>To control reproduction within the Oneida community, a system of male continence or coitus reservatus was enacted.[13] John Humprey Noyes decided that sexual intercourse served two distinct purposes. In Male Continence, Noyes argues that the method simply "proposes the subordination of the flesh to the spirit, teaching men to seek principally the elevated spiritual pleasures of sexual connection".[14] The primary purpose of male continence was social satisfaction, "to allow the sexes to communicate and express affection for one another".[15] The second purpose was procreation. Of around two hundred adults using male continence as birth control, there were twelve unplanned births within Oneida between 1848 and 1868,[15] indicating that it was a highly effective form of birth control.[16]:18 Young men were introduced to male continence by women who were post-menopause, and young women were introduced by experienced, older males.[16]
Noyes believed that ejaculation "drained men's vitality and led to disease"[17] and pregnancy and childbirth "levied a heavy tax on the vitality of women".[17] Noyes founded male continence to spare his wife, Harriet, from more difficult childbirths after five traumatizing births of which four led to the death of the child.[16]:17 They favored this method of male continence over other methods of birth control because they found it to be natural, healthy and favorable for the development of intimate relationships.[17]:743 Women found increased sexual satisfaction in the practice, and Oneida is regarded as highly unusual in the value they placed on women's sexual satisfaction.[16]:19 If a male failed he faced public disapproval or private rejection.[17]:743
