A history of celibacy Book

	Author's Note	13
	Introduction: Considering Celibacy	15
Chapter 1	Divine Pagan Celibacy	23
	Greek Myths	23
	Athena, Artemis, and Hestia	23
	Mythical Virgins	28
	Greek Literature	30
	Hippolytus Opposes Love	30
	Lysistrata's Ultimatum	32
	Classical Rituals	34
	Thesmophoria	34
	Cult of Isis	36
	Oracle of Delphi	37
	Special Virgins	38
	Vestal Virgins	39
	Pagan and Jewish Asceticism	43
	The Influence of Greek Philosophy	43
	The Essenes Prepare for Armageddon	45
Chapter 2	Early Christianity	47
	Origins	47
	A Tale of Two Women	47
	Martyrdom Toughens the New Religion	50
	The Second Coming	52
	Hail Mary? The Progressive Virginities of the Holy Mother	56
	Encratites and Gnostics Boycott the Womb	61
	Give Me Chastity ... but Not Yet	63
	Unconventional Virgins	67
	Church Mothers	67
	Female Transvestite Monks	76
	Bearded Female Saints	82
	Celibacy Out in the Desert	83
	The Desert Fathers' New Alphabet of the Heart	83
	St. Simeon's Chastity at Sixty Feet High	88
	Marrying "the True Man"	90
Chapter 3	Later Christianity	99
	Celibacy and Clerics	99
	Medieval Eastern Monasteries	99
	Western Monasteries	101
	Martin Luther on Nocturnal Emissions	105
	Celibacy One, Lust Zero	106
	To Wed or Not to Wed	107
	Apostolic Women	114
	Begin the Beguine	115
	Women Out of This World	118
	Mary Ward, Who Was "But a Woman"	119
	Brides of Christ	121
	Catherine of Siena	121
	Hildegard of Bingen Frowns on Fasting	127
	Mohawk Saint Kateri Tekakwitha	128
	Committed Sisters	133
	Convents of Joy	133
	Unwilling Nuns	138
	Shotgun Celibacy	140
	An Unwilling Nun's Love Cut Short	144
	Secular Celibates and Agape Love	145
	The Shakers	148
	Father Divine	155
Chapter 4	Other Major Religions and Rites	163
	Hinduism	164
	Shiva, Erotic and Celibate God	164
	Celibacy in Stages	165
	Modern Celibacy in Sannyasi Orders	169
	The Daughters of Brahma	171
	Buddhism	174
	Buddha and His Precepts	174
	Men and Women of the Monasteries	176
	Jainism	180
	Ritual Celibacy	183
	Celibacy Charms Shamans	184
	Virgin Priestesses of the Sun	187
	Sex-Positive Religions: Judaism and Islam	192
	Judaism	192
	Islam	194
Chapter 5	Celibacy to Conserve Semen	197
	Totus Homo Semen Est	198
	Conserving the Vital Life Force	198
	Davy Crockett and the Male Purity Movement	202
	John Harvey Kellogg's Diet to Cure Sex	206
	The Power of Semen in Sports	208
	The Greeks Train Sound Minds in Chaste Bodies	209
	The Victorians Exercise Muscular Christianity	211
	The Cherokees Play Ball	212
	Today's Chaste Athletes	214
	Indian Wrestlers	217
	Brahmacharya and the Power of Semen	219
	Celibate Selflessness	219
	Gandhi's Women	220
	Semen as Patriotic Elixir	227
Chapter 6	Female Celibacy Transcends Gender	231
	Cross-Dressing for Military Success	231
	Joan of Arc	231
	A Crow Nation Gender-Bender	235
	Amazons of Old Dahomey	238
	Defying the Natural Order	239
	Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen	239
	Florence Nightingale	245
	Chastity with an Agenda	249
	British Spinsters Strike against Sex	249
	Spinsters United	251
	Sexology versus "the Stinging Weapon of Death"	254
Chapter 7	Celibacy as Womanly Duty	257
	Celibacy as a Guarantee for Marriage	257
	Chaste Brides Guarantee Paternity	257
	Virgins and Disgraced Maidens	259
	Testing for Maidenheads	262
	Exceptional Aztec and Enga Virgin Bachelors	264
	That Pesky Double Standard	268
	Harlots for Hire	270
	Outraged Women Demand Chaste Men	273
	A Five-Pound Virgin Tips the Scales of Justice	277
	White Women, Black Men	279
	Aids to Chastity	282
	Chastity Belts	282
	Female Genital Mutilation	285
	Bound Feet	288
Chapter 8	Abstaining in a Good Cause	293
	No Loving, No Baby	293
	Postpartum Abstinence	295
	Granny Time Ends Sex	299
	Voluntary Motherhood	300
Chapter 9	Coerced Celibacy	303
	Involuntary Celibacy	303
	Doing Celibate Time	305
	Vestal Virgins of St. Petersburg	307
	Celibacy in Mao's Cultural Revolution	309
	Celibacy in a Crowded Marriage	311
	Celibate Victims of Skewed Gender Ratios	312
	Widowed Celibacy	313
	Chaste Hindu Widowhood	313
	Suttee as the Ultimate Chastity Belt	315
	Castrated Celibacy	317
	Eunuchs in Greek Mythology	319
	Chinese Eunuchism as a Career Opportunity	320
	Byzantine Eunuch Paradise	324
	Black African Eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire	326
	The Hijras of India	329
	The Castrati of the Opera	332
	Castration to Punish Offenders	335
Chapter 10	Celibacy to Repress Unconventional or Sorrowful Sexuality	339
	Leonardo da Vinci Avoids Prison	339
	Lewis Carroll Allays Suspicion	341
	John Ruskin Shuns Repellent Sex	342
	Sir Isaac Newton Mends a Broken Heart	345
	Boston Marriages Celebrate Romantic Friendship	346
Chapter 11	Impotent Celibacy	353
	Unwelcome Celibacy	353
	Limp as Yesterday's Lettuce	353
	Testing for Impotence in Prereolutionary France	355
	Celibacy in Response to Vaginismus	357
	You Can Be Too Thin: Anorexic Celibacy	359
Chapter 12	Celibacy in Literature	363
	Courtly, Ennobling, and Unrequited Love	363
	Milton and the Chaste Lady	365
	Pamela, Shamela	367
	Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata	369
	Judith Shakespeare	371
	Garp's Mother	372
	Vampire Celibacy, Medium Rare	373
Chapter 13	The New Celibacy	375
	Shrinking Cloisters	375
	Vatican Decrees Celibacy a Brilliant Jewel	376
	Misogynous Exceptions to the Papal Rule of Celibacy	382
	Catholic Priests Vote with Their Feet	384
	The Third Way of Sophistry and Cheating	386
	Divorce a la Catholic Church	388
	The Bleeding	389
	New Age Monasticism	392
	Celibacy as an Undivided Heart	393
	The Power Virgins	394
	True Love Waits	396
	Young People's Movement	399
	Reborn Chastity	406
	Lesbian Celibacy versus Lesbian "Bed Death"	414
	Celibacy in the Age of AIDS	415
	Sex and AIDS	417
	Celibacy and AIDS	420
	Epilogue	425
	Acknowledgments	431
	Notes	433
	Index	475