Premarital Sexual Permissiveness

P Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Deblina Roy Department of Psychiatry, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, UP, India Introduction Sexuality colors the whole life of an individual, since the early childhood; the sexuality develops throughout individual life, leading to certain beliefs and attitudes about sexual relationships. Going toward adolescence, sexual relationships provoke interest among one and all. Sexual relationships can be comprehended as constant choices that one makes in their lives to engage in sexual activities. This is although a biological instinctual process in the beginning, but due to the complexity of human society, sexual permissiveness shows a great degree of variation throughout the world (Friedman 1992). Marriage is a norm in all of the civilized human society which acknowledges the union of two human beings and grants them the permission to reproduce in a culturally accepted manner. In major cultures of the world, men and women are considered not to engage in sexual relationships before marriage which has been religiously governed majorly as chastity and strength of character (Zuo et al. 2012). Historically, men and women who engaged in premarital sexual acts were considered impure and unchaste which degraded their social status and also made them lose their honor (Ghaffari et al. 2016). These values color the sociocultural aspects of Christianity, Hinduism, Islamic, and Jewish societies majorly covering most of the human population (Gaje 1996; Reiss 1964a; Spercher and Hatfiled 1996). During the rapid urbanization and development of the western world with the insights of Sigmund Freud and liberalization of the society, premarital sexual permissiveness became an area of study, and during the 1960s, researches started happening in the United States of America followed by the rest of the world. It still remains an interesting area for research and study (Zuo et al. 2012). Concept of Sexual Permissiveness There are certain terms associated with sexual permissiveness: • Permissive society: this is a type of society which is considered to be open to the ideas of sexual freedom. This type of society has existed in Europe, North America, and Australia. Here, people are allowed to engage in sexual activities before marriage (“Permissive society” 2018). • Liberalism: liberal comes from the word liberty, which allows a person to think and hold varied and different philosophies. This liberty in the late 1960s in America and Europe not © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 T. K. Shackelford, V. A. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1731-1 2 only remained as philosophical but also became broadened to accommodate with sexual freedom, which allowed the members of the society to enjoy the choice of choosing their own partners and engaging in sexual activities. But then this was considered as a bad label, as it meant high level of sexual promiscuity among the people of their society. • Secularism and permissiveness: these two words are often related as permissiveness which was found to be closely related to secularism. As the secularism became more and more prominent in the western countries, their permissiveness increased. • Premarital sexual permissiveness: literally means the mind-set of accepting sexual behavior before marriage. The people of the Victorian era and the strong religious sentiments of Christianity started becoming more secular with the rise of Marxism and communism, leading to a more secular and irreligious societies during the 1960s, where mutual love preceded the religious rigor, and along with liberal philosophies, the sexual liberation also took place, and no longer the sexuality was something to be frowned upon, rather became acceptable in its all-pervading variants including the LGBTQ. Homosexuality was no longer considered a criminal offense. This type of change wave later rippled throughout the world and still affecting the global society (Reiss 1964a). Factors Affecting Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Gender: Gender has always played an important part in sexual preferences and activities as in all the cultures of the world, there are certain gender roles prevalent among the male and female gender. This in turn affects their sexuality significantly (Cheng et al. 2012). Sexual permissiveness among males are found to be more liberal, and their willingness to engage in sexual behaviors was much more prevalent and acceptable (Cheng et al. 2012; Zuo et al. 2012). According Premarital Sexual Permissiveness to a study in Eastern Asia where the “Confucian” beliefs prevail, it was found that male to female premarital sexual permissiveness was significantly different as the stigma related to sexual promiscuity was prominent and women were expected to be faithful to their husbands completely during life and even after death, whereas among the western countries in the permissive societies, women and men both had a more acceptable outlook toward premarital sexual relationships (Debnam et al. 2017). Age Age has been a very important factor in deciding sexual permissiveness. In a study of African American population, it was found that adolescent girls would prefer to be in relationships with older boys belonging to racially, ethnically, and sociodemographically matched households (Carver et al. 2003). As the onset of puberty has reduced, sexual activities have become a greater interest among the younger age groups. Even though the premarital sexual relationships are majorly found among the age group of high-school students and above, a study from China and Vietnam showed that more number of adolescents are being exposed to sexual behaviors due to access of the Internet and pornography, so the average age of sexual involvement is continuously lowering for both boys and girls showing increase in premarital sexual permissiveness among younger age groups throughout the world (Zuo et al. 2012). Religious Beliefs Religious beliefs have a very important impact on the sexual permissiveness among the unmarried people. The regions of East Asia show that females most prominently abstained from premarital sexual relations as they would break religious taboos, which might affect their social status and marriage-related prospects (Zuo et al. 2012). A study from Iran (Ghaffari et al. 2016) stated that premarital sexual activities occurred rarely as it was considered to be un-Islamic and sin, which also provides evidence for the high impact of the religious sentiments on the premarital sexual behaviors. Although the European societies are considered permissive societies, it was found Premarital Sexual Permissiveness that their closeness with the religion often had restrictive mind-sets compared to the liberal ones (Spercher and Hatfiled 1996). Media: According to a study (Lou et al. 2012), media plays a very important part in development of the sexual attitudes. It was also found that the concepts about sexuality were mainly influenced by the media content they were accessing which was instrumental in developing the concept of sexual permissiveness before marriage (L’Engle et al. 2006). A study among the black and white American adolescents from middle school was conducted regarding the sexual content from the Internet, books,, magazine, television, and mass media. The results showed that the sexual content in those platforms influenced their behavior and perception intention and variances in sexual behaviors. The rates of premarital sexual behaviors have been increasing continuously in the East (Lou et al. 2012). The role of media is associated with it. These videos and ease of access to pornography and sexual content through various methods have exposed the adolescents with premarital sexual behaviors, and study also found that sexual experiences have become more and more common at younger age group with the ease of access to various mass media and the Internet. Social Belief Systems Social belief system has always played an important role in shaping the sexuality, regarding the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. A study among the unmarried college students of American, Russian, and Japanese nationalities found that American people were more acceptable in terms of premarital sexual relationships compared to their Russian and Japanese counterparts (Spercher and Hatfiled 1996). A study from Hanoi, Taipei, and Shanghai found that the impact of confusion cultural values was prominent in Hanoi, but among the people of Shanghai, social beliefs were found to be inversely proportional with premarital sexual permissiveness and had more chances of being exposed to such activities. A study from the Middle East suggests that the prominent Islamic belief systems influence the sexual permissiveness and majorly the unmarried 3 men and women were less likely to engage in premarital sexual activities (Ghaffari et al. 2016). A study from sub-Saharan Africa shows that there is a great impact of social beliefs in making early reproductive decisions and they have a great impact on the overall society (Gaje 1996). Knowledge About Health Risks The knowledge about the health risks has always impacted the premarital sexual behavior. A study from India (Naik et al. 2005) found that the Tribal population of India was migrating toward the cities and due to their permissive cultures posed a greater risk of HIV and AIDS compared to the other city counterparts. A study from the developing countries states that the awareness about the sexually transmitted diseases was directly related to sexual permissiveness of people (Friedman 1992). The similar pattern of association was also found among the college students of developed countries as well (Friedman 1992; Spercher and Hatfiled 1996). Among the Far Eastern countries, the knowledge about the sexual and reproductive diseases remained an associated factor governing the premarital sexual permissive behaviors among both genders (Zuo et al. 2012). Perceptions of Gender Role Expectations and Traditional Norms The variations among sexuality are very prominent among the genders and so are their roles. Similarly there is a great variation among the premarital sexual permissiveness among both the genders concerned. Studies throughout the world show that males are comparatively more permissive of sexual behaviors comparatively to their women counterparts (Friedman 1992; Hipwell et al. 2013). The Asian cultures are comparatively less permissive compared to the western cultures; here the variations are more prominent as the role expectations here are mainly passive and recipient of sexual behaviors and are least likely to initiate as per the cultural norms expected from them. Different behaviors from their side would end them being labeled in a derogatory manner (Cheng et al. 2012). Similar findings were also from another Asian study (Zuo et al. 2012). 4 The other important factors that influence the premarital sexual permissiveness are availability of gender-sensitive sex education (Zuo et al. 2012). This gives the adolescents the right kind of knowledge about the sexual behaviors and the safe sexual practices which will not physically or mentally harm them. The access to right socially sensitive sexual education can have a protective effect on the premarital sexual permissiveness and behavior (Cheng et al. 2012). Stigma: Most of the cultures throughout the world have observed that women who had openly stated their sexual desires were often stigmatized, and in less permissive societies, chastity has been considered as an important virtue among women; thus this has been a very important psychological determinant throughout the world among women to refrain from premarital sexual relationships (Debnam et al. 2017; Ghaffari et al. 2016; Zuo et al. 2012). Area of residence: It has been observed throughout the world that urban and rural cultures have differences in their social structures and also influence the patterns of perception premarital sexual behaviors. There has been a significant difference among the people residing in urban and rural areas (Cheng et al. 2012; L’Engle et al. 2006; Naik et al. 2005. Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Among Various Ethnicities The studies of the 1960s found that the sexual permissiveness among the blacks and the whites varied considerably (Friedman 1992). The main factors found in low permissive groups of whites were church attendance and belief in romantic love, and the permissiveness increased more with the number of love relationships, whereas among blacks these associations were not significant (Debnam et al. 2017; Zuo et al. 2012). There have been gender differences among the adolescents and young adults regarding premarital sexual permissiveness all over the world. A study from Asia reports that there are various factors influencing the behavior, and the main associated factors presented in the studies are the “Confucian Beliefs” (Cheng et al. 2012; Zuo et al. 2012). The Middle Eastern communities have also shown to have more restrictions among women compared to men as sexual relationships before marriage are not permitted among the Islamic culture although there were gender differences, which were similar to other Asian region communities (Ghaffari et al. 2016). Conclusion Scales for Measurement of Premarital Sexual Permissiveness Guttman had developed scales for measuring premarital sexual permissiveness at Iowa University. These scales were found to be very effective in measuring permissiveness and differentiating high permissive and low permissive groups and have many subsections which can be used for studying separate topics of research (Reiss 1964b). These scales are validated and studied in further literature after the 1960s. The scale is divided into sections: standards for men containing 12 items and standards for women (12 items section) and a feedback section. This scale has been widely accepted and adapted for. Sexuality plays a very important part in human life and is a necessary aspect of life; it’s a process where we preserve the progeny that exists in the world. A systematic review of sexual practices among the adolescents (Friedman 1992) states that with sexuality is an inevitable part of human life and exists in our instincts, and it plays an important part in human growth, development, and maturity. It is already known that adolescence is a period of great storms in one’s life; it also marks the beginning of sexual maturity. New dimensions are created during this time of life sexually; it is marked by intense feelings and emotional turmoil. Complexity of relationship increases, which leads to drastic outcomes Premarital Sexual Permissiveness and consequences in terms of sexual behavior. These changes affect not only the individual but also their societies at large (Carver et al. 2003). The contemporary times the lives of adolescents are confronted with a great deal of challenges which has changed very drastically in the previous few decades. This change brings about various patterns of sexual behavior. These changes are not only in the external world but also impacting their biology the changing world has brought about changes in their biology as well like earlier puberty, delayed marriage, increased focus on individuality and less control by family and more autonomy these can be attributed as some significant factors. Intense exposure to sexual stimuli via the mass media and the Internet gives access to everything on fingertips (L’Engle et al. 2006). Increasing globalization and diminishing cultural boundaries have led to increased premarital adolescent sexual activity. This has only added to traditional existing problems of early marriage. Newer problems of like early pregnancy, childbirth, and induced abortion outside of marriage are sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency syndrome infection leading to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Naik et al. 2005). Various studies have strongly recommended ageappropriate sexual education in diminishing the high-risk behaviors pertaining to premarital sexual permissiveness, such as increased trust, and responsible sexual behavior among both the sexes will minimize the impacts of premarital sexual behaviors as it cannot be completely prevented, as well as can be handled in a way which promotes minimal harm and maximal maturity among the people. Cross-References ▶ Relationship Choices and Sexuality ▶ Sex Differences for Pursuing ▶ Social Dominance and Sexual Access ▶ Socio-sexuality 5 References Carver, K., Joyner, K., & Udry, J. (2003). National estimates of adolescent romantic relationships. . .. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associations. 1(1). 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