Coitus reservatus (coitus, "sexual intercourse, union" + reservatus, "reserved, saved"), also known as sexual continence, is a form of sexual intercourse in which the penetrative partner does not attempt to ejaculate within the receptive partner, but instead attempts to remain at the plateau phase of intercourse for as long as possible avoiding the seminal emission.
coined the term karezza, derived from the Italian word "carezza" meaning "caress", to describe coitus reservatus, but the idea was already in practice at the Oneida Community. Alan Watts believed, in error, that karezza was a Persian word. The concept of karezza is loosely akin to maithuna in Hindu Tantra and Sahaja in Hindu Yoga.
Control of ejaculation is a key aspect of Taoist sexual practices (known as "cai Yin pu Yang" and "cai Yang pu Yin").
Stockham writes, "... Karezza signifies 'to express affection in both words and action,' and while it fittingly denotes the union that is the outcome of deepest human affection, love's consummation, it is used technically throughout this work to designate a controlled sexual union." So that in practice, according to Stockham, it is more than just self-control, but mutual control where the penetrative partner helps the receptive partner and vice versa. According to Stockham this is the key to overcoming many difficulties encountered in trying to control sexual expression on an individual basis. Stockham's contribution was to apply this same philosophy of orgasm control to women as much as to men. A form of birth control, the technique also prolongs sexual pleasure to the point of achieving mystical ecstasy, according to J. William Lloyd, a practitioner of Karezza, whose own experience of cosmic consciousness appears in Cosmic Consciousness, a book written by the Canadian psychiatrist Richard M. Bucke, a friend of the American poet Walt Whitman. In this practice, orgasm is separated from ejaculation, making possible enjoyment of the pleasure of sexual intercourse without experiencing seminal ejaculation, while still experiencing orgasm.