Talk:Sexual abstinence/Terms for avoiding sexual intercourse


 * abstinence means voluntarily refraining from sex
 * chaste means refraining from "unlawful" sex, as in abstaining from sex until marriage and remaining faithful to one's spouse forever after
 * celibacy means (1) not being married, as in Naval cadets are forbidden to marry until graduation; (2) not having sex, as in a period of enforced celibacy while he served overseas; (3) abstention by vow from marriage, as in monks, nuns and priests lead lives of religious-motivated celibacy

And chastity? :)

Chastity means the "habit of being chaste" (in the above meaning), like "politeness" means "the habit of being polite". But notice that "chaste" does not mean "having no sexual intercourse". Moreover (and although this is a POV, but affecting so many persons that it may be the subject of an article), chastity in christianity is understood as "the virtue of using sex properly" (simplifying a lot for the sake of clarity), and as with all virtues there are many doctrinal studies... Pfortuny 17:46, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)