NewTime wrote:
People often confuse being asexual with being celibate. Someone who is celibate waits to get married before having sex whereas an asexual will no desire to have sex even when married.
Not exactly.
Yes.
Celibacy is a lifestyle choice, were as asexuality is a condition that you are stuck with that is no more a choice than being hetero, or being gay is a choice.
That part is right.
But (as Merrian Webster says) "celibacy" means "abstaining from all sexual relations, and marriage. Typically for religious reasons."
...and marriage". No sex, no marriage. Married and celibate are mutually exclusive.
IF you become a priest or a nun or a monk and never have sex then that is celibacy. If you plan and hope to have a sexual relationship someday, even if its exclusively within marriage then you are not being "celibate".
Back in the day those were the only two options: sex within marriage, or religious vows of celibacy. It was assumed that you didn't have sex before marriage. Regular folks who waited until marriage and then had families were the opposite of the "celibate" minority who joined religious orders.
So you may ask "what do you call folks who save themselves until marriage, but are not lifelong celibates?".
The answer is that I don't know of any term for that. But for centuries that was just called "normal".
Keep in mind that folks often got married in the mid teens back in the day.