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The Emotional Toll of Premarital Sex

While the physical toll of premarital
sex is more overt (unplanned pregnancy
and sexually transmitted diseases),the
emotional toll is perhaps more dangerous
(several more bullets in the Russian
roulette gun’s chamber).Premarital sex
can subtly start a person down a road
which may have a very tragic ending.
Before proceeding down that road,it is
important to consider some of the
negative consequences of premarital
sexual activity.
A Sexual Double Standard.Thesexual
doublestandardisstillverymuchalive
today.Thiscultural“rule”sayscasualsexis
OKformen,butnotforwomen(Bogle,
2007).Americansdonotstonewomenwho
participateinsexoutsideofmarriage(aswas
doneinbiblicaltimes).However,the

Americanculturestillexcusesmenfor

havingseveralpartners,whilewhispering

badthingsaboutawomanwho“sleeps

around.”Whilethemediatendstopromote

sexualfreedomandequality,unofficiallythe

wordinsmall-townAmericais“boyswillbe

boys,butgirlswillbevirgins.”Thissexual

doublestandardcantakeanemotionaltoll

onwomenwhoareencouragedtohavesex

beforemarriage,butthenfindthemselves

disrespectedfordoingso.

Incompatible Values.Peoplecanhave

entirelydifferentmotivesforparticipating

inpremaritalsex.Forexample,

incompatiblevaluesoccurwhenone

partnerishedonistic,whiletheother

partnerisrelativistic.Thehedonistic

partnerbelievespremaritalsexisjustfor

pleasureandrecreation;therelativistic

partnerbelievesthatpremaritalsexisonly

OKwhenthecoupleisinlove.Hetellsher

Chapter 4

Figure 4.2

Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Teen Sex

Sweden

0 20 40 60 80 100

France

Canada

Great Britain

United States

By age 15

By age 18

By age 20

% of women 20–24 who had sex in their teenage years