karezza

English

Alternative forms

• Karezza
• Karetza (possibly a rendering into English orthography of the Italian pronunciation)

Etymology

Coined by Alice Bunker Stockham from Italian carezza (“caress”). Doublet of caress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑˈɹɛtsə/, (more Italianate) /kɑˈɹeɪtsɑ/, (more anglicized) /kəˈɹɛtsə/

Noun

karezza (uncountable)

1. Non-religious spiritual sexual practices that draw upon tantric techniques of body control but do not involve any of tantra's cultural or iconographic symbolism; intended to promote birth control, equality for women, and marital pleasure and fidelity.

   Coordinate term: coitus reservatus

   • 1903, Alice Bunker Stockham, Karezza: Ethics of Marriage:

     Karezza seems to me to be the sex-blending of the moral natures, it seems to call out and arouse to an ecstasy of delight and power the spiritual and poetic nature of both man and woman. It gives strength as if it were the key to unlock powers.

   • 2012, Martha Kirkpatrick, Women’s Sexual Development: Explorations of Inner Space, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 23:

     For those who could not manage this, another curious choice was available: “karezza” or intercourse without male orgasm (Stockham, 1896). Karezza was promoted as a technique with several advantages: men could demonstrate sexual […]

See also

• amplexus reservatus
• cortezia
• tantra
• Taoist dual cultivation