Chastity

Chastity is a concept found in the three Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It refers to purity of one's thoughts and deeds, particularly as they apply to sexual relations. To be chaste means that one is a virgin until marriage and engages in sex only with one's lawful spouse. For Catholic priests and nuns, chastity includes, but is not limited to, sexual abstinence; the goal of chastity is to eliminate all carnal desires so that one can fully concentrate one's mind and body on serving God.

Some Christians argue that married couples should also remain chaste, that is, abstain from sex, except for the purpose of reproduction. However, this was not its original meaning. The confusion over whether chastity refers to complete abstinence or only abstinence outside of marriage stems from the religious emphasis placed on chastity as a moral state of mind. The chaste person is first and foremost modest, simple in expression, and acts in accordance to religious moral precepts. Restraint in sexual behavior is a consequence of, rather than a synonym of, chastity.

In Islam the concept of chastity refers only to sexual abstinence among unmarried men and women. There is no order of religious priests in Islam and all religious leaders are permitted to marry. In Judaism, rabbis are permitted to marry and the injunction on sexual abstinence is limited to unmarried Jews. In Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism, monks and nuns take a vow of chastity (brahmacharya) for life. In these three Eastern religions the goal of chastity is to eliminate all attachments to other humans and to all bodily desires so that the person liberate themselves from earthly pleasures, focus on religious service, and eventually attain nirvana or moksha. Nirvana and mochas refer to finally getting off of the wheel of death and rebirth (samsara) and reuniting with the universal godhead. In Zoroastrianism, chastity is expected only until marriage after which married couples—including priests, who are permitted to marry—are expected to have children to continue the faith. So, for all religions, chastity refers to sexual abstinence out of wedlock and purity of mind.

THE MEDIEVAL IDEAL OF CHASTITY

The modern Western idea of chastity is rooted in the ideal of courtly love that originated in southern France in the eleventh century. At that time, most marriages among the nobility were arranged and lacked intimacy. Courtly love served as a way for women to be sexually faithful to their contracted husbands, while at the same time having a chaste romantic relationship with a suitor. The suitor, usually of a lower class than the woman, was motivated not only by love but also by prestige and economic gain. Courtly love relationships were romantic and could even be expressed in public without shame and with the consent of the husband. However, such relations always had to be chaste, thus explicitly separating love from sex. When courtly love ceased to be chaste it caused both social and personal disruption, even destruction. The prototypical story of courtly love and chastity is that of Sir Lancelot and his love for King Arthur's wife, Guinevere. Their love was expressed publicly with the approval of King Arthur; it was when their love ceased to be chaste that it led to the dissolution of King Arthur's court. The two ideas of courtly love—that romantic love is pure when it is independent of sexual desire and that the conjunction of the two is frequently socially and psychologically dangerous—survive in the early twenty-first century.

PRESENT-DAY FORMS OF CHASTITY

There are three different forms of chastity that are popular: the first, and by far the most organized and largest of these, is rooted in various religiously based movements that encourage teenagers and singles to remain chaste until marriage; the second, which is not organized but which is also popular especially among youths, is the idea that youths should channel their sexual energy to noble nonreligious causes, such as poverty, the environment, self-actualization, and so on; the third movement is, in many ways, the perverse inverse of the religious ideal of chastity, and extols chastity as a means to heighten sexual pleasure. What these three different cultural versions of chastity have in common is the belief that chastity purifies the mind and allows one to focus on good deeds. Each of these three different modern-day cultural versions of chastity is discussed below.

RELIGION AND CHASTITY

The chastity movement in modern-day America began in 1940 when fifty Jesuit priests convened to write a booklet aimed at college-bound youths. The key theme of this booklet was that chastity is the queen of Christian virtues. Young adults were enjoined to resist sexual temptation by reminding themselves that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and therefore a shrine to God. Sex out of wedlock is the same as desecrating the house of God. Chastity does not mean celibacy for married couples but it does imply that sex should not be done to satisfy lust and that wife and husband should remember that the body belongs to Christ and not to one's spouse. After a couple has borne children they are encouraged to practice perfect or absolute chastity so that each can be closer to God.

In the 1980s and 1990s the Jesuit view of chastity was popularized by national chastity movements, the largest of these is called True Love Waits (TLW). TLW was founded as part of a Christian sex education campaign in 1987 by Jimmy Hester who was joined in 1992 by Richard Ross, a Baptist pastor. The success of TLW hinges on a four-pronged strategy: first are frequent meetings by peers; second are personal testimonials; third are symbols of commitment to chastity; and fourth is peer and parental pressure to encourage young adults to make a commitment to chastity. Members of the TLW movement are encouraged to meet regularly and recruit friends into the movement. Unlike the Jesuit booklet, TLW counselors and speakers directly address such intimate issues as whether or not looking at a swimsuit magazine, kissing, oral sex, or homosexuality are permitted.

The chastity movements in the United States are generically Christian rather than Catholic and are frequently associated with right-to-life and anti-abortion campaigns. Akin to medieval courtly love, the contemporary chastity movement separates romantic love from sex, emphasizing not only that sex can destroy romantic love, but that romantic love is purer when the couple is chaste.

CHASTITY AND NOBLE CAUSES

In a study of New England college students who chose to be chaste, Victor de Munck (2001) discovered that as many as 50 percent of them chose to do so because of their commitment to a noble cause. These students were so devoted or committed to their particular cause(s) that they simply had neither time nor immediate desire to enter into a committed relationship. Their attitude was identical to that of a Catholic monk who chooses to be celibate in order to serve God, except that they chose to serve a secular ideological calling. Unlike the college students who chose chastity for religious reasons, these students did not consider virginity a moral requirement or virtue but chose it for pragmatic reasons—it took time and was potentially troublesome.

CHASTITY AS SEXUAL PRACTICE

Although chastity belts are commonly associated with the medieval era, they were first made in the 1600s. Chastity belts were sometimes worn by females (usually from the upper class) either to keep them virgins or ensure fidelity whenever their husbands went away for an extended period of time. As Western medical practices had long considered masturbation deleterious to a man's health, chastity belts were also made for young men.

In recent years chastity belts have made a comeback as part of an alternative sexual lifestyle involving bondage, dominance, sadism, and masochism (BDSM). Chastity belts are usually made of plastic, stainless steel and leather, with a key lock in the center. There are a number of specialty shops that make custom-made chastity belts. Among practitioners of BDSM, chastity belts are used to prevent penetrative-receptive sex or masturbation in order to heighten sexual desire and ultimately sexual pleasure. Periods of sexual denial may be short or long-term. In either case the goals are to gain control over one's own or one's partner's sexual desire, and to frustrate that desire in order to achieve a stronger orgasm.

Chastity belts for men or women are bought or, more typically, ordered online from adult stores or specialty shops, the latter making customized belts. They are usually con-sensually used by a monogamous couple. There is a division of labor: one partner wears the belt and the other possesses the key to the belt. The person with the key usually plays the dominant role (called dom), whereas the person wearing the chastity belt plays the submissive role (called sub). In order to have the chastity belt removed, the person wearing it must obey the commands of the keyholder.

Contemporary culture is more complex and varied than it was during the 1950s. The concept of chastity has been interpreted in surprising ways depending on the interests and personal dispositions of the individual. Regardless of the differences in the adoption of the concept of chastity, all three groups described above define chastity as a state of mind that is intended to discipline the body in order to bring the person into a closer relationship with the object of his or her love.

see also Abstinence; Virginity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De Munck, Victor C. 2001. "Cultural Schemas of Celibacy." In Celibacy, Culture, and Society: the Anthropology of Sexual Abstinence, ed. S. Bell and E. J. Sobo. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Kelly, Gerald. 2002. Chastity: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults. Harrison, NY: Roman Catholic Books.

"Lifeway Student Ministry (True Love Waits)." Available from http://www.lifeway.com/tlw/.

                                           Victor de Munck