Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

IntroductoryCHAPTER VIMARRIAGE(The Problem of Sexual Abstinence)MARRIAGE in the biological sense, and even to someextent in the social sense, is a sexual relationship enteredinto with the intention of making it permanent, evenapart from whether or not it has received the sanction ofthe law or the Church. But before entering on its considerationit may be desirable to touch on the problem ofsexual abstinence, and the troubles, real or alleged, thatmay be associated with it.This problem has passed through several phases. A centuryago it scarcely came before the physician, and if itdid, all he could legitimately say was that for men sexualabstinence outside marriage was moral and sexual intercourseimmoral (though left privately free), while forwomen, who had no recognized sexual needs, the questioncould not arise. Then, within the lifetime of many of us,with the emergence of new social conditions and a somewhatmore open attitude towards them, the physicianbegan to be approached and he was asked to proclaimgeneral principles in this matter for the world at large.This demand led to the formulation of various vaguepropositions concerning the harmlessness of continence,which meant nothing and might be used in senses not intendedby the formulators; they could, for instance, bequoted with much satisfaction by those persons who advocatedno sexual intercourse except for the production of[256]