Sexual Celibacy – Why Should You Practice Abstinence?

Now a day celibacy from sex is becoming quite a trend. Besides avoiding pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, people are practicing sexual celibacy for other reasons as well. There are different definitions for sexual celibacy or abstinence. Some people believe that sexual celibacy refers to restriction or avoidance of all kinds of sex including vaginal, anal and oral while others believe that celibacy refers to restriction of vaginal sex only. Kissing, cuddling and other intimacy acts are also considered a part of sexual abstinence for some people.

Why Some People Practice Sexual Celibacy?

Denial to vaginal sex only can prevent unwanted pregnancies but for STD prevention, one should practice caution and care while maintaining anal and oral sexual relations with strangers as well. For example, it has been observed that females who refrain themselves from engaging in sexual relations during teenage are less likely to catch sexually transmitted infections, later in their life. Similarly, men who avoid sex at younger age are less likely to contract STDs. Besides minimizing the risk of STDs, sexual celibacy is also helpful at reducing the risk of complications associated with STDs such as pelvic inflammatory disease, cervical or genital cancer etc.

Sexual celibacy is becoming common in both virgin teenagers and adults who were sexually active at some point of their life. However, both have different reasons behind it. Usually younger people adapt celibacy to avoid pregnancies and STDs, but adults who have lost their virginity practice sexual abstinence due to various reasons including:

• To maintain all their concentration on work
• To practice religious values and principles
• Some people wants to wait for the right person as their sexual partner
• Grieve of losing better half or waiting to regain health after illness is also a common reason to practice sexual celibacy

What Can You Do If You Are Looking To Practice Sexual Celibacy?

Making decision for sexual celibacy is easy, but sticking to it can be quite difficult especially when there are people around you provoking all the time to get indulged in sexual fun. For successful continuation of sexual abstinence, one should:

• Avoid physical intimation that leads to sexual excitement
• Discuss it with your partner! Set limits and be open. It may seem hard but with healthy discussion and mutual understanding, things can get easily settled.
• Even if you are sexually aroused or intimated at some point, step back! Never think to reconsider your decision.
• Think in advance about how to say no in a polite way, when your partner tries to go beyond your set limits.
• Don’t let anyone push you! It’s your decision whether you want to have sex or not.
• Avoid hanging out alone, prefer double dates or group hangouts.

Extreme desire for sex can be a downside of sexual celibacy. Self-restriction for longer time period can heighten the “cravings” which may lead to sudden and unsafe sex! If someone wants to resume their sexual activities, they must be very careful and should consider other birth controlling methods.

References

• Fagan, P. (2015). Celibacies: American Modernism & Sexual Life by Benjamin Kahan (review). Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, 13(2), 359-364.
• Rowland, D. L. (2016). The Enigma of Sexual Desire, Part 1: A Brief Review of Classical, Historical, Philosophical, and Literary Perspectives. Current Sexual Health Reports, 1-5.
• Long-Middleton, E. R., Burke, P. J., Lawrence, C. A. C., Blanchard, L. B., Amudala, N. H., & Rankin, S. H. (2013). Understanding motivations for abstinence among adolescent young women: Insights into effective sexual risk reduction strategies. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 27(5), 342-350.