there is a big disadvantage of celibacy that has to be
watched out for: people look to sex for that sense of doing something
different or forbidden; the adrenalin rush; the feeling of being
naughty. To have an ongoing celibate lifestyle you have to find
some reliable way to create that feeling.
Dancing, yoga or dangerous sports all qualify in being physical and
exhilarating. A less obvious possibility is a once a month gut-blowout
with cocktails and fudge sundaes. Don't just eat: feast!
(and remember to
do some dangerous sports afterwards to work off the calories)
Anything which breaks you temporarily out of your routine and makes
you feel alive is a good idea. Another example is having a ridiculously
long bath, wrapping yourself up in a towel, putting on some loud music (I
recommend "The Big Sky" by Kate Bush or "Cherry" by
Curve) and jumping about. Drinking extra-spicy Bloody Marys is,
apparently, another way to do this.
Modern culture often expects us to make everything that we do in public
into a dull routine, and then use sex and intimacy to break up that
routine. We need to see through the falsehood that only sex can provide
that exhilaration or aliveness.
Another priority is to make sure that you keep physical contact
with people. Having to respect everybody's personal space without
exception can be surprisingly emotionally wearing, and the celibates of my
acquaintance often bring this up as the major disadvantage of their
situation. Again, there is a social expectation that, if you want to touch
someone a lot, you want to have sex with them (and conversely, that if you
do not want sex, then you not want to touch at all).
How to make sure that keep some sort of intimacy? That's the big
question and I don't pretend to be an expert, but here's a common-sense
point to bear in mind: everybody needs some affectionate touching
(well, I'm skeptical of those who say they don't, having heard from so
many people who live asexually without any regret but who still crave
tactile affection). Hence you're not doing an outrageous thing, and
perhaps something very good, by going up to someone and giving them a hug,
so long as they know you well enough to understand its meaning.
10: Let's talk about
sticky
stuff
Sooner or later, any discussion of celibacy turns to the question of how
you deal with basic biological needs. This is an area where the
difference between religious and secular celibates is most severe.
Concern particularly centers on male celibates: how long can they avoid...
err... you know... without exploding from build-up of... stuff? I'm not
aware of any studies on this issue, but I can say to such questioners that
regular... umm... thingy is not essential to health in the way they might
think. While it has been claimed by some (famously the
pseudoscientist Wilhelm Reich) that sex
is essential to mental and/or physical health, there is no substantial
evidence to back this up, and plenty of celibates who are of obviously
sound mind and body. One of my male correspondents reports abstaining
from sex and from... that thing for eight years and seems very
happy.
Part of the reason why celibacy seems so odd in modern western culture may
be to do with this culture's view of sex as nothing more than a way of
answering a biological need: it may seem arbitrary to answer your needs in
one way as opposed to another. If, on the other hand, you recognise that
sex is not just a biological act but a very complex interaction with all
sorts of psychological, economic, medical or social consequences, then it
is no contradiction to refrain from sex but not from... umm....
stickyness.
11: Celibate
Booklist
Yes indeed, these books are celibate. No matter how long you spend reading
them, they will not attempt to have sex with other books.
Seriously, though, this is a selection of books which, as far as I can
tell from bookseller's lists and personal recommendations, deal with
celibacy in a secular context. One-paragraph summaries of these books
would be very welcome. Another
page lists books which are relevant to Christian celibacy and its
associated lifestyle. There is a huge literature on priestly celibacy
which I have decided to omit: a search on celibacy on a site such as the
Amazon is
a good way to find these.
Some of these books have been reviewed by internet celibates. To give
an idea of our reaction, I will use that following rating system:
These are ratings of the relevance of the books to adult, voluntary,
usually secular celibates, not ratings of their literary merit.
- Gabrielle Brown (1976), The New Celibacy : Why More Men and Women
Are Abstaining from Sex--And Enjoying It; McGraw-Hill
Further
info on this book
- Liz Hodgkinson (1986), Sex is Not Compulsory : giving up sex for
better health and greater happiness; Columbus. ISBN: 0862872294
Further
info on this book
- Sally Cline (1993), Women, Celibacy and Passion; Deutsch.
ISBN: 0233988041
Further
info on this book
- Sean D. Sammon (1993), An Undivided Heart : Making Sense of
Celibate Chastity; Alba House. ISBN: 081890674X
Further
info on this book
- Carole Marsh (????), 50 Ways and 50 Reasons You Can Abstain from
Sex--And Why AIDS Will Make You 100% Glad You Did, Kid!; Gallopade.
- Patti Putnicki (1994), Celibacy Is Better Than Really Bad Sex: And
Other Rules for Singlewomen; Corkscrew. ISBN: 094404235X
Further
info on this book
- Joan Avna and Diana Waltz (1994), Celibate Wives : Breaking the
Silence; Lowell House. ISBN: 1565651227
Further
info on this book
- Barbara Moe (1995), Everything You Need to Know About Sexual
Abstinence (Need to Know Library); Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN:
0823921042
Further
info on this book
- Kristine Napier (1996), The Power of Abstinence: How Parents
Can Help Teens Postpone Sexual Activity & Achieve Emotional Security,
Maximum Self-Esteem, and Stay Healthy; Avon Books. ISBN: 0380783711
- Dwight Lee Wolter (1992), Sex & Celibacy : Establishing Balance in
Intimate Relationships Through Temporary Sexual Abstinence; Fairview.
ISBN: 0925190535
Further
info on this book
- Rolf Zettersten (1995), Sex, Lies & the Truth : A Message from
Focus on the Family; Tyndale House. ISBN: 0842317309
- Netha L. Thacker and Kathleen Rae Miner (1996), Abstinence : Health
Facts; Etr Assoc. ISBN: 1560715022
- Eleanor Ayer (1997), It's Ok to Say No : Choosing Sexual
Abstinence; Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN: 0823922502
- Pamela Pettler, Amy Heckerling and Jack Ziegler (1990), The No-Sex
Handbook; Warner. ISBN: 0446390542
- David R. Eyler and Andrea P. Baridon (1991), More than Friends:
Less than Lovers: Managing Sexual Attraction in Working
Relationships.; Jeremy P. Thatcher, Inc. ISBN 0-87477-651-1
Further
info on this book
- ANSLIM (1992), Beyond Sexuality, Phoenix Press. To order:
send £4.50 (plus £1 for p&p; within UK) to
A K Press, PO Box 12766, Edinburgh, EH8 9YE
- A. W Richard Sipe (1996), Celibacy : A Way of Loving, Living, and
Serving;
Triumph. ISBN: 0892438746 (This one seems to be primarily from a
Christian point of view, but I include it here because it seems to be
particularly wide-ranging).
Further
info on this book
- John Hoyland (ed) (1993), Bad Sex; Serpent's Tail. ISBN
1852423072 (a collection of short stories)
Further
info on this book
- Rosemary Curb and Nancy Manahan (Ed.) (1993) Breaking Silence :
Lesbian Nuns on Convent Sexuality; Women's Press. ISBN: 0704343746
- Regena English (1998), Leather Spinsters and their degrees of
asexuality; St. Mary Publishing Company
(A "Leather Spinster" is a happily unmarried woman.) See the book's promotional web site. They run
a leather spinsters e-mail newsletter with thousands of subscribers.
- Rae Andre (1991), Positive Solitude: A Practical Program for
Mastering
Loneliness and Achieving Self-Fulfillment; Harper
Further
info on this book
- Elizabeth Abbott (1999) A History of Celibacy:
HarperCollins
Further
info on this book
- Donna Marie Williams (1999) Sensual Celibacy: The
Sexy Woman's
Guide to Using Abstinence for Recharging Your Spirit Discovering Your
Passions and Achieving Greater Intimacy in Your Next Relationship:
Simon & Schuster/Fireside
Further
info on this book
- Stuart Sovatsky (1999) Eros, Consciousness, and Kundalini:
Deepening Sensuality through Tantric Celibacy and Spiritual Intimacy;
Park Street Press ISBN: 0892818301
Further
info on this book
- Wendy Keller (1999) The Cult of the Born-Again Virgin: How Single
Women Can Reclaim Their Sexuality; Health Communications Inc. ISBN:
155874696X
Further
info on this book
Book
information and ordering service courtesy of Amazon.
12: Other
Resources
There is now a celibate e-mail list! (Here's
a description) To join, send email to
celibate-life@home.com
and on the Subject: line, put
subscribe
I've mentioned it already, but my archive of
first-hand accounts is well worth looking into.
If you find this Celibate FAQ useful, then I very strongly
recommend you
visit a similar effort by a group of Russian celibates: the Antisex FAQ.
I don't agree with eveything they say - for instance, the idea of being
"anti-sex" rather than "pro-celibate" seems a bit strong - but their
emphasis is on reasoned argument and they apply a lot of good common
sense.
Another strongly recommended link - very easy reading as well - is W.
Eric Martin's article in Healthy Sexuality webzine: "A
Hands-off Introduction to Celibacy".
There is a web page for celibate personal
ads! There are a lot of adverts there, although some of the
entries seem to be from people who don't understand the word "celibate".
More specifically relevant is Celibate
Relationships,
a mailing list for people seeking celibate relationships.
Another singles site specifically for people who aren't seeking sex is Platonic Partners.
Sexuality Bytes have a nice essay on celibacy, which is similar to
parts of this FAQ, but better written. Sexuality Bytes has now been
incorporated into the Feelgood site, which at the moment is only
accessible if you are on the Microsoft Network. Go to http://www.msn.com.au/, select
Feelgood, then "Advice & Info".
There is a very poetic (in both good and bad senses) essay on the
advantages of celibate life on the web site of the Hungry Mind
Review.
It is informative to contrast the sunny optimism of the celibates quoted
on my pages with the dark mood of the Sexual Compulsives Anonymous
page!
Issue 12 of Bi Community News has a report from a "Bisexuality
and Celibacy" workshop. One paragraph in particular is worth
reproducing here:
"Celibacy is not, as is often assumed, an attempt to put a
brave face on the fact that nobody wants to sleep with you: it's not an
indication that one is asexual or incapable of relating to other people.
It's a valid choice whether for life or for a week, and it's a potentially
subversive one at that. In different ways from polyamory or bisexuality
itself, it challenges the social norm that everyone needs to be partnered
with a member of the opposite sex and sexually active to be a valuable
member of society."
Derek
J. Wojciech's
Virginity FAQ gives a succession of arguments for
virginity and sexual abstinence, at least until marriage.
A long list of books, links, quotes and observations for Christian
celibates is presented in Celibate Forum.
It confronts some Sticky issues, and relates the celibate lifestyle to
other lifestyle choices, such as nonviolence.
Laying the humour on thick are the Asexual
Coalition. Their "protest
against dating" has prompted some brief but interesting entries in
their guestbook. "We have nothing against the opposite sex, we
just think that dating them is a lot of work and costs too much to
warrant any usefulness."
An essay on celibacy and its spiritual significance from the Tantra/Yoga
perspective is at the Kundalini
Resource Centre.
Another recommended resource for Christian celibates is at
Keith's
Christian Celibacy Homepage.
Teri
Lester's "Healthy Love" is a page written in a question-and-answer
format to promote pre-marital abstinence. It confronts seriously and
realistically the issues around celibacy.
Given the years I have spent studying philosophy, I was still surprised
to see that someone, namely one Ralph E. Kenyon, Jr., has written an essay on
the "Philosophy of Arousal", subtitled "What I wish I had been told
about
sex when I was young". This discusses the nature of sexual arousal and the
social and ethical issues arising from it.
Mindy Hung's article "waiting
to be unzipped" expresses her thoughts on
being a 24-year-old graduate student and still a virgin. Her celibacy is
not voluntary, but her article sums up the prejudices that celibates
encounter and has a fine dose of humour.
Elizabeth Abbott's article in the Toronto Globe and Mail on "The New
Celibacy" is a taster for her book "A History of Celibacy" (see
above).
A review of the Abbott book in Salon, "Sexual
moderates", gives an overview of the place of celibacy in modern
culture.
There are more links on the topic of sexual abstinence in the
About.com
sexuality section.
You'd be surprised hom many marriages are celibate. I'm not talking about dying marriages where the partners hate each other: I'm talking about couples who are celibate for positive reasons. A dedicated site gives information about marital celibacy.
13:
Conclusion
If you have a high sex drive, celibacy can be hell. If you have a low sex
drive, celibacy is actually a good idea. Then again, some would say that
the more effort it takes to achieve abstinence, the more rewarding it is
when you manage.
People whose brains obey their crotches have a loud voice in
western society, which makes celibacy seem an unusual and abnormal thing.
People who are celibate don't normally feel the need to tell the world
about it: this resulting low profile makes it more difficult for others to
acknowledge celibacy as part of their identity. Analogously, the more
public figures are "out" homo- or bisexuals, the more comfortable it is
for young people to come out. This document is one small blow in the
necessary fight to give open celibacy a higher profile.
Lotus blossom graphic
courtesy of Jeffrey Zeldman.