Nonmarital Sex
From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality
The term premarital sex has been used to describe the range of interpersonal sexual behavior engaged in by young persons up to the point at which they marry. But the word “premarital” is inadequate and often incorrect for the reality of life in the 1990s. It implies that everyone will marry and that all nonmarital sex is merely a prelude to marital sex. For example, can it be said that a fifty-nine-year-old male who has chosen not to marry but has always maintained an active heterosexual life is still engaging in premaritalsex? Or a divorced woman of forty-two, who continues to have an active heterosexual life: should her sexual activities to termed premarital or postmarital? A similar problem arises with homosexual activity since, with few exceptions, homosexuals are not permitted to marry. A more precise term would be nonmarital sex, that is, sexual acts of any sort between two consenting persons, who are not married to one another at the time. If one partner or both are married at the time, this may be termed extramarital sex.
