Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Limitations (almost nothing is 100%!):
Birth control: It is possible to get pregnant without having sexual intercourse. It has been reported many times in the medical literature and I have seen several cases myself. The situation in which it has occurred involved couples that engaged in heavy petting including ejaculation by the male in the area of the women's vagina. Some of the sperm swam into the vagina, back to the cervix, up into the womb and out the tube where one found the egg. A very unlikely occurrence, but there may be as many as one billion sperm in an ejaculation, and it only takes one.
Sexually transmitted diseases: Even without intercourse you can get sexually transmitted diseases. The most common one would be getting herpes from oral sex with someone with a fever blister or cold sore. It would also be possible to get genital warts from being touched by someone with warts on his hand. Other STD are possible but unlikely.
There are single people who believe that sex should only happen within marriage. This might be due to religious belief, or due to a need for security.
The next category is that of monks, nuns, priests and religious people for whom celibacy is a part of a spiritual path.
There are victims of sexual abuse, for whom sex is too much of an emotionally loaded thing.
There are people who regard sex as simply not worth the hassle, often because they have happen to have low sex drives. Included in this category are people who are happy to go on dates, have emotional relationships and even marry, but who don't have sex. In some parts of the US, this kind of relationship is known as the "Lover Lite", or "Platonic Plus". As concerns grow over AIDS and as women feel more confident to say "no" to sex, this category is on the increase (see quote below).
The numbers of people with a low basic interest in sex are much higher than you would think, probably because of the social pressure not to admit to it. In a survey of women in the UK in 1999, nearly 20% claimed not to be interested in sex. A large survey published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) using data collected in 1992 reported that 15% of men aged 18-59, and 30% of women have a low sex drive (Source: JAMA, February 10, 1999- Vol. 281, No. 6. [Online here]. See also the Salon Magazine article at this link) Some people who are actually very sexual by nature go on deliberate temporary "fasts", on the premise that rarity makes the act more valuable.
There are extreme feminists who regard all sex as rape and who see celibacy as an expression of independence and autonomy
There are some people who reject gender roles, including sexual roles, entirely. A separate RAQ (Rarely Asked Questions list) addresses this subject.
It has come to the attention of this writer that there are certain men who call themselves 'celibate' just because they can't get a partner at the moment. These men are "lads" pretending to be "new men". Get out of the pool, wimps!
In summary, there are two general reasons for voluntary celibacy. There are negative reasons, including disillusionment with sex, lack of sex drive or medical or emotional problems. (For those with specifically medical problems, there is a dedicated site, the Medical Celibates Network). There are also positive reasons, including honesty (many people will acknowledge that sex and bulls**t are difficult to separate), stronger and less casual relationships, spiritual reward or the prospect of channeling one's hormonal energies into higher experiences.
The popular belief that people only give up sex because they are repressed or have some sort of deep problem is an unfortunate prejudice. My own experience and my contact with dozens of other celibates has shown celibates to be a far more happy and settled bunch than this prejudice would lead you to expect.
The following comes from "The girls of Gen X" by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, American Enterprise, 1 January 1998: According to psychologist Joanna Gutmann, a counselor at the University of Chicago, asexual couplings are increasingly common. Gen X men and women may share beds without ever having sex, or they may start out in a sexual relationship and then eventually shift to a comfy, a sexual living-together relationship for the sake of companionship and convenience. Passionate, romantic love between young men and women is increasingly rare, says Gutmann.