The Varieties of Sexual Abstinence in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The subject of sexual abstinence holds up a mirror to medieval views about sex. Some forces regulating sexual activity created pressure to abstain from sexual activities; others created pressure to engage in them. The tension between reasons for and against abstinence forms the field on which religious, social, and medical concerns met and in the process uncovers differences between the sexes. Virginity was the crowning jewel of sexual continence. The religious value of virginity was composite. In its literal form it was the absence of the experience of intercourse. In its heroic form it was a source of Christian martyrdom. It was an active expression of the love of God, a vehicle of humility, a token of the rejection of the world [sex], and a representation of mystical purity. The social value of virginity in the Middle Ages resided mainly with females and women's sexuality was subject to greater social control. The basis for the social value of female virginity was the security of legitimacy for children born in a subsequent marriage. The strongest form of sexual abstinence in the Middle Ages was the vow of permanent sexual continence associated with full membership in religious orders. The number of men and women who took vows of chastity as members of religious communities was not negligible. Sexual restraint was an element of social order in the lives of those devoted to religious service, and the enforcement of restraint was an important aspect in the administration of Church institutions. In certain respects, vows of chastity and their enforcement constituted an aspect of the larger social order as well. Considerable family control over the marriage of children continued to exist and was widely considered appropriate. For young people, especially young women, withholding consent might be effective in postponing marriage or in vetoing a particular marriage. In these situations, a vow of chastity might be an attractive alternative, even a way of exercising power. In the Middle Ages three particular concerns with marital relations stemming from the physical condition of the woman were taken up: (1) intercourse immediately after childbirth, since it is prohibited in the Law (based on the purification rules of Leviticus 12.1-5); (2) intercourse during menstruation, since it poses dangers of contagion to the male seed which doctors say corrupts the fetus (fear of leprosy and of physical deformity); (3) during pregnancy (since there is danger of abortion). Women were allowed to refuse their husband during these periods. Many medical works include recipes for anaphrodisiacs but there are many more recipes for aphrodisiacs. The recipes for anaphrodisiacs suggest that people[men] need medical help in the pursuit of abstinence.