Extramarital sex


Extramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than his or her spouse.
The term may be applied to the situation of a single person having sex with a married person. From a religious perspective, it could refer to sex between people who are not in a conjugal relationship.
Where extramarital sexual relations breach a sexual norm, it may be referred to as adultery, fornication, philandery, or infidelity. These terms imply moral or religious consequences, whether in civil law or religious law.

Prevalence

American researcher Alfred Kinsey found in his 1950-era studies that 50% of American males and 26% of females had extramarital sex. Depending on studies, it was estimated that 26-50% of men and 21-38% of women, or 22.7% of men and 11.6% of women had extramarital sex. Other authors say that between 20% and 25% of Americans had sex with someone other than their spouse. Durex's Global Sex Survey found that 44% of adults worldwide reported having had one-night extramarital sex and 22% had an affair. According to a 2004 United States survey, 16% of married partners have had extramarital sex, nearly twice as many men as women, while an additional 30% have fantasized about extramarital sex.
A 2018 US study found that 53.5% of Americans who admitted having extramarital sex did so with someone they knew well, such as a close friend. About 29.4% were with someone who's somewhat well-known, such as a neighbor, co-worker or long-term acquaintance, and the rest were with casual acquaintances. The study also found some gender differences, such as that men are more likely than women to hold more favorable attitudes about extramarital sex, and that among those who reported having extramarital sex in the past year, about 12% of men had paid for sex compared to 1% for women.
Other studies have shown rates of extramarital sex as low as 2.5%.
Engagement in extramarital sex has been associated with individuals who have a higher libido than their partner.

Religious views

Christianity

teaches that extramarital sex is immoral. Scriptural foundations for this teaching are passages like :
In Christian marriage, husband and wife publicly promise fidelity to each other until death. Adultery contradicts this promise.

Hinduism

, in certain cases, condemns extramarital sex as sin. However, since hinduism is extremely diverse, majority of the schools of hinduism allow extramartial sex. For one reason being, Hinduism differentiates marriage and sexual life as it considers marriage as responsibility where two people pledge their life together and sexual intercourse is a personal desire. Hindu texts catalog eight means of varying degrees of acceptability of acquiring a bride. Gāndharva vivāha is one of those. In this type of marriage, a woman selects her own mate. The two consensually agree to live together. Sensual passion drives the consummation of their relationship, which didn’t require parental or societal consent. In The Mahābhārata, Bhīṣma tells Yudhiṣtra that in gāndharva vivāha a father, regardless of his own preferences, gives his daughter in marriage to a person she has chosen and who reciprocates her sentiments. In narratives such as the story of Ṥakuntala and Duṣyanta, wedding follows a romantic union. In other words, premarital sexual courtship was allowed in gāndharva vivāha. There is no evidence that premarital sex in the context of gāndharva vivāha diminished happiness. So, it cannot be deemed immoral. This is why Hindu sages didn’t consider it adharmic. At times, they even hailed it as the foremost of all forms of union.
The sexual relationship with Ahalya and God Indra is an example of Extramarital sex. Though Indra being the king of gods, he committed adultery with Ahalya in disguise of her husband. Though ahalya knew that the person who came to her wasn't her husband but God Indra, she didn't stop him. This legend is widely told in India and Nepal. The fact that ahilya being one of the panch kanya, despite committing adultery is explains that adultry is not a crime in Hinduism. However, certain segments consider it as a sin. Hinduism also differentiates between sexual desire and lust.

Islam

Traditional interpretations of Islamic law prescribe severe punishments for zina, or extramarital sex, by both men and women. Premarital sex could be punished by up to 100 lashes, while adultery is punishable by stoning. The act of sexual penetration must, however, be attested by at least four male Muslim witnesses of good character, the accused has a right to testify in court, the suspect's word or testimony is required to hold the most weight in the eyes of the judge, punishments are reserved to the legal authorities and the law states that false accusations are to be punished severely. The former regulations also make some Muslims believe, that the process's goal was to eventually abolish the physical penalties relating to acts of fornication and adultery that were already present within many societies around the world when Islamic teachings first arose. According to this view, the principles are so rigorous in their search for evidence, that they create the near impossibility of being able to reach a verdict that goes against the suspect in any manner.

Judaism

The Torah prescribes the death penalty through stoning for adultery, which is defined as having sex with a woman who is married to another man. Two witnesses of good character had to testify in court for the case to be even considered by the judges.
Israelite and historic Jewish society was polygynous, so the marital status of the man was irrelevant. If a woman, however, is unmarried, a sexual relationship, though highly immoral and sinful from the religion's point of view, is not considered to be adultery, and therefore not punishable by death, but by lashing.
Any physical punishments for any sins were in effect at the times of Judges and the Holy Temple. Now, any physical punishment is prohibited by Judaism—as no proper judicial process can be provided until the Holy Temple is rebuilt by the Messiah.

Law

Extramarital sex is not illegal in many countries and most states in the United States. Virginia prosecuted John Bushey for adultery in 2001. Other states allow jilted spouses to sue their ex-partners' lovers for alienation of affections.
Extramarital sex is illegal in some Muslim-majority countries, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Mauritania, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen.