Chastity
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For information on the comic book Chastity, please see Chastity (Comic Book). For information on erotic sexual denial or enforced chastity, see that article or Chastity belt.
Chastity, in many religious and cultural contexts, is a virtue concerning the state of purity of the mind and body. The term is most often associated with refraining from sexual intimacy, especially outside of marriage. Chastity is often taken to be synonymous with virginity or abstention from all sexual activity; however, some consider sexually active married couples to be chaste if they have relations only with each other.
Due to prohibitions of sexual intimacy in Abrahamic religions deriving from the Decalogue and Mosaic law, the term has become closely associated with premarital sexual abstinence in Western culture; however, in the context of religion, the term remains applicable to persons in all states, single or married, clerical or lay, and has implications beyond sexual temperance.
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Classical origin
The word derives, via the French chasteté, from the Latin castitas, which is the abstract of castus (the root of chaste), which originally meant a 'pure' state of conformity with the Greco-Roman religion, rather the practical counterpart of a pious (Latin pius) state of mind, in no way limited to the sexual sphere. As the etymological link suggests, castigation or chastisement is originally the use of (harsh) means to preserve or restore this state as a form of catharsis. This meaning is preserved fully in the parallel term chastening.
In ancient times the value of chastity was highly debated in both the homosexual and heterosexual spheres. In particular, Socrates was an advocate of chaste pederastic relations between men and boys, in opposition to the sexually expressed pedagogic relationships prevalent in his time. Plato, having transmitted many of these teachings, has become the eponym for this type of chastity, known today as Platonic love.
Abrahamic religions
Traditionally, acts of sexual nature are prohibited outside of marriage in Islamic and Judeo-Christian ethical contexts and are considered sinful. Since offenses against the virtue of chastity are most often perceived as fornication or adultery, the term has become closely associated with sexual abstinence in common usage throughout most of the English-speaking world.
Offenses against chastity can include:
- Adultery
- Anal sex
- Artificial contraception
- Fornication
- Lust
- Masturbation
- Oral sex
- Pornography
- Prostitution
- Rape
- Sexual intimacy during or shortly after menstruation
- Sexual intimacy for a period of time after the birth of a child
although not all ethical systems proscribe all of these. The state of chastity may include not only sexual abstinence but also:
- Coitus within the context of marital fidelity
- Natural family planning
Yet, as above, the particular ethical system may not prescribe each of these.
For example, within the scope of Christian ethic, Roman Catholics view sex within marriage as chaste, but prohibit the use of artificial contraception as an offense against chastity, seeing contraception as contrary to God's will. Many Anglican churches allow for artificial contraception, seeing the restriction of family size as possibly not contrary to God's will. A stricter view is held by the Shakers, who prohibit marriage (and indeed sexual intercourse under any circumstances) as a violation of chastity.
Vocational expressions of chastity
Marriage
In the context of traditional marriage, the spouses commit to a lifelong relationship which excludes the possibility of sexual intimacy with other persons.
Sexual abstinence
Virginity, the physical state of 'innocent' sexual purity, has often been a requirement for certain religious functions, especially as priest(ess), e.g. the explicitly thus named Vestal Virgins in pagan Rome.
Celibacy or consecration to virginity usually refers to ordained clergy or persons in religious orders, and is an avowed way of living in which the person forsakes all sexual gratification. The Roman Catholic Church requires abstinence from the time priestly ordination vows are taken (but not pre-existing virginity—even widowers with offspring can be ordained), whereas in many Protestant churches, including the Anglican, marriage is accepted or even encouraged for clergy. In the Roman Church, married men are not normally permitted to be ordained as priests, but are normally permitted to be ordained as deacons. Married Anglican priests who convert to Rome are allowed to practice as priests while remaining married, but are then to remain in their state: priests who are married are to remain married, and priests who are not are not permitted to marry. In the Eastern Orthodox Church traditions, celibacy is permitted but not required of priests but is required of bishops, as they are always selected from monastic orders. In all three traditions, celibacy is almost always required of monastics—monks, nuns, and friars—even in a rare system of double cloisters, in which husbands could enter the (men's) monastery while their wives entered a (women's) sister monastery.
In some religions, celibate monastic life is commonly practiced as a temporary phase, as by many men in Buddhism.
Vows of chastity can also be taken by laypersons, either as part of an organised religious life or on an individual basis, as a voluntary act of devotion and/or as part of an ascetic lifestyle, often devoted to contemplation.
