Small nitpick, Elisabeth.
I chose celibacy for 22 years
I take this to mean that you were 22 years old when you married. That means that you were a child, physically not ready for sex, for about half the time you were celibate, or maybe even more than half that time.
Recently I heard a radio documentary about sexual harassment of women in Egypt. According to this documentary, women in Egypt are routinely grabbed and fondled when they move around in crowded places. Wearing a veil is no protection. In the documentary a young woman was interviewed. When she was on her way to work, a man had grabbed her, pushed her against a wall and started to tear off her clothes. Unusually for an Egyptian woman she had yelled and screamed for help, and people had come by and pushed off the attacker. Now the woman had brought the case to court, asking the court to punish the man for attempted rape. The case had caused a lot of outrage in Egypt, but most of the fury was directed at the woman. How could she make so much trouble for a man who didn't get to rape her in the first place?
According to this documentary, there is widespread and rampant sexual frustration among young men in Egypt. The reason is that a married man is supposed to support his family, but since unemployment is sky-high in Egypt, most young Egyptian men can't afford to marry. They also can't have extramarital affairs, since unmarried women are guarded so closely. So most Egyptian men can't marry and thus can't have sex until they are well into their thirties, and this unwanted celibacy causes the frustration that makes men in Egypt constantly harass women.
I think celibacy is a thing that agrees with some people but not with others. I definitely think that there are many homosexual people who can choose to be celibate and be at peace with themselves that way. But I don't think all gay people can do that.
Ann
