Celibacy, Culture, and Society: Anthropology of Sexual Abstinence

In Celibacy, Culture, and Society: The Anthropology of Sexual Abstinence, editors Elisa J. Sobo (Choosing Unsafe Sex) and Sandra Bell (Female Sexuality) examine theories of celibacy and celibate practices the world over. In her portrait of Buddhist nuns in northwest India, Kim Gutschow suggests celibacy as freedom from ""commodification""; Peter Phillimore studies celibacy as a form of social control in a another group of Hindu women in the region. Michael Duke looks at ritual abstinence among the Mazatecs of Mexico ""in association with hunting, agricultural production, metaphysical activities, and curing rituals."" These astute, scholarly essays provide fascinating glimpses into an ancient, multifaceted cross-cultural phenomenon.