Sexual abstinence
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Revision as of 10:47, 6 September 2009
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Sexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity. Common reasons to deliberately abstain from the physical expression of sexual desire include religious or philosophical reasons (e.g. chastity), material reasons (to prevent conception (undesired pregnancy) or STD transmission), psycho-sociological reasons (e.g. clinical depression, social anxiety disorder), negative past experiences, or to conform to legal injunctions.
Sexual abstinence has been debated since antiquity, both in terms of same-sex and opposite-sex relationships. See Platonic love
Christianity
In Christianity, sexual intercourse is meant to take place within the context of marriage; therefore, abstinence is expected of unmarried people. But for married couples, the apostle Paul wrote that they should not deprive each other, except for a short time for devotion to prayer.
