A person’s decision to have sex does not need to rely on their marital status unless they so choose

• If a person chooses to wait until they are married to have sex, whether it be due to religious reasons, personal choice, etc., that’s perfectly fine. However, it does not make premarital sex wrong. There is no universal law stating that someone needs to be married in order to engage in physical intimacy with another person.
• Marriage, simply put, is a legal status. There is really no difference between a couple that is married and a couple that is not besides a marriage certificate and perhaps some other financial assets. The presence of a ring on someone’s finger or a marriage ceremony is not a “ticket to have sex”, and that mindset is both sexist and outdated.
• Sex is a natural human desire and does not always lead to procreation. Some people cannot physically have children, others do not want to. Sex simply existing for procreation can be a reality for some, but it is not a universal reality and it never will be. In fact, several species of animals have been observed engaging in sex for pleasure, such as bonobos, short-nosed fruit bats, chimpanzees, macaques, and dolphins. The argument that sex should wait until marriage to produce offspring is often tied to religious or traditional beliefs that are not universally adhered to. It comes down to personal decision.
• To label someone else’s adult, consensual sex life as “wrong” is pointless and frankly, it’s no one else’s business.

Is sex a morality issue?

• In most cultures, sex is attached to ideas about morality. Most societies have specific perceptions of why, when, and how we should or shouldn’t have sex.

• Pre-marital sex is condemned in many [religions] (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0003122412458672) in which marriage is a religious practice, such as Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism. Many religions value sex highly and understand marital sex as a way of honouring God. Pre-marital sex is often considered a form of adultery and a sin.

• Historically, women who engaged in pre-marital sex have been shamed and shunned by society. In late 17th Century Britain, an unmarried woman’s honour and reputation were tied to her virginity. At the time, many considered pre-marital sex to ‘ruin’ a woman and could destroy her future chances of marriage (which was an important social and financial opportunity).

• In many cultures in the present day, many people do not believe that pre-marital sex is morally wrong; it is not only common, but encouraged. Many people believe that having sex with a partner before marriage can build intimacy, confirm your compatibility and strengthen your relationship.

• Many believe that pre-marital sex is the personal choice of the couple: it can be wrong for some people, and right for others.

Sex is too complicated and too personal to reasonably be judged as 'right' or 'wrong'.

I don’t think that it is really fair to say that what anyone chooses to do with their bodies and in their private lives is necessarily ‘wrong’ (obviously excluding any illegal/violent/dangerous activities).

Both waiting for marriage and sex before marriage are viewed differently across the world and across different generations, cultures and religions. In the 1950s, most Brits and Americans held traditional beliefs surrounding premarital sex as back then, society was much more influenced by religion and specifically here, Christianity.

In a 1963 survey, only 11% of men and 7% of women agreed with the statement ‘I believe that full sexual relations are acceptable for the male/female before marriage’ regardless of love, relationships or commitment. But in the last 50-70 years, public opinion has changed and now a majority of people think that premarital sex is okay and even to some extent, good and to be encouraged. And by stark comparison to in 1963, in 2014, 73% of people thought that sexual relations were in no way wrong.

These surveys prove that morality surrounding sex is not at all fixed and is actually fluid and changeable and therefore, in my opinion, it is very hard to say exactly whether such a complex issue as this is indeed ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.