“Boysober” is celibacy with a new image

Comedian Hope Woodard is spreading the word about her one-year hiatus from sex and dating. One fan calls it "this year's hottest mental health craze."

A group of young people mostly in their 20s years gathered Tuesday evening in a chapel-like building in Brooklyn to learn more. a hot topic in religious spaces for centuries: celibacy.

Except that no one used this term. Instead, they called it "boysober."

“I hate the word single,” said event host Hope Woodard, a actress and storyteller who grew up in the Church of Christ in rural Tennessee.

Mrs. Woodard, who lives in Brooklyn, has described herself as sex-positive — and sometimes wears a button that says "I like female orgasms" to prove it. But after taking inventory of her love life in October and realizing she had been in a relationship since kindergarten, she decided to take a year away from sex and dating.

With nearly half a million followers on TikTok and Instagram, Ms. Woodard, 27, began using the term "boysober" early in her journey. She now describes her experience in a monthly storytelling and comedy show, called "Boysober," at Purgatory, an entertainment venue in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood that was once an administration building for Evergreens Cemetery.

< p class="css -at9mc1 evys1bk0">At the first sold-out show, the approximately 100 attendees filled the seats and gathered around the small stage. Before introducing the line of comics, Ms. Woodard explained that she understood "boysober" to be an encompassing term, which meant refraining from romantic relationships with people of any gender.

ImageAudience members at Ms. Woodard's recent "Boysober" show. Credit...Amir Hamja/The New York Times

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