The year-old small-business owner in Los Angeles had found herself caught in a cycle of unfulfilling hookups and flings that she said left her feeling unhappy, emotional, and disrespected.
So she decided to take a break β not forever, but long enough to try to heal her past sexual traumas, reevaluate her relationship with men, and establish firmer boundaries for herself and her body.
On the first day of , she began her "celibacy journey," which she plans to continue for the rest of the year. Blackman is one of a growing number of Gen Z women who've decided they're going to take a break from sex, an idea some are dubbing their "celibacy era" or "celibacy journey.
To others, it's a means to recover from bad hookups or bad relationships, especially if they've been layered on top of previous sexual traumas. For these women, "celibacy is kind of like a return to femininity and tenderness and care and softness that they did not feel safe enough or comfortable enough to feel in their past relationships," Sabrina Flores, a trauma-informed relationship coach, told Insider.
In interviews with four celibate Gen Z women, all told Insider that their choice didn't primarily stem from religious beliefs. Instead, they hoped to reevaluate their relationship with men: a sort of "Dry January" for sex. Some have given themselves a designated timeline for a break β say, six months or a year. Others are simply abstaining until they feel they're ready to experience intimacy again. The movement has taken off on TikTok, where celibacyjourney has nearly 40 million views, and videos of women discussing celibacy garner hundreds of thousands of views and hundreds of comments.
