А.И. Громова

THE MOVEMENT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PREMARITAL ABSTINENCE AMONG MEN IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA: THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PHENOMENON

Authors

А.И. Громова

Keywords:

Russian empire, women’s movement, celibacy, abstinence unions, sexual morality, public morality, sex education, premarital chastity, intelligentsia, double morality

Abstract

In the last quarter of the XIX century in the enlightened circles of Europe, the United States and the Russian Empire, an ethical concept began to emerge, according to which not only women, but also men were obliged to maintain «purity» before marriage and lead a chaste lifestyle; Вестник ТвГУ. Серия «История». 2021. № 4 (60) – 31 – the social origins of this idea can be found in the self-consciousness of women that was forming during this period and the movement for equality that was beginning to actively develop, which inevitably raised the question of abolishing double standards and the need for society to accept the same moral criteria for both sexes. On the wave of this movement in Europe, the United States and the Russian Empire, various unions, societies and fraternities began to be created, the purpose of which was to promote premarital abstinence and a chaste lifestyle – primarily among men, since women a priori had to, according to the prevailing patriarchal ideas, preserve virginity before marriage. Despite the fact that society as a whole was not ready to accept such ideas, the very fact of the emergence of such associations speaks of a gradual the changes taking place in the field of marriage and family relations

THE MOVEMENT FOR THE PRESERVATION OF PREMARITAL ABSTINENCE AMONG MEN IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA: THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PHENOMENON