abaya

Well, I went to an evangelical Christian college, and I can tell you that while yes, probably quite a few boys there masturbated on a regular basis (and even had sex, though we had signed a contract to not do that outside of marriage), a good portion of the male population was neither masturbating not having sex. Porn was actually inaccessible on all campus computers.

I was really close to a lot of guy friends there, and they were all the types of guys who had disciplined themselves away from anything corrupting in the slightest (and they had accountability groups to talk about temptations and pray about them). I mean, they took the Bible seriously... that even *thinking* lustfully in their heads was a sin, and that it needed to be surrendered to God. You could say they either had very strong self-control, or very strong brainwashing/repression... but it was still their own choice to believe what they did.

I don't know if this made them all more or less manly... I had no one to compare them with, since that was my only scene for 4 years. But I'd say they put far less time and energy into thinking about sex than most people age 18-22, since there was so much guilt associated with it. Our campus was well-known for its high level of guys' participation in community groups, leadership, sports, intramurals, volunteering, etc. I don't know how strong the correlation is, but it's there... you might consider it to be a lot like how productive monks and nuns are in their communities, at least for a period of 4 years.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran