]
The shakers were probably best known for their celibacy and
Industriousness. Single men and women did not marry. Married couples who joined the religion had to live apart. In the shaker community, males and females lived in separate communal houses. They had strict rules regarding behavior between the sexes, such as never shaking hands or touching each other in any way. They ate, worked, and slept in separate quarters. When conversation between a man and a woman was necessary, it was done in the company of others. At their almost daily meetings for conversation and singing, males and females sat opposite each other. Even when they danced and whirled around during worship, men and women always kept their distance.