Shunamitism
Sign in to saveAlso known as shunammitism
thumb|right| Abishag the Shunamite tends to aging David, . thumb|David and Abishag by Pedro Américo, 1879 Shunamitism (also referred to as gerocomy) is the practice of an old man sleeping with, but not necessarily having sex with, a young virgin to preserve his youth. It is considered an esoteric youth-enhancing method. The rationale was that the heat and moisture of the young woman would transfer to the old man and revitalize him.
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- Similar East Asian traditions
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thumb|right| Abishag the Shunamite tends to aging David, . thumb|David and Abishag by Pedro Américo, 1879 Shunamitism (also referred to as gerocomy) is the practice of an old man sleeping with, but not necessarily having sex with, a young virgin to preserve his youth. It is considered an esoteric youth-enhancing method. The rationale was that the heat and moisture of the young woman would transfer to the old man and revitalize him.
The term is based on the biblical story of King David and Abishag. The young woman, who was from Shunem, was also referred to as a Shunammite. When King David was old and could not stay warm, his servants found Abishag to sleep with him, though he had no intimate relations with her: therefore, she was still a virgin.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Shunamitism” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.