| Room 518 | Sexuality and Relationships Thursday, July 14, 2005 Time: 2:30 PM-4:30 PM |
Evaluation and Treatment of Unconsummated Marriages among Orthodox Jewish Couples.
Ribner, David *,1, Rosenbaum, Talli *,, 1 Bar-Ilan University department: School of Social Work, Israel
ABSTRACT- Orthodox Judaism expects new brides and grooms to engage in sexual intercourse on the first night of marriage or soon thereafter, despite stringent norms forbidding premarital physical contact. Any delay for more than several weeks in consummating a marriage is seen as problematic and worthy of rabbinic and/or professional attention. This presentation examines traditional Jewish sources for this emphasis on marital sexuality, defines the problem of unconsummated marriages, discusses issues pertinent to evaluation and suggests appropriate treatment strategies. Our focus includes both Orthodox and Ultra-orthodox (Haredi) elements of the Jewish community To date, the Orthodox Jewish community, as with most conservative sub-cultures, has been most reluctant to cooperate with researchers using quantitative designs to explore sexual issues. Our impressions as to the scope and growth of the problem of unconsummated marriages comes from our own sex therapy practices, as well as contacts with other professionals serving this population. All sexual health professionals with whom we have contact agree that there is a steady increse in the number of such cases coming for treatment. The target population tends to be couples married up to four years who have not yet consummated their marriage (although we have seen a few couples married much longer who are still virgins). Other than their religious affiliation as Orthodox, they share no other common denominator. For some, because of profound sexual ignorance, their is no awareness that a problem exists until they turn to physicians because pregnancy has yet to occur. Our clear impression is that a lack of preparation for marital sexuality is at the root of this problem. The more religious the couple, the more likely it is that they will enter the marriage with little or no basic information on human physiology or sexuality. This situation may have both direct and secondary impact on sexual attitudes, expectations and behaviors.
Key words: unconsummated marriages, religion, Jewish, sex therapy