Coitus reservatus

"Semen retention" redirects here. For the practice of refraining from all sexual activity, see Sexual abstinence.

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Coitus reservatus (from coitus, "sexual intercourse" and reservatus, "reserved"), also known as sexual continence, is a form of sexual intercourse in which a male does not attempt to ejaculate within his partner, avoiding the seminal emission. It is distinct from death-grip syndrome, wherein a male has no volition in his emissionless state.^[1]

Alice Stockham coined the term karezza, derived from the Italian word carezza meaning "caress", to describe coitus reservatus, but the idea was already in practice at the Oneida Community. Alan Watts believed, in error, that karezza was a Persian word.^[2] The concept of karezza is loosely akin to maithuna in Hindu Tantra and sahaja in Hindu Yoga.^[3]

Ejaculation control was important for both genders, called Chinese caiyin buyang (採陰補陽, "collect yin and replenish yang") for men and caiyang buyin (採陽補陰, "collect yang and replenish yin") for women, and was involved in Taoist sexual practices such as huanjing bunao,^[4] as well as Indian Tantra (where it is known as "asidhārāvrata")^[5] and Hatha Yoga (see vajroli mudra), although conventional ejaculation is also endorsed.^[6][7]

Practice of karezza and sexual continence

Stockham writes, "... Karezza signifies 'to express affection in both words and action,' and while it fittingly denotes the union that is the outcome of deepest human affection, love's consummation, it is used technically throughout this work to designate a controlled sexual union."^[8] So that, in practice, according to Stockham, it is more than just self-control, but mutual control where the penetrative partner helps the receptive partner and vice versa. According to Stockham, this is the key to overcoming many difficulties in controlling sexual expression individually.

Stockham's contribution was to apply this same philosophy of orgasm control to women as much as to men. A form of birth control, the technique also prolongs sexual pleasure to the point of achieving mystical ecstasy. In this practice, orgasm is separated from ejaculation, making possible enjoyment of the pleasure of sexual intercourse without experiencing seminal ejaculation, while still experiencing orgasm.^{[citation needed]}

Some would have the principles of karezza applied to masturbation, whereby a person attempts to delay orgasm as long as possible to prolong pleasure in a process known as "orgasmic brinkmanship", "surfing", or "edging," but this is different from the heterosexual practice of "karezza".^[9] In Latin literature, this is known as coitus sine ejaculatione seminis.^[10]

One purpose of karezza is the maintenance and intensification of desire and enjoyment of sexual pleasure within relationships. According to Stockham, it takes from two weeks to a month for the body to recover from ejaculation ... "Unless procreation is desired, let the final propagative orgasm be entirely avoided".^[11] Stockham advocated that the 'honeymoon period' of a relationship could be maintained in perpetuity by limiting the frequency of ejaculations, or, preferably avoiding them entirely.

Kalman Andras Oszlar writes, "Inasmuch as sexual togetherness is not limited into the physical world and does not mean quick wasting of sexual energies, by this we give free way to higher dimensions in the relationship." Affected by this, we may get into the state of flow, and in the course of this, the couple charges up with energy, while – with focused attention (Dhāraṇā) – the couple is submerging in that in which they are having pleasure. This state of mind is connected with the beneficial effects of tantric restraint and transformation. At first, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi defined positive philosophy, and since then, it has been referred to beyond the professional line. According to the professor, the flow experience is an entirely focused and motivationally intensified experience where people can entirely focus and properly command their feelings for the best performance or learning.

There is a slight difference between karezza and coitus reservatus. In coitus reservatus, unlike karezza, a woman can enjoy a prolonged orgasm while a man exercises self-control.^[12]

Like coitus interruptus, coitus reservatus is not a reliable form of preventing a sexually transmitted infection, as the penis leaks pre-ejaculate before ejaculation, which may contain all of the same infectious viral particles and bacteria as the semen. Although studies have not found sperm in pre-ejaculate fluid,^[13][14] the method is also unreliable for contraception because of the difficulty of controlling ejaculation beyond the point of no return. Additionally, pre-ejaculate fluid can collect sperm from a previous ejaculation, leading to pregnancy even when performed correctly.^[15]

Controversy

Alice Stockham was taken to court and forced to give up teaching the practice of karezza in the United States. Like many other sex reformers, Dr. Stockham was arrested by Anthony Comstock,^[16] who prosecuted a variety of sexual freedom reformers.^[17]Ida Craddock committed suicide after being repeatedly jailed for peddling pornography.^[18] The press attacked the Oneida Community and Noyes fled to Canada due to a warrant being issued for his arrest on a statutory rape charge on June 22, 1879. From there, he advised others to follow St. Paul's plan of either marriage or celibacy, and to obey the commandments against adultery and fornication.^[19]

Claims of the semen retention community and those of the NoFap community are among the least accurate concerning men's health.^[20]

Views of the Catholic Church

Many theologians within the Catholic tradition approve of coitus reservatus with precise guidelines.

• In 6.918 of Moral Theology (Liguori), St. Alphonsus Liguori allows it in marriage, if mutual (when both spouses restrain themselves from orgasm), according to citation by author Peter Gardella.^{[21][22][23][24]}
• In 1952, the Holy See warned that:

Latin: Sacerdotes autem, in cura animarum et in conscientiis dirigendis, numquam, sive sponte sive interrogati, ita loqui praesumant quasi ex parte legis christianae contra « amplexum reservatum » nihil esset obiicendum.

English: Priests, in the care of souls and in directing consciences, never, either spontaneously or when asked, should presume to speak in such a way as if from on the part of the Christian law there would be nothing against the "reserved embrace."

— Acta Apostolicae Sedis^[25]

• John F. Harvey OSFS expressed this to mean that "confessors and spiritual directors should not presume that there is nothing objectionable" with it. This indicates it could become sinful under certain circumstances, for example, if ending in masturbation.^[26]

• Masturbation is defined by Fr. John Hardon SJ as:

Direct stimulation of the sex organs outside of sexual intercourse. The self-stimulation can be physical, by means of some external object, or psychic, by means of thoughts and the imagination. It is a grave misuse of the procreative faculty and when done with full consent and deliberation is a serious sin. The sinfulness consists in setting in motion the generative powers while preventing them from achieving their natural, divinely intended purpose. ^[27]

• In the article hosted on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops website, John F. Harvey OSFS confirmed and explained coitus reservatus. The spouses should avoid undue frustration. They must not intend orgasm for either of them.^[26] If unintentionally one of them reaches the climax, then they must try to stimulate the other spouse to reach the climax, too.^[28][29][30]

This differs from non-penetrative, rubbing-only sex (mutual masturbation or manual sex) and differs from coitus interruptus because coitus reservatus ends with no orgasm at all for both spouses if practiced within guidelines from John F. Harvey OSFS referenced above.

Oneida Community

The Oneida Community, founded in the 19th century by John Humphrey Noyes, experimented with coitus reservatus, which was then called male continence in a religiously Christian communalist environment. The experiment lasted for about a quarter of a century, and then Noyes created Oneida silverware and established the Oneida Silver Co., which grew into Oneida Limited.^[31] Noyes identified three functions of the sexual organs: the urinary, the propagative (reproductive), and the amative (sexual love). Noyes believed in the separation of the amative from the propagative, and he put amative sexual intercourse on the same footing as other ordinary forms of social interchange. Sexual intercourse as Noyes defines it is the insertion of the penis into the vagina; ejaculation is not a requirement for sexual intercourse.^[32]

Western esotericism

Ida Craddock, C. F. Russell, and Louis T. Culling

Main article: Dianism

Inspired by Ida Craddock's work Heavenly Bridegrooms, American occultist C. F. Russell developed a curriculum of sex magick.^[33] In the 1960s, disciple Louis T. Culling published these in two works entitled The Complete Magickal Curriculum of the Secret Order G.'.B.'.G.'. and Sex Magick.^[34] The first two degrees are "Alphaism and Dianism".^[35][33] Culling writes that Dianism is "sexual congress without bringing it to climax" and that each participant is to regard their partner, not as a "known earthly personality" but as a "visible manifestation of one's Holy Guardian Angel.^[36]

Rosicrucian groups

AMORC does not recommend engaging in sexual practices of an occult nature. This has been so since their First Imperator H. Spencer Lewis, Ph.D. made it public knowledge.^[37]

The Fraternitas Rosae Crucis led by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer engages in sexual practices for the sake of race regeneration.^{[citation needed]} Dr. Clymer is completely opposed to the practice of karezza or coitus reservatus and advocates instead a form of sexual intercourse in which the couple experiences the orgasm at the same time.^[38]

The Secretary of the FUDOSI instead approved the practice of karezza to establish harmony in the family and the world by preventing the waste and misuse of sex energy.^[39]

Dr. Arnold Krumm-Heller established the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua (FRA), a Rosicrucian school in Germany with branches in South America, having the following formula of sexual conduct: "Immissio Membri Virile In Vaginae Sine Ejaculatio Seminis" (Introduce the penis in the vagina without ejaculating the semen). Samael Aun Weor experimented with that formula and developed the doctrine of The Perfect Matrimony.

20th-century Western writers

English novelist Aldous Huxley, in his last novel Island, wrote that Maithuna, the Yoga of Love, is "the same as what Roman Catholicism means by coitus reservatus."^[40] Getting to the point by discussing coitus reservatus, Alan W. Watts in Nature, Man and Woman notes: "...I would like to see someone make a case for the idea that the Apostles really did hand down an inner tradition to the Church, and that through all these centuries the Church has managed to guard it from the public eye. If so, it has remained far more secret and "esoteric" than in any of the other great spiritual traditions of the world, so much so that its existence is highly doubtful..."^[41] The Welsh writer Norman Lewis, in his celebrated account of life in Naples in 1944, claimed that San Rocco was the patron saint of coitus reservatus: "I recommended him to drink -- as the locals did -- marsala with the yolk of eggs stirred into it, and to wear a medal of San Rocco, patron of coitus reservatus, which could be had in any religious-supplies shop".^[42] The psychologist Havelock Ellis writes: "Coitus Reservatus, – in which intercourse is maintained even for very long periods, during which a woman may orgasm several times while the penetrative partner succeeds in holding back orgasm – so far from being injurious to a woman, is probably the form of coitus which gives her the maximum gratification and relief".^[43]

Modern practice of Karezza

Marina Robinson [d] and her husband Gary Wilson promoted Karezza through books, websites, and media interviews. Robinson's book, which she claimed was "researched" by Wilson, was Peace Between the Sheets, later renamed Cupid's Poisoned Arrow. When asked whether Karezza was science-based or spiritual, Robinson claimed Karezza was purely a spiritual practice for transferring sexual "energy".^[44] Robinson described Karezza sex as superior to conventional sex, claiming beliefs that orgasm was an important part of sex reflected brainwashing.^[45] Wilson claimed the practice cured his lifelong alcoholism and depression.^[45] Another prominent modern Karezza practitioner, Mary Sharpe [d], claimed the time after orgasm was a time of increased violence, even leading to terrorism, making it necessary to avoid orgasm.^[46]

See also

•  Human sexuality portal

• Coitus interruptus – Withdrawal method of birth-control
• Edging (sexual practice) – Orgasm control technique
• Eroto-comatose lucidity – Sex magic technique
• Orgone – Pseudoscientific concept by Wilhelm Reich
• Retrograde ejaculation – Redirection of ejaculated semen into the urinary bladder
• Sex magic – Magic involving sexual activity
• Tantric sex – Tantric sexual practices
• Taoist sexual practices – Religious sexual practices
• Venus Butterfly – Sexual technique

References

1. Levin, Roy J. "Male Sexual Arousal and Orgasms—New Enigmas of Their Activation." Current Sexual Health Reports 10.3 (2018): 76-78.
2. Watts 1970, p. 172.
3. Coomaraswamy 1957, pp. 124–133.
4. Pauly, Ira B. (2013-05-23). . Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
5. Shaman Hatley (June 2016). "Erotic asceticism: the razor's edge observance (asidhārāvrata) and the early history of tantric coital ritual". Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies. 79 (2). Cambridge_University_Press: 329–345. doi:10.1017/S0041977X16000069. S2CID 163906124. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
6. Mallinson 2018, p. 201.
7. North, Kris Deva. "Taoist Ejaculation Formulas". Healing Tao. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
8. Stockham 1903, p. 22.
9. Griffith 2004, p. 92.
10. Lloyd 1931.
11. Stockham 1903, p. 25.
12. Urban 1949.
13. "Researchers find no sperm in pre-ejaculate fluid". Contraceptive Technology Update. 14 (10): 154–156. October 1993. PMID 12286905.
14. Zukerman, Z.; Weiss D.B. Orvieto R. (April 2003). "Short Communication: Does Preejaculatory Penile Secretion Originating from Cowper's Gland Contain Sperm?". Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. 20 (4): 157–159. doi:10.1023/A:1022933320700. PMC 3455634. PMID 12762415.
15. "Withdrawal Method". Planned Parenthood. March 2004. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
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18. Vern L. Bullough Encyclopedia of Birth Control, pp. 76-9, ABC-CLIO, 2001 ISBN 978-1-57607-181-6
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21. Gardella, Peter (1985). Innocent Ecstasy: How Christianity Gave America an Ethic of Sexual Pleasure. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 14–16. ISBN 9780195365153.
22. Gardella, Peter (1985). Innocent Ecstasy: How Christianity Gave America an Ethic of Sexual Pleasure. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 14–16. ISBN 9780195365153.
23. Gardella, Peter (2016). Innocent Ecstasy, Updated Edition: How Christianity Gave America an Ethic of Sexual Pleasure. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780190609429.
24. Liguori, Alphonsus (1835) [1785]. "De Usu Matrimonii. Dub. II. Art. I. sec. 918". Theologia Moralis (in Latin). Vol. 6. Parisiis: Gauthier Fratrem et Soc. p. 318. OCLC 669683570 – via HathiTrust.
25. Catholic Church (1952), "II Monitum [2. Warning]", Acta Apostolicae Sedis commentarium officiale (PDF), Annus XXXXIV - Series II - Vol. XIX (in Latin), Vatican City: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, p. 546, ISSN 0001-5199, OCLC 561125197
26. Harvey, John F. (Winter 1981). "Expressing Marital Love during the Fertile Phase" (PDF). International Review of Natural Family Planning. 5 (4). Collegeville: Human Life Center, Saint John's University: 201–220. ISSN 0146-1745. OCLC 956028381.
27. Hardon, John (1980). Modern Catholic Dictionary. Garden City, New York, USA: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385121620. OCLC 421593130.
28. Professor Grisez, Germain (1997). Difficult Moral Questions, Question 29: What sexual activity is permissible... Quincy, Illinois, USA: Franciscan Press, Quincy University.
29. Professor Grisez, Germain (1992). Living a Christian Life, Chapter 9: Marriage, Sexual Acts, and Family Life, Question E: What Sexual Acts Are Appropriate for Christians?. Quincy, Illinois, USA: Franciscan Press, Quincy University.
30. See twotlj.org for the team credentials and "Nihil obstat" and "Imprimatur".
31. Ellis 1910, p. 553.
32. Noyes 1877.
33. Culling, Louis T.; Weschcke, Carl Llewellyn (8 September 2010). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G. Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 9780738726748.
34. Louis T. Culling, Carl Llewellyn Weschcke (8 September 2010). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G.: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G.B.G (The Great Brotherhood of God). ISBN 978-0-7387-1912-2.
35. Chappell, Vere (December 2010). Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic. Weiser Books. ISBN 9781609252960., Chappell, V. (2010). Sexual outlaw, erotic mystic: The essential Ida Craddock. San Francisco, CA: Red Wheel/Weiser.
36. Culling, Louis T.; Weschcke, Carl Llewellyn (2010). The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G.: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G.B.G (The Great Brotherhood of God). Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 9780738726748. OCLC 793421982.
37. Lewis, H. Spencer Rosicrucian Manual, p. 5, Supreme Grand Lodge of AMORC, 1978
38. Clymer, R. Swinburne MD, The Mystery of Sex and Race Regeneration, p. 223, The Philosophical Publishing Co., 1950
39. Marc Lanval, editor, Lumière et Liberté, Organe Officiel de la Ligue Belge de Propagande Héliophile, Octobre-Novembre 1933
40. Huxley, Aldous Island, Harper & Row, 1962
41. Watts 1970, Chapter 7^{[reprint verification needed]}.
42. Lewis, Norman (2005). Naples '44 : a World War II diary of occupied Italy. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 9781480433250. OCLC 854852494.
43. Ellis 1910, p. 552.
44. "Finding Peace Between Our Sheets". Reality Sandwich. 2008-05-16. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
45. "Couples Holding Back In Bedroom To Experience "New" Intimacy". CBS Miami. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
46. Williams, Robyn; Fisher, David (2005-12-01). "Mary Sharpe". ABC listen. Retrieved 2023-12-01.

Sources

• Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. (1957). "Sahaja". The Dance of Shiva: Fourteen Indian Essays. New York: Noonday Press. pp. 124–133. OCLC 681317248 – via Internet Archive.
  Reprinted in 2023: ISBN 978-81-19139-12-5
• Deveney, John P. (1997). Paschal Beverly Randolph: a nineteenth-century Black American spiritualist, rosicrucian, and sex magician. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-585-04280-0. OCLC 42854735 – via Internet Archive.
• Ellis, Havelock (1910). Studies in the psychology of sex. Vol. 6 Sex in Relation to Society. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis. ASIN B008499I5C. OCLC 927688075. Retrieved 2017-11-03 – via Wellcome Library.
  Republished: Ellis, Havelock (2016). Studies in the psychology of sex. Vol. 6 Sex in Relation to Society. Dinslaken: Anboco. ISBN 9783736412088. OCLC 958563038.
• Griffith, Ruth Marie (2004). Born Again Bodies: Flesh and Spirit in American Christianity. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-93811-3. OCLC 56727227.
• Lloyd, John William (1931). The Karezza Method or Magnetation: The Art of Connubial Love. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-1-60620-046-9.
• Mallinson, James (2018). "Yoga and Sex:What is the Purpose of Vajrolīmudrā?". In Baier, Karl; Maas, Philipp André; Preisendanz, Karin (eds.). Yoga in Transformation: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Göttingen: V&R Unipress. pp. 183–222. doi:10.14220/9783737008624. ISBN 978-3-8471-0862-7. OCLC 1132015487 – via OAPEN.
• Noyes, John Humphrey (1877) [1872]. . Oneida, NY: Office of the American Socialist. OCLC 786280936. Archived from the original on 2017-04-26 – via Syracuse University Library - Department of Special Collections - Oneida Community Collection.
  Also at "Male Continence". iiif.lib.harvard.edu – via Harvard Mirador Viewer.
• Stockham, Alice B. (1903) [1896]. Karezza: Ethics of Marriage. hdl:2027/nyp.33433075969281. OCLC 669319331 – via HathiTrust.
• Urban, Rudolf von (1949). "Sex perfection and marital happiness". Dial Press. OCLC 688412035.
• Watts, Alan (1970) [1958]. Nature, Man, and Woman. New York: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-394-70592-7. OCLC 2271082.
  Republished in 2022: ISBN 978-1-84604-689-6, 978-1-4735-9086-1

Further reading

• Robinson, Marnia (2009). Cupid's Poisoned Arrow: From Habit to Harmony in Sexual Relationships. Berkeley, CA, US: North Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1-58394-298-7. OCLC 1088929783 – via Internet Archive.
• Weor, Samael Aun (1994) [1961]. The Perfect Matrimony. Melbourne: Gnostic eds. ISBN 978-0-646-15376-6. OCLC 1330609031 – via Internet Archive.

External links

• Antonyan, Christina (2009-01-12). . Reuniting. Archived from the original on 2013-03-02. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
• "natural sexuality". Wikischool. 2017-10-29. Archived from the original on 2023-05-30.