Coitus reservatus

Coitus reservatus also known as sexual continence, is commonly thought of as a form of sexual intercourse in which the penetrative partner does not attempt to ejaculate within the receptive partner, but instead attempts to remain at the plateau phase of intercourse for as long as possible avoiding the seminal emission. Another term used for this kind of relationship is the word karezza.

The word Karezza is generally believed to be derived from the Italian word "carezza" meaning "caress". However, Alan W. Watts believed it was a Persian word. Alice Bunker Stockham

Alice Bunker Stockham

thumb|right|Dr Alice Bunker StockhamAlice Bunker Stockham was an obstetrician and gynecologist from Chicago, and the fifth woman to be made a doctor in the United States...

coined the word karezza and is akin to maithuna

Maithuna

Maithuna or Mithuna is a Sanskrit term used in Tantra most often translated as sexual union in a ritual context. It is the most important of the five makara and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra. Although some...

in Buddhist Tantra

Tantra

Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....

and Sahaja

Sahaja

Sahaja is a term of some importance in Indian spirituality, particularly in circles influenced by the Tantric Movement...

in Hindu Yoga

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

.

The Rosicrucians have used "coitus reservatus" or "karezza" as an esoteric practice.

The practice of Karezza

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." 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 encountered in trying to control sexual expression on an individual basis.
Stockham's contribution was to apply this same philosophy of orgasm control

Orgasm control

Orgasm control, also known as "edging", "peaking", "surfing", and by other terms, is a sexual technique which involves the maintenance of a high level of sexual arousal for an extended period of time without reaching orgasm, although orgasm can be reached eventually. If orgasm is not reached after...

to women as much as to men. A form of birth control

Birth control

Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...

, the technique also prolongs sexual pleasure to the point of achieving mystical ecstasy, according to J. William Lloyd, a practitioner of Karezza, whose own experience of Cosmic Consciousness

Cosmic consciousness

Cosmic consciousness is the idea that the universe exists as an interconnected network of consciousness, with each conscious being linked to every other...

appears in Cosmic Consciousness, a book written by the American psychiatrist Richard M. Bucke, a friend of the American poet Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

. In this practice, orgasm is separated from ejaculation, making possible enjoyment of the pleasure of heterosexual intercourse without experiencing seminal ejaculation, while still experiencing orgasm.

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". In Latin literature, this is known as coitus sine ejaculatione seminis.

One purpose of karezza is the maintenance, and indeed, intensification of desire and enjoyment of sexual pleasure within the context of relationships. According to Alice Stockham, a 19th Century author, 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". 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.

There is a slight difference between karezza and coitus reservatus. In this practice, unlike karezza, a woman can and does enjoy a prolonged orgasm while a man demonstrates self-control; similarly, in the context of two male sexual partners, the receptive partner can enjoy the stimulation of his prostate for a longer period of time than he would otherwise.

Like coitus interruptus

Coitus interruptus

Coitus interruptus, also known as the rejected sexual intercourse, withdrawal or pull-out method, is a method of birth-control in which a man, during intercourse withdraws his penis from a woman's vagina prior to ejaculation...

, coitus reservatus is not a reliable form of preventing a sexually transmitted infection, as the penis leaks pre-ejaculate

Pre-ejaculate

Pre-ejaculate is the clear, colorless, viscous fluid that emits from the urethra of a man's penis when he is sexually aroused. It is similar in composition to semen, but has some significant chemical differences...

prior to ejaculation, which may contain all of the same infectious viral particles and bacteria as the actual semen

Semen

Semen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that may contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...

. Although studies have not found sperm in pre-ejaculate fluid, the method is also unreliable for contraception

Contraception

Contraception is the prevention of the fusion of gametes during or after sexual activity. The term contraception is a contraction of contra, which means against, and the word conception, meaning fertilization...

because of the difficulty of controlling ejaculation beyond the point of no return in over-reaching the orgasm. Additionally, if it follows an earlier orgasm, it is possible for pre-ejaculate fluid to pick up sperm from a previous ejaculation, leading to pregnancy even when performed correctly.

Some views on coitus reservatus

English novelist Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

, in his last novel Island wrote that Maithuna, the Yoga of Love is... "the same as what Roman Catholicism means by coitus reservatus." 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"

Esotericism

Esotericism or Esoterism signifies the holding of esoteric opinions or beliefs, that is, ideas preserved or understood by a small group or those specially initiated, or of rare or unusual interest. The term derives from the Greek , a compound of : "within", thus "pertaining to the more inward",...

than in any of the other great spiritual traditions of the world, so much so that its existence is highly doubtful..." The Welsh writer Norman Lewis, in his celebrated account of life in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

in 1944, claimed that San Rocco was the patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

of coitus reservatus: "I recommended him to drink -- as the locals did -- marsala

Marsala wine

Marsala is a wine produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala wine first received Denominazione di Origine Controllata status in 1969....

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". Coitus reservatus was admittedly part of the teachings of the Catholic Church regarding sexual intercourse and was generally a permitted form of intercourse but was subject to the same arguments as coitus interruptus.

The psychologist Havelock Ellis

Havelock Ellis

Henry Havelock Ellis, known as Havelock Ellis , was a British physician and psychologist, writer, and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He was co-author of the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and...

writes: "Coitus Reservatus, – in which intercourse is maintained even for very long periods, during which a woman may have 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".

The Oneida Community

Oneida Community

The Oneida Community was a religious commune founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 in Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had already returned in the year 70 AD, making it possible for them to bring about Jesus's millennial kingdom themselves, and be free of sin and perfect in this...

, founded in the nineteenth century by John Humphrey Noyes

John Humphrey Noyes

John Humphrey Noyes was an American utopian socialist. He founded the Oneida Community in 1848. He coined the term "free love".-Early activism:...

experimented with coitus reservatus which was then called male continence in a religiously Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

communist environment. The experiment lasted for about a quarter of a century and then Noyes went on to create Oneida silverware and establish the Oneida Silver Co. that grew into Oneida Limited

Oneida Limited

Oneida Limited is one of the world's largest marketers of stainless steel flatware, and offers a range of tabletop products. Its operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Australia market stainless, silverplated, and sterling flatware products, china dinnerware, and...

The Rosicrucians

The AMORC Rosicrucians declare openly that they do not engage in sexual practices of an occult nature. This has been so since their First Imperator H. Spencer Lewis, Ph. D. made it public knowledge. Their rival organization Fraternitas Rosae Crucis

Fraternitas Rosae Crucis

Fraternitas Rosae Crucis is a Rosicrucian fraternal organization founded by Paschal Beverly Randolph in 1858, and is the oldest Rosicrucian Order in the US...

led by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer

R. Swinburne Clymer

Reuben Swinburne Clymer was an American Rosicrucian. He succeeded Edward H. Brown as Supreme Grand Master of Fraternitas Rosae Crucis in 1922, and served until his death, when he was succeeded by his son Emerson Myron Clymer. He had reached the rank of Grand Master in 1905.The succession from...

engages in sexual practices for the sake of race regeneration. Dr. Clymer is completely opposed to the practice of Karezza or coitus reservatus and advocates instead a form of sex intercourse in which the couple experiences the orgasm at the same time Imperator Lewis declares the FUDOSI

FUDOSI

FUDOSI or FUDOESI , founded on August 14, 1934, in Brussels , was a federation of autonomous esoteric orders and societies.-Background:FUDOSI was an attempt to create a federation of mystical orders with the...

acknowledged AMORC as the genuine Rosicrucian representative in North America. However, the Secretary of the FUDOSI, a French Sexologist, heartily approves the practice of Karezza as an American import to establish harmony in the family as well as in the world by preventing the waste and misuse of sex energy.

Dr. Arnold Krumm-Heller

Arnold Krumm-Heller

Arnold Krumm-Heller was a German doctor, occultist, Rosicrucian, and founder of Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua , a traditional Hermetic order that operates in Brazil. Krumm-Heller was born April 15, 1876 and died in 1949 in Marburg, Germany.He travelled to Latin America when he was quite young...

established the Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua

Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua

The Fraternitas Rosicruciana Antiqua is a Rosicrucian Order originally established by German occultist Dr. Arnold Krumm-Heller, and acts in Brazil and Spanish-speaking countries. In Brazil, it was established in 1932 and has had its headquarters in Rio De Janeiro since 1933...

(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

Samael Aun Weor

Samael Aun Weor , born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez, Colombian citizen and later Mexican, was an author, lecturer and founder of the 'Universal Christian Gnostic Movement' with his teaching of 'The Doctrine of Synthesis' of all religions in both their esoteric and exoteric aspects...

experimented with that formula and developed the doctrine of The Perfect Matrimony
The Perfect Matrimony
The Perfect Matrimony, or The Door to Enter Into Initiation, is the first of approximately seventy books written by Samael Aun Weor. It was first published in 1950 then revised and amplified in 1961....

.

Controversy

Dr. Alice Stockham

Alice Bunker Stockham

thumb|right|Dr Alice Bunker StockhamAlice Bunker Stockham was an obstetrician and gynecologist from Chicago, and the fifth woman to be made a doctor in the United States...

was taken to court and forced to give up teaching the practice of Karezza in the United States of America. Like many other of the sex reformers, Stockham was arrested by Anthony Comstock

Anthony Comstock

Anthony Comstock was a United States Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.-Biography:...

. Comstock was backed by Morris Ketchum Jessup, an American millionaire philanthropist who was a founder of the New York YMCA

YMCA

The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...

and the Museum of Natural History. Together, they established the New York Committee for the Suppression of Vice which attracted many prominent, powerful and wealthy Americans including J. P. Morgan

J. P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...

. Comstock lobbied in Congress for a stronger federal antiobscenity and antireproductive control law. Within months, Congress would sign the Comstock Act into law and Comstock would be appointed special agent of the U. S. Post Office to enforce the law. He jailed for long terms a variety of spiritual marriage reformers including Paschal Beverly Randolph

Paschal Beverly Randolph

Randolph also edited the Leader and the Messenger of Light between 1852 to 1861 and wrote for the Journal of Progress and Spiritual Telegraph .2 as anonymous.3 under the pseudonym "Count de St. Leon".- References :...

who had been a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. Ida Craddock

Ida Craddock

Ida C. Craddock was a 19th-century American advocate of free speech and women's rights.-Early life:Ida Craddock was born in Philadelphia; her father died when she was two years old...

committed suicide after being repeatedly jailed for allegedly peddling pornography. The Oneida Community

Oneida Community

was attacked in the press and Noyes was forced to flee to Canada 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.

External links

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The practice of Karezza