To me abstinence is the act of abstaining from sex because of religious reasons or pressure. Let me explain:
I have almost never heard of someone voluntarily abstaining from having sex for merely personal reasons. I have heard of people saying they're abstinent, but were really just going through a dry spell and I have heard other say they are abstinent after going through a personal trauma- but these usually change fast and are not truly considered abstinence to me, just taking a break (since they had previously had sex and then chose not to as an excuse or they needed time)
So to me the only true example of abstinence comes from religious pressure. Churches attempt to control their youth by arranging when they can sex on their terms (i.e. you can have sex when you have had a ceremony in one of our establishments). By saying that sex is a sin and that it should only be used to procreate or after marriage is just another social control the church puts on it's patrons, but in the end there is really no foundation to any of the bad things they say about sex.
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