Abstinence from sex is a requirement for many people seeking a spiritual life. In the U.S., abstinenceonly education has been officially endorsed since 1981, despite the fact that America has the highest level of teenpregnancies in the industrialized world. In more recent years, selfproclaimed 'Asexuals' have insisted that they have a distinct sexual identity. They have become targets of hate speech.

What do these contrasting ways of thinking about abstinence tell us about modern sexual anxieties?

A lecture by Joanna Bourke

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watchnow/a...

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